Sanford Heisler and Fell Law Sue Law Firm For Alleged Self Dealing

Claims firm used employee retirement plan contributions to pay its expenses

KANSAS CITY, Sept. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and Fell Law filed an ERISA class action complaint today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri that alleges self-dealing and other breaches of fiduciary duty by the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP and members of its Executive Board (the “Husch Blackwell Defendants”). According to the lawsuit, the Husch Blackwell Defendants have carried out on-going breaches of fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001–1461 (“ERISA”), in connection with the management of the Husch Blackwell 401(k) Trust Fund (the “Plan”).

According to the allegations in the Complaint, the Husch Blackwell Defendants routinely withheld funds from employee paychecks for the purpose of contributing those funds to employees’ accounts in the Plan. However, the Husch Blackwell Defendants did not send all employee contributions to the Plan in a timely manner as required by ERISA. According to the Complaint, the Husch Blackwell Defendants kept the funds in the firm’s general operating account for months at a time and used them to pay the law firm’s operating expenses.

The Complaint also claims that the Husch Blackwell Defendants’ actions create a sizable pool of assets inaccessible to the Plan, its participants, and its beneficiaries, depriving them of opportunities to seek an investment return on their retirement funds. The Husch Blackwell Defendant’s conduct significantly undermines the standard of prudence and loyalty required by the Plan.

The Complaint asserts that, through these actions, the Husch Blackwell Defendants violated ERISA’s anti-inurement provision, breached ERISA’s fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty and engaged in “prohibited transactions” barred by ERISA.

The named plaintiff, Tyler M. Paetkau, filed this case on behalf of the Plan and approximately 400 participants. Named as Defendants are the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP and each member of its Executive Board.

“ERISA’s fiduciary duties are the highest known in the law. Employees should be able to trust that when their employer withholds retirement plan contributions from their paycheck, those funds will go directly to their retirement savings, not into the employer’s pocket,” said Charles Field, Sanford Heisler’s Co-Vice Chairman and counsel for Plaintiff and the proposed class. “To divert employees’ retirement plan contributions to pay for operating expenses is a total betrayal of that trust.”

“Law firms should not be able to shift the financial burden of their operations onto their employees. We hope lawsuits such as Mr. Paetkau’s are able to reverse and rectify such practices,” said Bibi Fell, Founder of Fell Law, PC and counsel for Plaintiff and the proposed class.

Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight has filed the Husch Blackwell LLP ERISA complaint on the heels of several significant ERISA class settlements in 2024 and 2025. In June 2025, the firm obtained a record $69 million settlement in its multi-year class action against UnitedHealth Group. Earlier in 2024, Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, together with co-counsel, also obtained final approval of a $61 million settlement in a long-running ERISA class action against General Electric. The UnitedHealth and GE settlements were among the most significant ERISA settlements of 2024. They were also among the highest value settlements ever in cases involving allegedly poor-performing plan investments.

Fell Law, PC is currently pursuing claims against other large law firms for misclassifying nonequity partners as “partners” when they are employees. A federal judge in San Diego, California recently rejected an effort by one such firm to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims in Garland v. Duane Morris, LLP, et al, No. 3:2024cv01783 – Document 36 (S.D. Cal. 2025).

About Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight

Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight is a public interest and civil rights law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Nashville, and San Diego. The firm focuses on executive representation, wrongful termination, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wage theft and overtime violations, whistleblower and qui tam, sexual violence, Title IX violations and victims’ rights, financial mismanagement and ERISA litigation, and Asian American litigation and finance matters. Our lawyers have recovered over $1 billion for our clients through many verdicts and settlements.

In 2024, Forbes named Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Chairman and Co-Founder David Sanford to its inaugural list of America’s Top 200 Lawyers. The National Law Journal has selected Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight as Civil Rights Firm of the Year, and it has recognized the firm as both Employment Rights Firm of the Year and Human Rights Firm of the Year. Benchmark Litigation has named the firm Labor & Employment Firm of the Year, and Law360 has recognized the firm as Employment Practice Group of the Year.

For the latest news about Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, visit the firm’s newsroom or follow the firm on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

If you have potential legal claims and are seeking counsel, please call 646-768-7070 or email david.sanford@sanfordheisler.com. Attorneys at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight would like to have the opportunity to help you.

Media Contact: Jamie Moss, newsPRos, at 201-788-0142 or Jamie@newspros.com.

About Fell Law

Fell Law, PC represents plaintiffs in wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and employment claims. The firm is headquartered in San Diego, California. Bibi Fell is a nationally renowned trial attorney. She is the Vice President of the San Diego Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (“ABOTA”), an ABOTA national board representative, and a Trustee of the ABOTA Foundation. Ms. Fell has received multiple Outstanding Trial Lawyer and Outstanding Advocate awards from the Consumer Attorneys of California and has twice been a finalist for Consumer Attorneys of California Consumer Advocate of the Year (2021 and 2025). She teaches trial skills through the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego, School of Law. Ms. Fell’s case results include the #1 personal injury verdict in California (2018), top 10 personal injury verdict in the nation (2018), and #1 wrongful death settlement in California (2024).

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