Employment and Labor Law

Contact: Mark S. Thomas & Robert W. Shaw; Williams Mullen (North Carolina & Virginia, USA)

In Taveras v. UBS AG, No. 12-1662 (2d Cir. February 27, 2013), the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reviewed the dismissal of a complaint against UBS AG (“UBS”) in a putative class action brought on behalf of participants of two UBS retirement plans. The Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendants violated fiduciary duties imposed under ERISA. Applying the Moensch presumption, the court affirmed the dismissal of a claim for breach of those duties as to one of the retirement plans, but overturned that dismissal as to the second plan. In reaching this result, the Second Circuit drew a critical distinction between plan documents that required or strongly encouraged certain investments in UBS stock, and plan documents that did not.

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