Burns v. Gatekeeper

Welcome to the Burns v. Gatekeeper Settlement Website.

This case, which has been certified by the Superior Court of the State of Arizona as a class action, involves late remittances, incomplete remittances or the failure to make remittances of section 403(b) and section 457(b) retirement funds deducted from the paychecks of certain employees of schools and colleges (the “Districts”). The Defendants in the case are Tamara Middleton and Gatekeeper Administration and Consulting LLC (“Gatekeeper”), a third-party administrator that previously provided administrative services to the Districts whose employees had the option to defer compensation using section 403(b) or section 457(b) retirement plans.

The Plaintiff, Barbara Burns, alleged that the Defendants breached contractual duties, fiduciary duties, and engaged in other wrongful acts by failing timely to remit all Class Members’ contributions to their section 403(b) or section 457(b) plans to their investment providers. The Class consists of the following Class Members:

all participants and beneficiaries of section 403(b) Plans and section 457(b) Plans for which Defendants provided services and whose 403(b) or 457(b) funds were transmitted or otherwise made available to Defendants but were either never deposited in their 403(b) or 457(b) retirement accounts or were not deposited in their 403(b) or 457(b) retirement accounts in accordance with applicable Internal Revenue Service Regulations, and/or provisions set forth in applicable contracts or agreements, if shorter and/or in a reasonably timely and prudent manner.

There are approximately 10,000 identified Class Members. It is anticipated that there may be Class Members who are not yet identified but who may be entitled to a recovery in this Class Action.

Defendants deny that they bear full liability for the damages alleged in the Action and deny that this Action may be maintained as a Class Action. Defendants are entering into this Settlement solely because the proposed Settlement will eliminate the burden, risk and expense of further litigation. In June 2011, the parties reached this proposed Settlement.

This site provides the following information: