A Massachusetts federal magistrate submitted a report and recommendation granting a motion to dismiss a pension risk transfer suit against AT&T Inc. on Monday.
Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson said the court should grant motions to dismiss the case, Piercy et al. v. AT&T Inc. et al, on the grounds that the plaintiffs’ claims lack evidence that AT&T brokered an $8.05 billion pension annuity deal in May 2023 with Athene Annuity and Life Co.
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Plaintiffs alleged that the deal put AT&T’s 96,000 retirees at financial risk, but the magistrate judge rejected those claims, saying that AT&T had selected the firm that at the time was known as State Steet Global Advisors Trust Co. as its fiduciary adviser for the deal.
“Even if the complaint makes out a plausible claim that someone breached a duty of care—the AT&T defendants cannot be held liable because they delegated to SSGA the fiduciary responsibility to select an annuity provider,” Levenson said in the recommendation. “The complaint lacks sufficient factual allegations to support a plausible claim against the AT&T defendants.”
Levenson also recommended permitting a single count of the complaint, alleging “that SSGA did not truly operate independently” when selecting the annuity provider, to proceed.
The consolidated case stemmed from two class action complaints filed against AT&T and State Street in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in March 2024, first by four former pension fund participants represented by law firm Libby Hoopes Brooks & Mulvey, PC and then by more former participants represented by Schlichter Bogard LLP.
In August 2025, Levenson issued report and recommendation for the dismissal of the case, saying the complaints failed to state a claim of breach of fiduciary duty, and saying the case lacked evidence that AT&T or State Street had any conflict of interests with Athene.
Last October, a Massachusetts separate federal judge accepted Levenson’s opinion and dismissed the case but ruled that the plaintiffs had standing to sue. The plaintiffs filed a motion to amend their complaint, which State Street and AT&T moved to dismiss again in November.
O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP represent AT&T. Goodwin Procter LLP represents State Street.
AT&T did not immediately respond for comment and State Street declined to comment.
Twice so far this year, the Department of Labor has filed amicus briefs supporting pension sponsors, at the federal appeals court level, in pension risk transfer cases. Those briefs illustrate the department’s litigation strategy under the administration of President Donald Trump. The agency is taking an active role in defending pension risk transfers as lawful and subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, pushing back against what it has characterized as “regulation by litigation.”
