By Michael Graham and Charles Stevens ( October 2, 2017, 11:37 AM EDT) -- Over the past decade, private employers have been deluged with class action litigation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which has challenged whether the administrative fees charged to participants' accounts in defined contribution retirement plans, such as their 401(k) plans, were excessive. Several of these cases have resulted in a number of large settlements — some greater than $50 million. About a year ago, the law firm responsible for many of the ERISA 401(k) excessive fee class actions — Schlichter Bogard & Denton — turned its attention to the retirement plans offered by large universities. In a series of ERISA lawsuits filed last August, the plaintiffs alleged that the universities, as well as their retirement plan fiduciaries, breached their fiduciary duties owed to participants by failing to monitor their service providers and plan investments, and by failing to reduce the administrative fees charged to participants and beneficiaries....