Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Files $168 Million ERISA Action Against CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc.
Plan Fiduciaries Retained a Poorly Performing Fund for Over 12 Years
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FAIRFAX, Va., Sept. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight filed a $168 Million Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia alleging that CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc. and its fiduciaries violated ERISA by keeping a poorly performing fund in its retirement savings plan for more than a decade.
According to the Complaint, CGI failed to act prudently when kept one of the worst performing large cap growth funds in the market, the Columbia Trust Focused Large Cap Growth Institutional 100 Fund, in its 401(k) savings plan. The Complaint alleges that the Columbia Fund lagged behind its stated benchmark and experienced significant outflows of cash. As a result, the Complaint alleges that the failure to remove this imprudent fund could only be the result of an imprudent fiduciary process.
The Columbia Fund has underperformed since it was added to the CGI 401(k) plan in 2014, according to the Complaint. Since being added to the Plan in 2014, through the time it was finally removed on and around February 17, 2026, the Columbia Fund underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Growth Index (the “Russell 1000 Growth”), by about 228% (501% v 273%). From September 1, 2020, to February 28, 2026, the Columbia Fund lagged the Russell 1000 Growth by more than 61% (106.09% v. 44.92%), or over 7% annually. As a result, the Complaint alleges CGI’s plan lost over $168,000,000 relative to what it could have earned in another fund that only matched the investment returns of the Russell 1000 Growth.
“In our view, the Columbia Fund represented a flawed investment strategy that impeded the growth of the employees’ precious retirement savings. One would think that a prudent fiduciary would not want to keep a fund of that kind very long. Yet the CGI Defendants did just that.” said Charles Field, Co-Chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight’s Financial Mismanagement and ERISA Litigation Practice Group and counsel for Plaintiff and the proposed class. “It is disappointing to see fiduciaries fail to act when faced with obvious, objective financial performance data.”
Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight has filed the CGI ERISA Complaint on the heels of several significant ERISA class settlements in 2024 and 2025. In 2025, the firm obtained final approval of a record $69 million settlement in its multi-year class action against UnitedHealth Group. 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 in recent years. They were also among the highest value settlements ever in cases involving allegedly poor-performing plan investments.
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 $5 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.
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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.
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