Knight-Swift Settles ERISA Cases, RTX Faces Plan Forfeiture Charges

Motor carrier holding company Knight-Swift has reached an agreement in principle to settle two complaints over its retirement plan, according to a joint filing this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

The cases—Hagins and Woodard v. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc. and Sievert et al. v. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc.—were brought by plaintiffs representing participants in the company’s retirement plan.

The complaints allege that Knight-Swift breached its fiduciary duties of prudence in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by charging excessive administrative fees.

A mediation session held on August 11, 2025, followed by additional negotiations, led to a tentative class-wide settlement agreement. Attorneys for both parties stated in the August 25 filing that they are drafting a formal written agreement and expect to seek preliminary approval of the settlement by October 24.

In light of the settlement, the parties asked the court to stay proceedings and vacate a status conference previously scheduled for September 17, citing “good cause” to focus on finalizing the deal.

The Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc. Retirement Plan had 28,467 plan participants with more than $789 million in assets as of 2023, according to its latest Form 5500 filing.

In a separate lawsuit filed August 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, plaintiffs accuse RTX Corporation and its plan committees of breaching fiduciary duties under ERISA.

The case, Jacob and Miller v. RTX Corporation et al., includes claims by participants in the RTX Savings Plan, the RTX Corporation Savings Plan and the legacy United Technologies Corporation Employee Savings Plan. Plaintiffs allege that, since 2019, plan fiduciaries diverted forfeited plan assets to offset RTX’s own matching contribution obligations rather than using them to pay administrative expenses, as plan documents allegedly required.

The complaint details millions in plan expenses charged directly to participant accounts from 2019 to 2023. During the same period, RTX allegedly reduced its contributions by $18.6 million using forfeited funds.

The lawsuit brings eight claims under ERISA, including breaches of loyalty and prudence, along with allegations of violations of anti-inurement provisions, prohibited transactions and failure to monitor fiduciaries. Plaintiffs seek class certification, restitution of losses, disgorgement of profits and potential appointment of an independent fiduciary.

In recent cases concerning plan forfeitures, district courts have issued mixed outcomes, despite the DOL weighing in on the side of employers in July.

The United Technologies Corporation Employee Savings Plan, which is the formal name of the RTX plan based on the company name before it merged with Raytheon in 2020, had 113,174 plan participants with nearly $49 billion in assets in 2022, according to its most recent Form 5500.