Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. Inc. reached an agreement to pay $22 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the drug company mismanaged the investment options in its 401(k) plan, according to a court document filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston.
The complaint originally filed in January 2021 alleged that the company maintained underperforming investment options and selected and retained as plan investment options higher-cost share classes of mutual funds and collective investment trusts. Specifically, the suit faulted the company for using a suite of “unproven collective investment trust target-date funds as investment options in the plan, known as the Northern Trust Focus Funds.”
The participants in Takeda’s 401(k) plan who filed the complaint asked the court for preliminary approval of the class-action settlement, which was unopposed by the defendants.
In addition to paying $22 million, the defendants agreed to certain non-monetary terms, including, for example, annual training to plan fiduciaries regarding their fiduciary duties under ERISA.
The defendants admitted no wrongdoing, saying they agreed to the settlement solely to avoid litigation costs, according to the settlement agreement.
The case is Robert Ford et al. vs. Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. Inc. et al.
