Court Grants Class Certification In Verizon ERISA Matter

September 2020

U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York certified a class of up to 200,000 Verizon workers who participated in a Verizon 401(k) plan.

The lawsuit alleges mismanagement of funds in the Verizon 2040 target-date-fund (TDF), specifically Verizon’s Global Opportunity Fund. The fund was noted as having “obvious and long-term underperformance over a ten-year period”. The complaint alleges that the fund has seriously underperformed against other funds such as Vanguard,.

The class consists of all participants of the 401(k) retirement plan who had money saved in the Global Opportunity Fund during the relevant time period. The participation could be direct or indirect and may include 200,000 workers.

Jacobs v. Verizon Communications Inc. et al., case number 1:16-cv-01082, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

If you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact John F. Edgar toll-free at 888-352-0338, or at [email protected]