On March 25, Bloomberg Law quoted Scott Stitt and Chelsea Mikula on the recent Wilmington Trust ESOP case that resulted in Wilmington’s owing $29.8 million for its fiduciary duties under ERISA. Regulations for determining the fair market value of ESOP shares remain unclear and, as a result, fiduciaries and companies are left to rely on fact-specific decisions from judges as guidance.

Scott and Chelsea predicted that ESOP fiduciaries will fight an “uphill battle” in litigation, and noted that Wilmington “demonstrates again that the DOL should address the issues faced by ESOP fiduciaries in a regulation that spells out what is expected when engaging in the purchase or sale of shares.”