The 10 largest class-action claims brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act totaled $926.5 million last year.
That was down from $1.3 billion in 2014, which was an all-time high.
Still, the largest ERISA settlements were substantially more than other areas of labor law, according to the 2015 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, published by Seyfarth Shaw, a Chicago-based law firm.
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The largest ERISA class action settlements involved disputes over breach of fiduciary duty, use of revenue sharing agreements, reduction of retiree benefits, and/or investing pension or 401(k) assets into company stock, according to the report.
Not all of those settlements related to participant claims from 401(k) plans; the biggest settlement stemmed from claims against the United Auto Workers administration of its health care plan; others were settled with sponsors of defined benefit plans and health care plans.
All told, 6,925 suits were brought under ERISA in 2015.
Here is a list of the top 10 settlements, provided by Seyfarth Shaw.
10. $32 million
Kruger, et al. v. Novant Health
Filed in March 2014, the claim alleged fiduciaries to seven retirement plans sponsored by Novant breached its fiduciary duties by charging excessive fees and channeling profits the plan's recordkeeper and plan advisor.
Novant offered retail class shares of mutual funds when "significantly cheaper, but otherwise identical institutional share class versions of the same funds (or other lower-cost alternatives) were available," according to the settlement agreement.
9. $33 million
Zanghi, et al. v. FreightCar America, Inc.
The claim rose from the termination of union workers retiree health insurance and life insurance benefits.
8. $36 million
Diebold, et al. v. Northern Trust Investments N.A.
Filed in 2009, the case was brought by a participant in an ExxonMobil 401(k) plan and another in a Texas Instruments plan.
They alleged Northern Trust and Northern Trust Investments imprudently managed collateral pools in its securities lending program, according to court documents.
7. $40 million
In Re American International Group, Inc., ERISA Litigation II
The claim arose from allegations that fiduciaries of AIG's defined contribution plans should not have let employees invest in company stock as it headed into the financial crisis.
AIG also settled a stockholder class action for $960 million.
6. $57 million
Spano, et al. v. The Boeing Co.
Often regarded as the first 401(k) fee case to set off a new generation of claims under ERISA, it was first filed in 2006, also by Schlichter, Bogard and Denton.
The 190,000 class members alleged fiduciaries charged excessive fees for recordkeeping, excessive fees on mutual funds, and imprudently offered a technology sector fund to the detriment of participants.
The case was settled on the eve of going to trial, and was notable for its acrimony, according to the presiding judge in court documents.
5. $62 million
Abbott, et al. v. Lockheed Martin Corp.
Filed in 2006 by plaintiffs firm Schlichter, Bogard and Denton, the claim originally sought more than $1 billion in damages for 120,000 participants in Lockheed's defined contribution plans.
Plaintiffs alleged both excessive fees were paid on plan menu options, and that plan fiduciaries mismanaged participants' assets in company stock.
4. $82 million
Johnson, et al. v. Meriter Health Services Employee Retirement Plan
First filed in 2010 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, 4,000 Meriter employees alleged their lump-sum pension payments were not properly calculated.
The original named plaintiff alleged she received $65,508 in a lump-sum payment, when it should have been $131,154.
3. $90 million
Society For Professional Engineering Employees In Aerospace, IFPTE Local 2001, et al. v. The Boeing Co.
The settlement was reached after 10 years of litigation.
Former Boeing union employees alleged they were deprived of retirement and health benefits after Boeing sold its Spirit Aero Systems unit.
2. $140 million
Haddock, et al. v. Nationwide Life Insurance Co.
The settlement was awarded to two classes of 401(k) participants that alleged Nationwide received undisclosed revenue sharing payments from non-proprietary mutual funds.
The claim was first brought in U.S. District Court for District of Connecticut in 2001.
The parties finally settled 13 years later, just prior to going to trial, after years of a procedural maze that saw two trips to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the lower court's certification of the class.
1. $354.5 million
Office And Professional Employees International Union, Local Union 494, et al. v. United Automobile Aerospace And Agricultural Implement Workers Of America, International Union
This settlement stemmed from a claim that administrators of the unions made changes to retiree medical benefits in 2013, breaching a collectively bargained contract.
The claim was settled just months after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan certified the class in January 2015.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
