Construction Firm Bechtel Wins 401(k) ‘Excessive Fees’ Lawsuit, Again

Credit: Rafael Henrique/Adobe Stock

A Virginia federal judge has dismissed—for the second time—a lawsuit against engineering and construction firm Bechtel Global Corp. The suit argued that the company’s retirement plan fiduciaries “breached their fiduciary duty” because the firm’s default managed account option was no better than a target-date fund.

U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia tossed the lawsuit out last week, marking the second dismissal of retiree Debra Hanigan’s case. She alleged that Bechtel’s choice of a managed account for its Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plan default investment led to excessive fees and subpar returns, arguing that a target-date fund (TDF) would have been a better alternative. However, in his second ruling, Judge Trenga found Hanigan’s amended complaint inadequate since it still did not establish that the managed account and TDF were sufficiently comparable, calling her fee claims unsupported by a “meaningful benchmark.”