Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 PENSION RED FLAG: WHEN YOUR EMPLOYER HAS FINANCIAL TROUBLE Call us when your employer has financial trouble.  It is an early warning system that your pension might also be in trouble. In addition, the following are signs that your 401(k) contributions might be misused:   –If you have difficulty withdrawing cash from your 401(k) plan –If you are told that money can only be withdrawn with advance notice –If your account balance is not accurate –If your 401(k) or individual account statement is consistently late or comes at irregula ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 DECEPTIVE USE OF “NET ASSET VALUE” IN PENSION PLANS Many pension plans deceptively use “net asset value” for valuing plan assets–and therefore do not present a fair picture of “current value.” This means that if you need to access money in your pension account, you might have much less money available than the asset value displayed in your account information.  Why is this, and what is the problem? Investments held in a “collective investment trust” often track asset values based on “net asset value” (NAV) rather than fair market va ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS AND SELF-DEALING -Every 401(k) plan and defined pension plan has an investment advisor. The investment advisor has a fiduciary responsibility to avoid self-dealing. But in active investment strategies, that line can be blurred and easily crossed. The biggest potential for abuse comes in setting (or creating) the performance benchmarks that define an investment return. The underlying concept in choosing a performance benchmark is the old saying that: “where there is mystery, there is margin.” Standard Benchmarks. Th ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 Watch Out for “Liability Driven Investments” Check your defined benefit pension plan to see if you are invested in “Liability Driven Investments” (“LDI”). If so, we strongly suggest you contact this firm, or another law firm that handles ERISA litigation, for a due diligence review on your investment portfolio. A “Liability Driven Investment” likely involves a debt-based derivative investment (a “bet”)–the kind that caused the entire financial system to implode in 2008. Almost everyone is aware by now that the UK pension system very near ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 LA COUNTY FREE FOUNDATION–VACCINATION MANDATE UPDATE Approximately one year ago, LA County Free Foundation organized and filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County. Our express goal was to prevent enforcement of the County’s vaccination mandate against our members. Measured by that goal, and with help of others, our efforts are being successful. To date, not one of our members has lost his or her job for not being vaccinated—nor do I see that happening.  To be sure, threats have been aplenty. But the plain fact is that all our unvac ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 PRUDENTIAL GOALMAKER APP UNDER FIRE   Prudential Goalmaker is an “app” designed to help balance an individual retirement account portfolio.  By guiding plan participants through several multiple-choice questions, the Prudential app helps each participant to identify their investor style, risk profile and resulting portfolio model—choosing among various offered investments. The Prudential Goalmaker app is under fire in an ERISA lawsuit pending in Auburn Hills, Michigan (US Eastern District of Michigan). Plaintiffs allege that “G ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 Denial of Religious Exemption Request Violates First Amendment Many workers in California who refused a Covid vaccination applied for a religious exemption but were denied.  This problem is particularly acute for those employed by Los Angeles City. But I think that problem can now be effectively addressed through a class action lawsuit against the City, based on a recent US Supreme Court case. The US Supreme Court recently re-affirmed its commitment to religious neutrality under the First Amendment Establishment Clause in Carson v ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 VACCINE MANDATE LITIGATION PROCEEDS IN FEDERAL COURT   Federal Judge Allows Vaccine Mandate Challenge under California Constitution to proceed. Our challenge to the Covid vaccine mandate imposed by Los Angeles County against employees of the Los Angeles County Fire Department states valid claims under the California Constitution right to privacy and is allowed to proceed. A copy of the June 1, 2022 Order by Mark C. Scarsi, US District Court Judge, Central District of California is here.  A copy of our Second Amended Complaint is ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 Current Covid Vaccines Do Not Work Against Omicron The design strategy of the current vaccines is to inject antibodies to fully envelop (surround) a Covid spike protein at its receptor binding domain, thereby fully neutralizing the virus and preventing (or treating) a Covid-19 infection. The overriding problem today is that the existing Covid Vaccines were developed as against the original, wild type Covid-19 and are incapable of fully neutralizing the Omicron variant of Covid-19. This is because of Omicron’s numerous genetic mutations ..read more

Home Return to Blog Call Us (213) 600-6077 Mergers Ruin Everything The title of this blog was taken from a Matt Stoller piece of the same name, found here. Matt runs a subscription-based blog that gives an in-depth analysis of merger policy and pending mergers.  His thesis is, as suggested, that mergers have caused more harm than good in this country.  I wholeheartedly agree and recommend Matt’s blog to anyone interested in the topic. Antitrust laws were adopted at the beginning of the 20th century. They were aimed at monopolistic combinations among businesses that crea ..read more