ST. LOUIS — Charter Communications is facing a class-action lawsuit from employees who allege the company breached its fiduciary duties by misusing retirement plan assets.
Plaintiffs Patrick O’Donnell, Wayne Saffold and Mark Papenfuss filed the lawsuit on Feb. 7, on behalf of themselves and other participants in Charter’s 401(k) Savings Plan, claiming the company violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
The lawsuit asserts that Charter improperly used plan forfeiture assets to reduce its own employer matching contributions rather than applying those funds to cover administrative expenses as required by the plan’s terms.
Under ERISA, fiduciaries are required to administer retirement plans with loyalty and prudence, ensuring that assets are managed for the sole benefit of participants and their beneficiaries.
The plaintiffs argue that Charter and unnamed co-defendants violated these fiduciary duties by engaging in prohibited transactions under 29 U.S.C. § 1106, which restricts self-dealing and conflicts of interest.
The lawsuit seeks multiple remedies, including full restoration of the plan’s losses, disgorgement of profits Charter allegedly obtained through these breaches, and an injunction against any further ERISA violations.
Plaintiffs also request class certification to represent all similarly situated plan participants and beneficiaries.
The complaint notes that ERISA explicitly forbids fiduciaries from using plan assets for their own benefit.
According to the plaintiffs, Charter’s actions—reallocating forfeited funds to reduce its financial obligations rather than covering plan expenses—resulted in unjust enrichment at the expense of employees’ retirement savings.
"Throughout the class period, Defendants breached their duty of prudence by failing to use forfeited Plan assets to pay Plan administrative expenses and instead used such assets to benefit Charter by reducing its employer matching contributions to the Plan," the complaint states. "In deciding to allocate forfeitures for the benefit of Charter, Defendants used an imprudent and flawed decision-making process to determine what was in the best interest of Plan participants, despite Defendants’ clear conflict of interest when making this decision that favored Charter’s corporate interests."
Additionally, the lawsuit invokes ERISA’s co-fiduciary liability provisions, alleging that those responsible for the plan failed to prevent or correct these breaches.
"Each Defendant knowingly participated in the breach of the other Defendants, knowing that such acts were a breach, enabled the other Defendants to commit a breach by failing to lawfully discharge its own fiduciary duties, knew of the breach by the other Defendants, and failed to make any reasonable effort under the circumstances to remedy the breach," the complaint states.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages, interest, attorney’s fees and other equitable relief to restore the plan to its rightful financial standing. The plaintiffs are represented by Jerome J. Schlichter, Troy Doles, Kurt C. Struckhoff and Kaitlin Minkler of Schlichter Bogard LLC, a law firm specializing in ERISA litigation.
If found liable, Charter Communications could be required to compensate affected employees for financial losses incurred due to the alleged mismanagement.
Charter Communications has yet to publicly respond to the allegations.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division case number: 4:25-cv-00157