Giant Eagle Agrees To Settle Ex-Worker's ERISA Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Law360 (April 14, 2025, 8:45 PM EDT) -- Grocery store chain Giant Eagle Inc. has reached a settlement with a former employee resolving a proposed Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action accusing the company of wasting millions of dollars of retirement plan participants' funds, according to a notice filed Monday.

Giant Eagle and plaintiff Cheryl Kehrer reached the deal during mediation in February, they said in the notice lodged jointly in Pennsylvania federal court. Since then, they have been working to draft the settlement agreement, which isn't yet finished given the "length and complexity of the settlement agreement and exhibits," they said.

"The parties anticipate that they will be able to finalize and execute their class action settlement agreement within the next 30 days," they said.

Kehrer filed suit in August 2024, claiming Giant Eagle breached its fiduciary obligations to 401(k) plan participants by failing to control administrative and record-keeping costs, wasting the assets of the plan and failing to act in the best interests of the plan participants.

"Defendants' actions were contrary to the actions of a reasonable fiduciary and resulted in the plan and its participants losing many millions of dollars," Kehrer said.

According to the complaint, the plan had roughly 8,260 participants with account balances when it made its most recent disclosure in October 2023. At that time, it reported about $658.8 million in assets.

Kehrer, who lives in Pennsylvania, said she and other participants have been subjected to "excessive costs and fees" resulting in financial losses. She was hoping to represent a class of all participants in the plan between August 2018 and today.

"Had defendants complied with their fiduciary obligations, the plan and plan participants would not have suffered these losses, and plan participants would have had more money available to them for their retirement," Kehrer said in the complaint.

Giant Eagle describes itself as a "food, fuel and pharmacy retailer" with more than 470 locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and Indiana, according to its website.

Counsel for Kehrer declined to comment Monday. A representative for Giant Eagle didn't immediately respond to request for comment.

Kehrer is represented by Peter A. Muhic of Muhic Law LLC and Edwin J. Kilpela Jr. and Paige T. Noah of Wade Kilpela Slade LLP. Giant Eagle is represented by Jeremy P. Blumenfeld, Emily C. Byrne, and Stephanie R. Reiss of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The case is Cheryl Kehrer v. Giant Eagle Inc. et al., case number 2:24-cv-01211, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

--Editing by Stephen Berg

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