The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, voting 2-1, yesterday vacated the U.S. Labor Department’s fiduciary rule, the National Law Journal reported. The challengers in the Fifth Circuit case included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Financial Services Institute. The ruling comes one day after Labor Department won a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that was brought by Market Synergy Group, an insurance distributor. The Fifth Circuit struck down the entirety of the fiduciary rule, which had expanded the definition of “fiduciary” in an attempt to confront conflicts of interest in the retirement-savings industry. Labor’s next move is to decide whether to ask the full appeals court to rehear the dispute, or take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit still has an active case, one that was on hold until the Fifth Circuit ruled. The Washington, D.C., court will not be bound by how the Fifth Circuit ruled.
