Berkshire engineering firm gets reprieve in 401(k) suit

An engineering conglomerate owned by Berkshire Hathaway just won an initial victory in a lawsuit brought against the company over its 401(k) plan.

The company, Marmon Holdings, was sued last year in a proposed class action filed by law firm Capozzi Adler, which has brought numerous excessive-fee cases against 401(k) plan sponsors in recent years.

In a Sept. 22 order, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blakey granted Marmon’s motion to dismiss, finding that the plaintiffs failed to show that the plan had excessive record-keeping fees or that the investments, including the custom target-date series, underperformed peers.

However, the motion to dismiss was granted without prejudice, meaning that the plaintiff can file an amended complaint within three weeks.

The defendant, Marmon, includes more than 100 engineering services companies within its business. Last year, the firm’s 401(k) represented nearly $1.4 billion in assets among more than 16,000 participants, according to data from the Department of Labor.

In the 401(k) lawsuit filed last year, the plaintiffs alleged that the per-participant record-keeping fees, which were paid in part through revenue-sharing fees within mutual funds, were excessive.

While such fees were as high as $137 in 2016, they gradually declined to less than $67 by 2020, the complaint stated.