Schlichter Bogard, Oracle Seek to End 4-Year Legal Battle; Oracle to Pay $12 Million

Oracle has agreed to pay $12 million to resolve an ERISA class action lawsuit brought by Schlichter Bogard & Denton on behalf of over 70,000 retirement plan participants.

Filed in 2016, the suit alleged that Oracle allowed its retirement plan’s recordkeeper, Fidelity, to charge excessive fees and that the plan contained imprudent investment options that “consistently underperformed, charged excessive fees, and paid revenue sharing to Fidelity far beyond a reasonable rate for the services provided.”

The case was slated to go to a bench trial on December 3, 2019, on which date the parties finally reached an agreement – five minutes after trial was scheduled to begin. As stated in the motion for preliminary approval, “[o]nly after approximately four years of litigation, and on the eve of trial, were the parties able to reach a settlement to resolve this action.”

In addition to $12 million in monetary damages, the proposed settlement also includes non-monetary provisions requiring, among other things, that Oracle restrict its recordkeeper from soliciting plan participants for the purpose of cross-selling proprietary non-plan products and services, including IRAs, managed account services, insurance, investment products, and wealth management services.

We are proud to be pioneers in retirement plan litigation. For additional information about Schlichter Bogard & Denton’s Retirement practice, please contact us at 800-USE-LAWS or sbd@uselaws.com.