March 4, 2026
Cushman & Wakefield mismanaged its employee retirement plan by ignoring “glaring red flags” in its selection of an underperforming fund that exposed investors to climate-related risks, according to what the plaintiff’s counsel called a “first-of-its-kind” class action that accuses the commercial estate firm of violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Cushman breached its duties as a fiduciary when it selected the Westwood Quality SmallCap Fund “in spite of numerous glaring red flags, including chronic underperformance, [and] dangerous aggregation of climate change-related financial risk,” resulting in losses to employee retirement savings, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Seattle federal court by 401(k) participant Renee Kvek.
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Michelle C. Yau, chair of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC’s ERISA and employee benefits practice and counsel for Kvek, said the suit is a “first-of-its-kind legal challenge under ERISA” that “will hopefully show 401(k) plans that the financial risks associated with climate cannot be ignored.”
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Kvek and the proposed class are represented by Jay Rossiter, Kimberly Blake and Benjamin Segal of Client Earth USA Inc. and Michelle C. Yau, Daniel R. Sutter and Ryan A. Wheeler of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
Read Cushman & Wakefield Ignored 401(k) Climate Risks, Suit Says .