In an appeal of a district court judgment upholding a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investment duties regulation that allowed employee benefit plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors such as climate change in risk and return analyses, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the judgment and remanded to the district court for reconsideration in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which the Supreme Court “discarded” the “decades-old Chevron deference doctrine.” The Fifth Circuit described vacatur and remand of a district court judgment in the context of intervening Supreme Court precedent as “a modest and relatively uncontroversial practice” that is “a basic feature of our judicial hierarchy.” The Fifth Circuit concluded that the “slight delay” that would result from remanding to the district court would better serve the appellate court and the circuit at large. 

Challenge to the U.S. Department of Labor's amendment of the Investment Duties regulation governing private-sector benefit plans.

Utah v. Chavez-DeRemer

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Fifth Circuit Sent Challenge to Investment Duties Rule on ESG Factors Back to District Court for Reconsideration Based on Loper Bright

Filed

United States of America

Texas

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Fifth Circuit Sent Challenge to Investment Duties Rule on ESG Factors Back to District Court for Reconsideration Based on Loper Bright

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