Thomson v. Russell Investment Management LLC ( 2024 )

1 Paul S. Padda 2 NV Bar No. 10417 PAUL PADDA LAW, PLLC 3 4560 South Decatur Blvd., Suite 300 Las Vegas, NV 89103 4 Tel: 702.366.1888 psp@paulpaddalaw.com 5 6 Paul J. Lukas, MN Bar No. 22084X* lukas@nka.com 7 Brock J. Specht, MN Bar No. 0388343* bspecht@nka.com 8 Benjamin J. Bauer, MN Bar No. 0398853* bbauer@nka.com 9 NICHOLS KASTER, PLLP 10 4700 IDS Center 80 S 8th Street 11 Minneapolis, MN 55402 Telephone: (612) 256-3200 12 Facsimile: (612) 338-4878 13 *admitted pro hac vice 14 ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS AND THE PROPOSED CLASS 15 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA 17 18 DANNY WANEK, JUAN DUARTE, and Case No. 2:21-cv-00961-CDS-BNW RICK RUBERTON, as representatives of a 19 class of similarly situated persons, and on S AT CI CP EU PL TA IT NI GO N ST A IN PUD L O AR TD IOE NR behalf of the Caesars Entertainment REGARDING CLASS 20 Corporation Savings & Retirement Plan, CERTIFICATION 21 Plaintiffs [ECF No. 192] 22 v. 23 RUSSELL INVESTMENTS TRUST COMPANY, CAESARS HOLDINGS, INC., 24 THE PLAN INVESTMENT COMMITTEE, and THE 401(K) PLAN COMMITTEE. 25 26 Defendants 27 28 1 WHEREAS, Plaintiffs Danny Wanek, Juan Duarte, and Rick Ruberton, (“Plaintiffs”) have 2 filed a Fifth Amended Complaint (ECF No. 175) on behalf of the Caesars Entertainment 3 Corporation Savings & Retirement Plan (“Plan”) against Defendants Russell Investments 4 Trust Company (“Russell”), Caesars Holdings, Inc., the Plan Investment Committee, and the 5 401(k) Plan Committee (“Defendants”) (collectively, the “Parties”), alleging class action 6 claims under the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”); 7 WHEREAS, Plaintiffs filed their renewed Motion for Class Certification on August 9, 2024 8 (ECF No. 187); and 9 WHEREAS, the Parties have met and conferred regarding streamlining the litigation for 10 purposes of the efficient management of the litigation and agree to stipulate to the certification of 11 the class, as described below; 12 THE PARTIES HEREBY STIPULATE AND AGREE, SUBJECT TO THE COURT’S 13 APPROVAL, AS FOLLOWS: 14 1. The following class (“Class”) shall be certified: 15 All participants and beneficiaries of the Plan at any time from August 1, 2017 through December 17, 2021, excluding any employees of Caesars 16 with responsibility for the Plan’s investment or administrative functions. 17 2. The class is numerous, as the Plan had tens of thousands of participants during the 18 class period who were invested in the Russell Funds. 19 3. There are common issues respecting the claims alleged in the Fifth Amended 20 Complaint relating to (among other things): (a) which Defendants served as Plan fiduciaries; (b) 21 whether the Plan’s fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 1104; and 22 (c) the relief, if any, that may be appropriate in this case. 23 4. The alleged claims of Plaintiffs are typical of the alleged claims of the other class 24 members as the Plaintiffs participated in the Plan during the class period and they allege they 25 suffered the same or similar injury as other class members based on Defendants’ alleged conduct. 26 5. Plaintiffs declare that they are committed to fairly, adequately, and vigorously 27 representing and protecting the interests of the members of the Class, and the parties and counsel 28 1 are not currently aware of any conflicts that might compromise the Plaintiffs’ interests in 2 pursuing the claims on behalf of the Class. Plaintiffs also have retained competent and 3 experienced class counsel who are adequate to represent the class (i.e., Nichols Kaster, PLLP and 4 Paul Padda Law, PLLC). See Moreno v. Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., 2017 WL 5 3868803, at *11 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 5, 2017) (“Plaintiffs’ counsel are experienced litigators who 6 serve as class counsel in ERISA actions involving defined-contribution plans”). 7 6. Class certification is appropriate under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(1)(B) because 8 adjudications with respect to the common issues identified in Paragraph 2 as to individual class 9 members, as a practical matter, would be dispositive of the interests of the other persons not 10 parties to the individual adjudications or would substantially impair or impede their ability to 11 protect their interests relating to those issues. 12 7. Class certification has been granted in several other ERISA cases involving defined 13 contribution plans, including numerous cases in this Circuit. See, e.g., Mattson v. Milliman, Inc., 14 No. 22-0037-TSZ, ECF No. 106 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 6, 2023); Lauderdale v. NFP Retirement, Inc., 15 2022 WL 1599916 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 16, 2022); Baird v. Blackrock Inst. Tr. Co., N.A., 2020 WL 16 7389772, at *13 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 11, 2020); Hurtado v. Rainbow Disposal Co., 2019 WL 1771797, 17 at *1 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 22, 2019); Urakhchin v. Allianz Asset Mgmt. of Am., L.P., 2017 WL 18 2655678 (C.D. Cal. June 15, 2017); In re Northrop Grumman Corp. ERISA Litig., 2011 WL 19 3505264 (C.D Cal. Mar. 29, 2011); Tibble v. Edison Int’l, 2009 WL 6764541, at *2–4 (C.D. Cal. 20 June 30, 2009); Kanawi v. Bechtel Corp., 254 F.R.D. 102 (N.D. Cal. 2008); In re: Syncor ERISA 21 Litig., 227 F.R.D. 338 (C.D. Cal. 2005). 22 8. Similar stipulations regarding class certification also have been approved in other 23 ERISA cases involving defined contribution plans. See, e.g., Mills v. Molina Healthcare, Inc., No. 24 2:22-cv-01813, ECF No. 127 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 17, 2023); Williams v. Centerra Group, LLC., No. 25 1:20-cv-04220-SAL, ECF 175 (D.S.C. June 20, 2023); Berry v. FirstGroup America, Inc., No. 26 1:18-cv-00326, Dkt. No. 92 (S.D. Ohio Sep. 8, 2022); Turner v. Schneider Elec. Holdings, Inc., 27 No. 1:20-cv-11006, Dkt. No. 72 (D. Mass. Aug. 27, 2021); Reetz v. Lowe’s Companies, Inc., No. 28 5:18-cv-00075, Dkt. No. 97 (W.D.N.C. Nov. 5, 2020); Moitoso v. FMR LLC, No. 1:18-cv-12122, 1 Dkt. No. 83 (D. Mass. May 7, 2019); Velazquez v. Mass. Fin. Srvs. LLC, No. 1:17-cv-11249, Dkt. 2 No. 94 (D. Mass. June 25, 2019); Pledger v. Reliance Tr. Co., No. 1:15-cv-4444, Dkt. No. 3 101 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 7, 2017). 4 9. Nothing in this Stipulation prejudices any party’s ability to seek relief under Rule 5 23(c)(1)(C) at any time “before final judgment,” based on a good faith belief in a change in 6 circumstances from the present circumstances that are known or reasonably should be known by 7 any party, that the Class no longer satisfies the requirements of Rule 23(a) or (b)(1) or restricts 8 the Court’s authority to “alter[] or amend[]” an order granting class certification at any time 9 “before final judgment.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1)(C). In addition, this Stipulation is without 10 prejudice to any party’s ability to challenge class certification or seek any other form of relief if 11 Plaintiffs amend their Fifth Amended Complaint. Such relief may include, without 12 limitation, decertification, modification of the Class definition, or certification of sub-classes. 13 Further, this provision does not preclude the parties from jointly proposing a modified Class 14 definition in connection with any proposed settlement. 15 10. This Stipulation is solely for the purpose of resolving class certification in this action 16 and, except as expressly provided herein, is without prejudice to any party’s legal and 17 equitable rights and defenses in this action. 18 * * * 19 Accordingly, the Parties respectfully request that the Court approve this Stipulation 20 and Order and certify the proposed Class. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 NICHOLS KASTER, PLLP MAYER BROWN LLP /s/ Benjamin J. Bauer /s/ D. Matthew Moscon 3 Paul J. Lukas, Esq. (admitted pro hac vice) D.Matthew Moscon (admitted pro hac vice) Brock J. Specht, Esq. (admitted pro hac vice) 201 South Main Street, Suite 1100 4 Benjamin J. Bauer, Esq. (admitted pro hac Salt Lake City, UT 84111 vice) Telephone: (801) 907-2703 5 4700 IDS Center mmoscon@mayerbrown.com 6 80 S. 8th Street Minneapolis, MN 55402 MAYER BROWN LLP 7 Telephone: (612) 256-3200 Nancy G. Ross (admitted pro hac vice) 71 South Wacker Drive 8 PAUL PADDA LAW, PLLC Chicago, IL 60606 Paul S. Padda, Esq. Telephone: (312) 782-0600 9 4560 South Decatur Blvd., Suite 300 nross@mayerbrown.com 10 Las Vegas, NV 89103 Telephone: (702) 366-1888 LITTLER MENDELSON P.C. 11 Attorneys for Plaintiff Patrick H. Hicks, Esq. Bar. No. 004632 Diana G. Dickinson, Esq. Bar No. 13477 12 3960 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 300 Las Vegas, Nevada 89169-5937 13 Telephone: (702) 862-8800 14 phicks@littler.com ddickinson@littler.com 15 Attorneys for Defendant Caesars Holdings, 16 Inc., the Plan Investment Committee, and the 401(k) Plan Committee 17 18 MILBANK LLP /s/ Robert C. Hora 19 Sean M. Murphy, Esq. (admitted pro hac vice) 20 Robert C. Hora, Esq. (admitted pro hac vice) 21 55 Hudson Yards New York, NY 10001 22 Telephone: (212) 530-5000 23 PARSONS, BEHLE & LATIMER Rew R. Goodenow, Esq. NSBN 3722 24 Michael R. Kealy, Esq. NSBN 971 25 50 West Liberty Street, Suite 750 Reno, NV 89501 26 Telephone: (775) 323-1601 27 Attorneys for Defendant Russell Investments Trust Company 28 1 It is ordered, 2 Based on the foregoing stipulation regarding class certification, the court finds that the 3 | requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b)(1) are satisfied, and hereby 4 | certifies the following class: All participants and beneficiaries of the Plan at any time from 5 | August 1, 2017 through December 17, 2021, excluding any employees of Caesars with 6 | responsibility for the Plan’s investment or administrative functions. 7 Plaintiffs’ motions to certify class [ECF No. 179] and [ECF No. 187] are denied as 8 J moot. /) 9 Dated: August 29, 2024 / 10 LZ u Cris D. va Uniitéd States District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28