Plaintiff Kim Snyder claimed the company’s failure to remove these investments from its 401(k) plan caused employees to miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars in potential retirement savings. Snyder argued that UnitedHealth breached its fiduciary duties under ERISA to act loyally and prudently on behalf of plan participants.
Court Rulings and Settlement Discussions
In 2022, U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim granted class certification, allowing Snyder to represent thousands of UnitedHealth employees who invested in the plan since April 2015. Earlier this year, UnitedHealth failed to secure a dismissal, with Judge Tunheim stating that the evidence suggested UnitedHealth knew the Wells Fargo funds were underperforming but kept them for dubious reasons.
“There was a large, two-way business relationship between United and Wells,” the judge noted. Wells Fargo provided banking services and was UnitedHealth’s largest client in the target date fund industry, while UnitedHealth generated significant revenue as Wells Fargo’s health insurer.
