According to Fulbright & Jaworski partner and global chair of the Litigation Department, Stephen C. Dillard, fear may be appropriate with respect to all things litigation. In "Litigation Nation" (
Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2006), Dillard describes results from their third
Litigation Trend Survey, emphasizing an increasing upward trend in lawsuits here and abroad. "Even we were surprised by the volume and scope of legal actions across all major industries and regardless of company size."
Besides finding that "Some 89% of companies report being hit with at least one new lawsuit in the past year," companies stateside "face an average of 305 lawsuits pending world-wide." At the same time, "companies with sales of $1 billion or more" face an average of 556 cases, "with 50 fresh suits emerging each year for nearly half of these firms."
The cost of litigation is far from trivial. The survey cites corporate legal expenditures averaging $12 million, up from $8 million last year and with some industries - engineering and insurance - spending over $35 million.
Given the nature of this blog,
www.pensionriskmatters.com, what caught my eye were the assertions that "more than half of the in-house counsel cited employment as their top litigation concern" and that "disputes over wages and hours can be brought as class actions in many jurisdictions, creating more waves of litigation."
Other press accounts about corporate lawsuits are similarly engaging.
According to the
Chief Legal Officer Survey 2006, compliance and litigation are huge concerns. Conducted by Altman Weil, Inc. and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, respondents lament that time and money used to fight and/or prevent lawsuits could not be otherwise used to grow the company.
New York Times reporter Paul B. Brown describes the concept of litigation funding companies in "What's Offline: Next, a Lawsuit Futures Exchange?" Citing Joshua Lipton in "
Litigation 2006," Brown informs that hedge funds are researching the possibilities of investing now in anticipation of enjoying hefty case outcomes later on. That same supplement to the
American Lawyer & Corporate Counsel includes a piece by
Alison Frankel that offers insight about the globalization of litigation.
Lest you need more of a reminder that a sea change is upon us, consider the U.S. Appeals Court decision that found a fiduciary personally liable for nearly $180,000 due to losses realized by the International Brotherhood of Industrial Workers Health and Welfare Fund. In "Ruling highlights fiduciary need for hindsight", Reid and Riege attorneys David M.S. Shaiken and Eileen M. Marks describe the serious fallout from Chao v. Merino, 452 F.3d 174 (2d Cir. 2006), stating that the individual in question "was permanently prohibited from serving as a fiduciary or service provider to any employee benefit plan."
Other excerpts from the November 2006
Employee Benefit News article merit attention.
1. "The Court of Appeals' holding underscores how important it is for new plan fiduciaries to inform themselves thoroughly about a plan's operations, consultants and service providers with whom the plan has contracted. New fiduciaries should raise with co-fiduciaries any concerns about existing relationships after conducting their review.
2. The mere fact that an imprudent relationship predates a fiduciary's tenure does not shield the fiduciary from liability. The duties to be informed about plan business and to act prudently include a duty to be informed about, raise objections to, and protect the fund from any imprudent relationships that are in place with consultants and service providers when a fiduciary's term begins.
3. Plan fiduciaries may wish to review their and their plan's insurance coverage. ERISA plan fiduciary liability insurance covers claims against current and former plan trustees and, if they are named in the policy, plan administrators who have fiduciary duties. In case of a claim of breach of fiduciary duty, within the insurance policy's limits the insurer provides and pays for defense counsel, and indemnifies the plan fiduciary from liability, provided that the claim is not excluded from the policy's coverage."
Given the tsunami of litigation (with all indications that more is on its way), pension fiduciaries need to assess their personal and professional risk.
It's scary stuff indeed.
Email us if you want to know more about our fiduciary and board training programs. If you are an attorney, ask to receive our complimentary pension governance kit.
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I am pleased to announce my participation as part of the February 26, 2009 Lexis Nexis Corporate Counsel Series. According to the official program site, the 60-minute Webcast will focus on critical corporate governance and risk assessment issues that pertain to in-house company attorneys. Click here to register for what promises to be an interesting and timely event.
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