DOL Won’t Fight Final Motion for Final Judgement in Second Fiduciary Rule Case
After choosing not to defend the regulation in an earlier case, the Department of Labor has again declined to oppose a motion for final judgment in a second legal challenge to the fiduciary rule.
The Department of Labor is not expected to oppose a motion seeking final judgment in a second legal challenge to its fiduciary rule, according to a Wednesday court filing.
The unopposed motion, filed by the plaintiffs in Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice Inc. et al. v. United States Department of Labor et al. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, follows the DOL’s decision to not oppose a motion seeking final judgment in a separate legal challenge earlier this week, signaling the end of the fiduciary rule, which had been established under former President Joe Biden.
The rule was stayed by two district courts in July 2024, and the DOL has not been defending it since November 2025.
Since the 2024 fiduciary rule, formally known as the Retirement Security Rule, was introduced, it faced several legal challenges and faced slim odds of continuing after President Donald Trump’s November 2024 election.
The rule would have required retirement investment advisers to meet a fiduciary standard when advising on individual retirement account rollovers or on investment menus for smaller retirement plans.
The rule was scheduled to take effect in September 2024, but industry groups quickly challenged it in court. They claimed the DOL had overstepped its authority under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and argued the rule was similar to a 2018 version that the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had previously overturned.
In July 2024, two federal district courts in Texas issued nationwide orders to pause the rule’s implementation. Both of those cases now have unopposed motions to vacate the rule.
The fiduciary rule was intended to protect people saving for retirement by discouraging advisers from recommending products that were not in their clients’ best interest, such as riskier or more complicated investments.
Currently, the Department of Labor has not introduced a replacement for the fiduciary rule.