IN RE: AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation - MDL 3035

  1. November 27, 2024

    AME Church, Retirees Ask To Drop Bishops From $90M Suit

    The African Methodist Episcopal Church and employees who alleged the church and its investment providers failed to prevent a rogue employee from embezzling $90 million from their retirement plan asked a Tennessee federal court to dismiss claims against two bishops in the case, citing a settlement reached earlier this year.

  2. June 05, 2023

    AME Church Wants Insurance Co.'s Claims Cut From MDL

    The African Methodist Episcopal Church urged a Tennessee federal judge to throw out an insurance company's claim that the church wrongly labeled the insurer as a retirement plan fiduciary, saying the dispute belongs in arbitration instead of the $90 million multidistrict litigation brought by AME workers.

  3. March 20, 2023

    AME Church, Plan Managers Can't Escape Retirement Suit

    A Tennessee federal judge dismissed claims under federal benefits law from multidistrict litigation brought by African Methodist Episcopal Church pastors and employees who allege more than $90 million was stolen from their retirement plan, but preserved many state law allegations in the sprawling class action.

  4. December 09, 2022

    AME Church Shifts Blame For Missing $90M, Plan Admin Says

    An administrator of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's retirement plan says the church is attempting to blame it for the church's own mismanagement of a pastor who allegedly embezzled $90 million from the plan.

  5. August 22, 2022

    AME Church Pastors Add ERISA Claims To Retirement Suit

    A group of pastors amended their suit alleging that the African Methodist Episcopal Church's retirement fund is missing over $90 million in assets, adding claims that the church's "catastrophic failure" to properly oversee the fund violates federal benefits law.

  6. July 29, 2022

    4 August Court Hearings For Benefits Attys To Know

    The Fifth Circuit will soon hear arguments from the federal government and religious groups battling over an injunction protecting religious medical providers that assert faith-based objections from having to perform abortions or gender-transition surgery, or cover those procedures for employees.

  7. July 29, 2022

    AME Church Defends Letters To Pastors In Retirement Suit

    The African Methodist Episcopal Church urged a Tennessee federal court not to grant an injunction request from a group of pastors seeking to bar the church from sending letters to former workers about their retirement accounts, as a consolidated class action is pending alleging negligence over a more than $90 million loss to the employee annuity plan.

  8. July 15, 2022

    Pastors Say AME Church's Pension Letters Skirt 'Ethical Line'

    A group of pastors accusing the African Methodist Episcopal Church of mismanaging their pension funds is asking a Tennessee federal court to stop the church from sending them letters seeking to make adjustments to their accounts, arguing these communications are "too close to the ethical line."