On August 30, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas certified a class of participants in plans that provide employee benefits through the Contractors and Employees Retirement Trust (CERT) and the Contractors Plan Trust (CPT) from 2011 to the present. Defendants Fringe Benefit Group and Fringe Insurance Benefits, Inc. operate these two trusts and provide administrative and marketing services to plans that participate in the trusts. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have violated ERISA by controlling disbursements from the trusts (including payment of their own excessive fees), using this control to collect fees that were not explicitly agreed to by employers and were never disclosed to plan participants, and selecting service providers for the plans that maximized Defendants’ compensation at the expense of participants.
Feinberg, Jackson, Worthman & Wasow LLP was appointed as class counsel along with Altshuler Berzon LLP. A copy of the decision is available here. Coverage of the case is available here. For more information, please contact Nina Wasow or Catha Worthman.