JOSEPH C. FAUCHER Email: JoeFaucher@Reish.com Joe Faucher is a partner of the law firm of Reish & Reicher. His litigation practice encompasses a broad range of business and commercial matters, with special emphasis in ERISA and employee benefits, and litigation involving benefit plan service providers. Areas of Practice ERISA Litigation Business Litigation Employee Benefits Employment Law ESOP Professional Experience Since joining the firm in 1990, Joe has handled breach of fiduciary cases involving both retirement and welfare plans, cases involving alleged breaches by third party administrators, and benefit claim cases. Some examples of his ERISA litigation experience are: Defense of a defined benefit pension plan trustee against claims of breach of fiduciary duty arising out of an alleged failure to prudently invest plan assets. Trial counsel for an ESOP sponsor and trustee, relating to claim of breach of fiduciary duty by present and former plan participants. Representation of a defense contractor in connection with benefit and breach of fiduciary duty claims. Defense counsel for bank alleged to have breached fiduciary duties in purported failure to diversify retirement plan assets. Defense of national insurance companies in multiple actions involving claims for benefits by participants in employer-funded health care and disability plans. Defense of third-party administrators in federal district court claims alleging breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA and prohibited transactions. Defense of insurance agent in federal district court ERISA action by U.S. Department of Labor, relating to sale by agent of self-insured health plans to staff leasing companies. Representation of a plan sponsor in an action by former independent contractors who claimed to have been participants in the employer's pension and profit sharing plans. Represented sponsor of "top hat" plan in connection with claim for benefits. Defense of a third party administrator against claims of malpractice by a plan sponsor who was under investigation by the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. Appellate counsel for stop-loss insurer of self-funded health care plan, in action involving dispute over the plan's subrogation rights in a medical malpractice action. Trial and appellate counsel for national insurance carrier in dispute over applicability of health plan’s stop-loss provisions. Representation of administration firm in connection with claims that if failed to timely advise its client to terminate defined benefit pension plan. He is admitted to practice in California and before all of the U.S. District Courts in the State of California, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has argued cases before the California Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and has represented several clients in matters pending in the American Arbitration Association. Publications and Presentations The ruling by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on Joe’s successful Motion for Summary Judgment in Samuels v. PCM Liquidating, Inc. was published at 838 F.Supp. 711, and 19 E.B.C. 1635. Joe has previously been a columnist on 401(k) investment issues for the Journal of Pension Benefits and is a contributing author of BNA Books’ 2000 Supplement to Employee Benefits Law. He has also authored or co-authored several articles regarding ERISA and employee benefits issues, including: “Avoiding Top-Heavy Retirement Plans,” California CPA Magazine (March/April 2004); “Department of Labor Sues Enron,” ASPA ASAP (July 21, 2003); “ERISA Section 404(c): An Insurance Policy for Fiduciaries,” Employee Benefits Plan Review (December 2002); “Limitation of Liability Provisions in Service Provider Contracts,” The ASPA Journal (November/December 2002); “The Settlement of the First Union Case,” ASPA ASAP (Apirl 4, 2001); “We Have a Problem,” The Benefits Professional Update (First Quarter 2001); “The Top Three Reasons That TPAs Get Sued,” The Benefits Professional Update (Third Quarter 2000); “New Clients, Old Problems,” The Benefits Professional Update (Second Quarter 2000); “How Much Do TPAs Need to Do When the Trustee is a Crook?”, The Pension Actuary (March/April 2000); and “The Pension Professionals, Inc. Case,” The Benefits Professional Update (First Quarter 2000). Joe spoke at the National Conference of the Self Insurance Institute of America on ERISA and ERISA litigation issues in 2000 and 2001. He has also spoken on liability and insurance issues for investment vendors and retirement plan service providers at programs sponsored by the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), the National Institute of Pension Actuaries (NIPA) and the Western Pension & Benefits Conference (WP&BC). He is currently scheduled to speak for a national teleconference entitled “401(k) Plans Under Attack: Breach of Fiduciary Duty Law Suits on the Rise,” sponsored by the Legal Publishing Group of Strafford Publications. Education Joe received his J.D. from the University of California at Davis, School of Law in 1988. While at U.C.D., Joe was a member of the National Mock Trial Team. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1985.