Overview
Carlton Fields advises plan sponsors and service providers on Internal Revenue Code and ERISA compliance and fiduciary issues, drawing on knowledge of qualified retirement plans, nonqualified plans, IRAs, annuities, and insurance arrangements. We defend our clients in court, advise them outside of it, and represent them in regulatory audits and investigations.
We help retirement and welfare plan service providers offer the services and products that plan sponsors need with the desired tax and fiduciary impacts. Working with our financial services regulatory attorneys, we help service providers bring innovative products to market using our knowledge of the regulations that govern their industries. We counsel third-party administrators, recordkeepers, platform providers, insurance companies, securities broker-dealers, and other financial services companies on their obligations under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, federal securities laws, and FINRA rules. Our attorneys have extensive experience with inquiries and investigations conducted by the IRS, the Department of Labor, the SEC, FINRA, and state insurance regulators. We provide creative solutions while limiting regulatory risk.
We help employers attract and retain talented employees by offering competitive benefit packages while minimizing liabilities. We work with plan sponsors throughout the entire benefit plan life cycle, from selecting benefit arrangements and service providers, drafting plan documents, and complying with fiduciary duties to correcting operational and administrative errors and terminating and converting plans. We handle the full range of benefits and compensation arrangements, including 401(k) plans, profit-sharing plans, 403(b) and 457 plans, defined benefit pension plans, life and medical insurance, cafeteria plans, wellness programs, and severance plans for public entities, for-profit companies, and nonprofits. We also draft and negotiate employment contracts, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, and equity compensation arrangements.
Our labor and employment and life, annuity, and retirement litigation attorneys routinely work with employers and financial services providers on ERISA litigation matters.
Experience
Counseled numerous financial institutions and insurance companies on ERISA litigation involving both employee welfare and retirement plans, including multidistrict class action litigation.
Defended 401(k) plan service providers in a nationwide class action involving their receipt of revenue-sharing fees.
Obtained dismissal for a life insurance client in a putative class action involving Internal Revenue Code Section 412(i) plans.
Prevailed on a motion to dismiss for a 401(k) plan trustee in an ERISA breach of fiduciary duty stock-drop case.
Represented 16 state guaranty funds in federal court litigation in California involving claims by holders of more than $200 million in guaranteed investment contracts, who alleged that the guaranty funds breached ERISA fiduciary duties in connection with an insurer's rehabilitation plan.
