Litigation Partner Discusses Harbor Capital Excessive Fee Case Decision in Ignites

Litigation partner John Donovan (Boston) is quoted in a Nov. 25 Ignites article titled “Harbor Fee Suit Gets Green Light From Judge” discussing a decision in an excessive fee case brought against Harbor Capital Advisors for retaining too much of the fee for managing a subadvisor. The article mentions that this is the latest in a series of cases brought against mutual funds for charging excessive fees. Although part of the case survived the motion to dismiss, Mr. Donovan notes “It’s unlikely that an entire case can be thrown out on a motion to dismiss, since the bar for surviving such motions is low.” He added that “None of the cases focused on subadvisory fees have seen a decision beyond the motion-to-dismiss phase, so the ‘contours’ of how the courts will look at the claims have not yet been determined.”