Court Defeat is Guide for Labor Agency Retirement Adviser Rule

The US Labor Department’s federal court defeat in a case challenging its expanded definition of retirement plan rollover advice is likely to influence its strategy in writing a new regulation.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration has previewed rulemaking that would serve to cover larger portions of the insurance and securities markets by its strict fiduciary standard of advice. A Florida federal district court Feb. 13 struck down a portion of the agency’s 2021 guidance that expanded the definition of a retirement plan fiduciary.

The court’s emphasis on a 1975 regulation that clarifies the legal definition of an investment adviser bound ...