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ERISA Litigation

Practices

ERISA Litigation

Thompson Hine’s ERISA Litigation team defends the full spectrum of employee benefits disputes with a unified, business-focused strategy. Drawing on the firm’s deep experience in employee benefits and executive compensation, labor and employment, and business litigation, we deliver coordinated, efficient advocacy that mitigates risk, controls cost, and advances clients’ business objectives.

The Thompson Hine “Trifecta”

Our multidisciplinary approach equips us to anticipate and address litigation and litigation-avoidance issues from every angle – an advantage for corporate plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and the service providers who support them.

We are litigators first, with the subject-matter fluency to navigate ERISA’s complexities and the trial readiness to prevail when necessary.

Our team couples market knowledge with rigorous case management to streamline discovery, sharpen defenses early, and position matters for favorable resolution – whether through targeted motion practice, strategic negotiation, or trial. Clients count on us for pragmatic guidance, crisp execution, and clear communication from intake to outcome.

We represent national and global corporations, plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries and committees, trustees, and a wide range of service providers – including recordkeepers, consultants, investment advisers, ESOP trustees, valuation firms, and TPAs – across industries and in courts nationwide.

Thompson Hine has been named by Best Law Firms® as a Tier 1 national firm in Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law in 2026.

Best Law Firms Tier 1 National

Retirement Plan Litigation

We defend 401(k), 403(b), and defined benefit plan fiduciaries and committees against:

  • Class actions alleging violations of ERISA’s fiduciary duties, including excessive fee claims (e.g., recordkeeping, share classes, and managed accounts) and investment performance claims (e.g., target date funds, stable value funds, and employer securities).
  • Participant benefit claims arising from plan terminations, historical M&A activity, lost or incomplete records, and competing claimants.
  • PBGC “controlled group” liability actions and withdrawal liability disputes.
  • We also represent service providers in discovery and third-party practice and advise ESOP trustees, companies, and service providers in participant and Department of Labor challenges to advisory and valuation services, as well as related investigations.

Health & Welfare Plan Litigation

We defend plans and fiduciaries in benefit disputes involving:

  • Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act compliance.
  • Out-of-network provider claims, balance billing, and reimbursement issues.
  • Coordination of benefits, subrogation, overpayments, and related recovery actions.
  • We also handle fiduciary breach claims alleging cost or coverage miscalculations, statutory penalty claims for alleged information failures, and disputes with service providers.

Leaders

We defend companies against an increasingly aggressive and organized plaintiffs’ bar. While corporate sponsors are typically the target, financial institutions providing services have not been spared. We expect this trend to continue, providing fertile litigation ground for the unwary and necessitating strong and sophisticated defense counsel to meet this challenge.

We provide fiduciary training, thought leadership, and litigation-avoidance strategies. We offer numerous ERISA resources for plan committees and benefits professionals (both lawyers and non-lawyers), including customized training and education sessions, a cutting-edge blog (www.ERISALitigation.com), and client webinars, all focused on litigation trends, fiduciary best practices, and common pitfalls. Our lawyers also regularly speak at bar association events across the country and publish articles on ERISA topics.

National reach, multidisciplinary depth, and proven innovation. Our team provides business-first ERISA representation across jurisdictions with seamless access to compliance, corporate, tax, and employment advisors, delivering clarity, predictability, responsiveness, and value while controlling cost and addressing interconnected risks.

Our Business Litigation and Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice groups collaborate to write posts for ERISA Litigation & Compliance, our blog covering the latest issues related to ERISA litigation and litigation-avoidance. As a firm that excels in handling the full range of ERISA litigation and in counseling clients on how to avoid ERISA litigation through training, compliance and careful drafting, we hope you will find our updates, tips and best practices valuable.

For the latest news and analysis, please visit our blog, ERISALitigation.com. To receive an email notification whenever a new blog post is published, please subscribe to the blog.

If you have any questions, please contact your Thompson Hine relationship attorney or Brian J. Lamb or Julia Ann Love, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group leader.