Garofolo to provide expert witness and independent fiduciary services. Garofolo has been involved in a variety of fiduciary engagements, including those relating to multiemployer plans. He is also an attorney with extensive transactional and litigation experience in the field of employee benefits. Garofolo was recognized as a 2012 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year by California Lawyer. Expert
Witness
With significant independent fiduciary experience and as a practicing ERISA attorney, Mr. Garofolo is well suited to serve as an expert witness with regard to a wide range of issues. He has been retained as a testifying expert in federal and state court litigation. Garofolo’s expertise makes him qualified to serve as an expert in health and welfare and retirement plan litigation. Some of the independent fiduciary engagements in which he has been involved include the following:
• Transaction for the sale of closely held shares by an employee stock ownership plan;
• Real property acquisition by a collectively bargained plan; and
• Evaluation of the reasonableness of plan expenses and expense allocation among related parties and service providers.
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Mr. Garofolo is an experienced litigator and transactional attorney in the field of employee benefits. He has advised clients with respect to fiduciary compliance, service provider arrangements, and various other issues relating to the design, management, and administration of employee benefit plans. In 2014 and 2015, he was selected to the Northern California Super Lawyers list. Garofolo currently holds the designation of Group Benefits Associate (“GBA”). The GBA designation is awarded through a joint program of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and focuses on group health plan design, group benefits management, and health care financing, quality, and reform. EES also provides litigation support for plaintiffs and defendants. Early recognition and evaluation of ERISA issues can oftenmake the difference in a case. Independent Fiduciary
Those involved in the management and administration of benefit plans sometimes find themselves in conflicted roles. Hiring an independent fiduciary can be a wise investment. EES principal Joseph A. Garofolo brings his experience as a fiduciary and his knowledge of the law from practicing as an ERISA attorney to the company’s independent fiduciary services. Garofolo’s ERISA litigation experience as counsel, including in class actions, makes EES particularly suited to serve as an independent fiduciary for purposes of approving settlements in accordance with Department of Labor Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2003-39 (“PTE 2003-39”). If its conditions are satisfied, PTE 2003-39 provides an exemption for, inter alia, a release of a claim by a plan or plan fiduciary against a party in interest (e.g., a plan fiduciary, service provider, or employer) in exchange for consideration given by the party in interest to settle the plan or plan fiduciary’s claim. Garofolo has been involved in numerous settlements of ERISA lawsuits as an attorney and, therefore, possesses the practical experience often needed to appropriately evaluate settlements.
