Accelerate ERISA litigation with Darrow: Your secret ingredient for ERISA success
In 2024, ERISA litigation surged to 136 new cases filed, a 36% increase from the 100 cases filed in 2023. This included a major case against UnitedHealth Group, who was ordered to pay a $69 million settlement for underpaying plan benefits, marking one of the year’s most significant resolutions.
This trend indicates that fiduciary plan sponsors continue to make irresponsible investment decisions. But beneath each lawsuit lies a deeper issue: systemic patterns of mismanagement and underperformance that jeopardize millions of Americans’ retirement savings.
For plaintiff attorneys, these actions are a critical avenue for holding plan sponsors accountable and protecting retirement savings.
Identifying ERISA imprudent investment violations: the challenge
ERISA violations often go unnoticed because they are buried in complex financial data and hidden within collective trusts or target-date funds. This opacity allows systemic misconduct to persist unchecked.
Specific challenges of detecting these cases include:
- Sorting through the Form 5500 database to check for underperforming funds is complex, tedious, and prone to error.
- The process demands extensive manual cross-referencing and careful reconciliation of fund names, often complicated by inconsistent spellings and abbreviations.
- Plan investments are frequently hidden in collective trusts or target-date funds, making it difficult to identify individual underperforming assets.
These hurdles make it easy for violations to go unnoticed and difficult for firms to identify viable claims.
How Darrow identifies ERISA violations at scale
Just like a perfectly crafted dish, winning an ERISA case requires the right blend of elements. Strategy, expertise, data, and opportunity must come together in perfect harmony.
Darrow is the secret ingredient that makes it all work, turning complex financial data into high-value, ready-to-litigate cases. Darrow’s Legal Intelligence Platform cuts through the complexity of detecting ERISA violations and uncovers systemic patterns of fiduciary misconduct that creates widespread financial harm.
With the use of advanced machine learning and anomaly detection algorithms combined with deep legal expertise, we expose patterns of underperformance and fiduciary breaches across entire industries to help firms identify the strongest ERISA cases with clarity and confidence.
To date, Darrow has identified original ERISA cases worth a total of $7.5 billion in damages. We empower law firms to hold corporations accountable and restore financial justice to those who are often left in the dark about their retirement savings.
Darrow’s Legal Intelligence Platform
Through the use of advanced data science and AI, our Legal Intelligence Platform scans millions of financial records and compares 401(k) plans, sifting through vast datasets to identify high-value claims that would otherwise remain undiscovered. We then match entries from the Form 5500 database to investable options using probabilistic modeling in seconds.
Our platform maps which 401(k) plans are invested in specific funds and analyzes their performance against industry benchmarks. It automatically tracks fund performance over the required initial three-year period, normalizes data for comparability, and measures underperformance against benchmark indices.
This enables us to quickly identify underperforming funds, calculate potential damages, assess fiduciary breaches, and estimate settlement amounts.
With over a decade of retirement fund performance data, Darrow reveals patterns of ongoing fiduciary misconduct. We identify systemic issues across 401(k) plans and help plaintiff firms build cases with solid evidence that drive meaningful accountability and reform.
Finding qualified plaintiffs for ERISA cases
Finding qualified plaintiffs is particularly challenging for ERISA cases.
Not only do attorneys need to identify plaintiffs who meet the eligibility criteria, but they need to spend considerable time screening potential plaintiffs. This process is further complicated by the need to verify that each plaintiff’s claims meet the statutory requirements for standing.
This lengthy, monotonous process can result in plaintiffs’ investment choices not aligning with a case’s focus. For example, 401(k) plans allow employees the option to pick which funds their 401Ks are invested in. Therefore, even if a specific plan is invested in a particular underperforming fund, not every company employee will always be impacted.
For example, in Singh et al v. Deloitte LLP et al 1:21CV08458, the court dismissed the complaint, with one of the reasons being that the plaintiffs were not invested in four of the funds that were being challenged by the case.
At Darrow, we have an entire team dedicated to creating targeted campaigns and managing the intake process to find qualified plaintiffs so attorneys can accelerate case filings. Our rigorous two-tier vetting system allows attorneys to connect with and retain only the most relevant and qualified plaintiffs.
We also offer our plaintiff-finding portal, PlaintiffLink, to connect attorneys with identified plaintiffs as quickly as possible. Partners can also communicate directly with our Litigation Consulting team through the portal, receive real-time updates on plaintiff engagement, and access expert support throughout the litigation process.
Partnering with Darrow is a strategic growth opportunity
Darrow offers plaintiff firms a true partnership throughout the entire litigation process, from case discovery to settlement. With our unique financial model, we share in your success and align our success with yours.
Partnering with Darrow means access to a continuous pipeline of high-value, pre-vetted ERISA cases, each reviewed and validated by legal experts. Our Legal Intelligence Platform pinpoints claims with strong merit, helping your firm expand its practice without draining time and resources.
Beyond case referrals, Darrow provides ongoing support to help you build stronger cases, overcome procedural hurdles, and increase your chances of surviving motions to dismiss and achieving class certification. Our litigation experts are by your side at every stage, from strategy development to settlement negotiations.
Let Darrow help you grow your practice, achieve better case outcomes, and deliver justice for ERISA plan participants.
Partner with Darrow to grow your practice
