Asset

News Mar 15, 2017

How to Make Sure a Lawsuit Doesn’t Take Down Your Business

Your business has been performing well for years, turning a profit and continuing to grow. Then, out of the blue, you get served with a lawsuit. If you aren’t prepared for this scenario, you’re putting your business in jeopardy. Asset protection is a near 50-year-old specialization of debtor-creditor law, where niche business attorneys and consultants will seek to structure business and personal assets in such a fashion to where they become somewhat invulnerable to creditor civil judgments. It’s important to note, however …

News, Securities Jul 22, 2016

401(k) Class-Action Litigation Update: 1st Circuit Holds “Float” Is Not a Plan Asset

Many ERISA 401(k) plan trustees act as intermediaries when participants request a disbursement. If plan assets are invested in funds, some fund shares will be exchanged for cash, and the cash will then “float” as it makes its way from fund to participant. During that process, the float may sit temporarily in a non-plan, non-participant account, and it might earn interest.

Lawsuits, Securities Jul 22, 2016

New York Life Sued by Employees Claiming Excessive 401(k) Fees

New York Life Insurance Co. is the newest member to the ever-growing list of asset managers and retirement plan providers being sued by their employees for fiduciary breach in the company 401(k) plan. Current participants in two New York Life 401(k) plans filed a class-action lawsuit — Andrus et al v. New York Life Insurance Company et al — alleging self-dealing by the firm and other affiliated …

News, Securities Jul 22, 2016

Money Managers With In-House 401(k) Plan Options at Risk of Employee Lawsuits: Lawyers

Asset managers that limit employee retirement plan investment choices to proprietary, in-house mutual funds are putting a legal target on their backs, attorneys said. In the context of a rash of lawsuits by employees against financial services companies alleging breach of fiduciary duty in managing 401(k) plans, asset management companies that populate their retirement plans solely with house …

Legal News Jun 18, 2016

Litigation Finance: The ‘Unicorn’ of Uncorrelated Absolute Returns?

Editor’s note: Billionaire Peter Thiel’s involvement in the infamous Gawker privacy case has renewed interest in litigation finance, an relatively esoteric corner of alternative investments that involves bankrolling lawsuits in return for a piece of any monetary judgements. As explained by Edward Truant, principal of commercial litigation finance specialist Balmoral Wood Litigation Finance, the …

Legal News Apr 29, 2016

The Gavel Gamble: Litigation Emerges as an Asset Class

For years, the profits that have emerged from the opaque world of law have been beyond the reach of non-lawyers in Canada. But that is changing quickly. A recent ruling in Ontario has helped swing open the door for litigation investment funds — which allow investors to bankroll lawsuits in the hopes of sharing in the potential proceeds — to establish a beachhead in Canada.