Uptick in Fee Litigation Reshaping 401(k) Industry

The decadelong litigation effort challenging the fees charged to 401(k) investors has reached a previously unthinkable target: a Minnesota auto body repair company with barely 100 participants and less than $10 million in assets.

Workers have used litigation to challenge 401(k) fees for more than a decade, but the frequency of these lawsuits recently picked up steam. Since September 2015, more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed challenging the fees paid by 401(k) plans of large companies like Intel Corp., Anthem Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Chevron Corp.

Most of these cases concern mega plans with assets ...