Milliman Class Action

Case name: Joanna P. Mattson, et al., v. Milliman, Inc., et al. 

Case type: Financial Services Litigation

Filed in: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

Docket: Case No.: 2:22-cv-00037

Case Summary

On January 13, 2022, Sanford Heisler Sharp filed a class action lawsuit against Milliman, Inc., alleging that the company breached its fiduciary duties under ERISA by mismanaging the company’s retirement funds. The Complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. 

The Complaint alleges Milliman failed to eliminate a family of risk-based “target risk funds,” from the company’s Profit Sharing and Retirement Plan that significantly underperformed meaningful benchmark funds and indices for nearly ten years. 

Milliman, a global consulting and actuarial firm, had annual revenues of approximately $1.4 billion in 2021, advising companies in a variety of industries: healthcare, property and casualty insurance, life insurance and financial services, and employee benefits. 

The underperforming target risk funds, for which Milliman acted as sub-adviser, have had a significant negative impact on employees’ retirement funds, resulting in losses to its employees of potentially up to $85 million in retirement savings. 

Plaintiff Joanna Mattson filed the case as an individual and as representative of approximately 4,000 Plan participants in Milliman’s $1.7 billion 401(k) Plan. The defendants are Milliman, Inc. and its Board of Directors, the Milliman Investment Committee and Administrative Committee, and their members.

On October 10, 2023, the Court granted certification to the class. 

A bench trial was held from April 1-10, 2024.