Coca-Cola Bottlers' Association reaches deal to settle 401(k) lawsuit

The Coca-Cola Bottlers' Association settled a class action lawsuit for $3.3 million over claims that its 401(k) plan breached ERISA laws by charging extreme record-keeping fees and promoting overpriced investment offerings.

The preliminary deal was announced on March 23 in a document filed by the plaintiffs' lawyers in a U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas. Once approved by the court, it is expected to benefit more than 64,000 people covered by the Coca-Cola retirement plan since February 2015, excluding certain defendants.

The lawsuit was initially filed on Feb. 1, 2021, by Kimario Anderson, a participant in the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Association 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan. On Feb. 23, 2023, an amended complaint was filed to add William Grimmett as an additional plaintiff.

Grimmett fully supports the settlement agreement, which was reached at mediation, according to the court filing.

The court filing also states that the defendants “expressly have denied, and continue to deny, that they have breached any duty under ERISA or committed any act or omission giving rise to any liability.”

The original complaint alleged that the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Association breached their fiduciary duty of prudence under ERISA by allowing its retirement plan to offer investment options that charged excessively high costs as a percentage of the amount invested in that product. The plaintiff also accused them of allowing the plan to pay excessive direct fees to Wells Fargo, the plan’s record keeper and breaching their “duty of loyalty by allowing the Plan to include investment options offered by Wells Fargo.”