Douglas P. Needham

Douglas P. Needham represents plaintiffs in class actions cases under ERISA and consumer protection statutes concerning pension calculations, fees and investments in 401(k) plans, and insurance rates and coverage. He has litigated class actions cases against some of America’s largest companies about ERISA’s vesting rules, 401(k) plan investments and how corporate transactions affect participants’ benefits and has obtained significant class-wide recoveries.

Mr. Needham works extensively with experts in the fields of actuarial science, finance and economics to apply the ERISA statute to novel issues and complex annuity and financial products. Since 2018, he has taken a leading role in developing and litigating cases around the country involving the payment of actuarially equivalent pension benefits under ERISA. These cases include Cruz v. Raytheon, a case in the District of Massachusetts that settled in 2021 by providing class members increased pension benefits valued at more than $59 million, as well as Herndon v. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (E.D. Virginia), Masten v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (S.D. New York), Berube v. Rockwell Automation, Inc. (E.D. Wisconsin), and Belknap v. Partners Healthcare System, Inc. (D. Massachusetts).

In Berry v. Wells Fargo, 2020 WL 9311859 (D.S.C. July 29, 2020), Mr. Needham litigated whether a plan was improperly claiming “top hat” status under ERISA. In approving the $79 million settlement, the court found it was “the largest recovery in a ‘top hat’ case in the history of ERISA” and was the result of “displayed extraordinary skill and determination.” Mr. Needham is also co-counsel for the class in Stegemann v. Gannett, 970 F.3d 465 (4th Cir. 2020), a case about a single-stock fund in a 401(k) plan that clarified the pleading standards for claims under ERISA’s duties of prudence and diversification that Law360 called one of the “most significant” ERISA decisions of 2020.

Before joining Izard, Kindall & Raabe in 2016, Mr. Needham was a partner in a large national law firm, where he represented clients in cases involving business torts, claims for breach of fiduciary duty and fraud in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts.

Mr. Needham received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 2007 and his B.S. from Cornell University in 2004, where he received numerous academic honors, was a Cornell Tradition Fellow and an All-Ivy player on the men’s lacrosse team. He is a board member for his town’s lacrosse program, the risk manager for his town’s soccer program and the co-founder and treasurer of a charitable foundation that provides college scholarships to graduates of his high school alma mater.