Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Cornerstone Research professionals and experts have applied finance and investments knowledge and data analytics experience to analyze investment performance of challenged funds. Analysis has included choice of appropriate benchmarks, asset allocation decisions, long-term performance and risk evaluation, statistical tests, reviewing third-party evaluations of funds, and estimation of damages, among others. Cornerstone Research has supported experts to analyze performance issues for various investment vehicles, including mutual funds, collective investment trusts, separately managed accounts, and annuities. Our affiliated experts have investigated the investment performance and investment management fees for target date funds, proprietary funds, stable value funds, hedge funds and private equity, and managed accounts. Cornerstone Research works with experts who have deep experience rebutting opposing experts’ performance and damages analyses and have successfully testified at trial, presenting their analyses and explaining complex financial topics to judges and juries.

We work with experts who have extensive experience serving as fiduciaries or advising retirement plan committees. They have reviewed plans’ fiduciary oversight structure and the process undertaken and opined on their reasonableness and consistency with industry practices. They have also analyzed recordkeeping fees and administrative fees, benchmarked them to other similar plans (often using their proprietary databases), and opined on the process to select, monitor, and negotiate with administrative service providers. Our affiliated experts have examined issues related to fiduciary prudence, investment selection and monitoring, retirement plan structures, and pension risk transfer.

Cornerstone Research maintains an extensive database of ERISA company stock drop and ERISA fee and investment litigation, allowing us to provide relevant historical data on cases and settlements to our clients.

Our case experience includes:

• Mattson v. Milliman Inc.
• Vellali et al. v. Yale University et al.
• Huang et al. v. TriNet Plans et al.
• Nelsen et al. v. Principal Global Investors Trust Company et al.
• Hecker et al. v. Deere & Company et al.
• In re Principal U.S. Property Account ERISA Litigation

In dozens of ERISA matters, we have addressed a range of issues, including conflicts of interest, named plaintiff standing, and challenges in calculating class-wide damages. Work in these cases often involves analysis of large-scale, individual-level transaction datasets to calculate individual-level investment performance in challenged funds or recordkeeping fee charges.

In ESOP disputes, Cornerstone Research professionals and experts have addressed issues involving both private and public company plans. Our experience includes Department of Labor investigations, internal investigations, and class action litigation. Expert work supported by Cornerstone Research has included assessing and analyzing third-party valuation reports, evaluating transaction structures, estimating damages, and rebutting opposing expert analyses.

Cornerstone Research has worked on multiple cases involving multibillion-dollar defined benefit plans. Our experience covers examination of investment prudence by plan fiduciaries, analysis of investment strategy and performance, use of alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity, assessment of most-favored-nation (MFN) clauses and other fee disputes, analysis of economic issues related to cash balance conversion plans, and valuation of defined benefit plans in the context of bankruptcy.

Our case experience includes:

• Assessment of Actuarial Services for a University’s Health Insurance Plan
• Asset Management
• Asbestos Workers Philadelphia Pension Fund v. Merix Corp.
• Dispute between a Pension Plan and an Investment Manager

We have addressed forfeiture and vesting provisions in a range of deferred compensation plans offered by financial institutions. We also have considerable expertise in evaluating employee-level compensation and transaction datasets. Our casework experience includes analysis of participant-level data, review and assessment of compensation structures, research into industry processes and labor market competition, and damages estimation.