"A Pragmatic Decision": Mark Boyko Weighs in on ERISA Supreme Court Case

Mark Boyko, partner in Bailey Glasser’s ERISA Practice Group, is quoted in Plan Sponsor Council of America’s (PSCA) coverage of the unanimous ruling last week by the Supreme Court of the United States in Cunningham v. Cornell University, calling the employee-friendly decision a “common-sense opinion.”

In the decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the rights of employees and retirees to bring lawsuits under ERISA when their retirement plans are alleged to be mismanaged and ruled that plaintiffs need only assert the existence of a prohibited transaction causing injury to proceed past a motion to dismiss.

BG partner Mark Boyko, a pioneer in ERSIA class action litigation, described the unanimous decision as "pragmatic" because it “recognizes that there is limited information that the plaintiff has,” prior to discovery. As a result of the opinion, Boyko believes that there will be more cases related to self-dealing and will “cause fiduciaries engaged in prohibited transactions that they would benefit from to think twice.” View the full PSCA article, Reactions to the ERISA Supreme Court Case, here.

A Bailey Glasser ERISA team led by Mark Boyko and BG’s ERISA Practice Group leader, Greg Porter, represented fourteen law professors who filed an amicus brief in the case supporting the position of the employees and retirees. The matter stemmed from an earlier dismissal in favor of fiduciaries who were alleged to have mismanaged the 403(b) plan available to Cornell University employees. 

For additional insights on this Supreme Court decision, read our previous article here.