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Wells Fargo (WFC) dodged a legal bullet that is likely making other financial firms breathe a bit easier. The company was accused of self-dealing for stuffing its own target-date funds into its 401(k) plan — a claim that investors in other 401(k) plans have also made.

But the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit dismissed a case against Wells last week. Yes, Wells had made its own target-date funds the default choice in its plan. And yes, the funds were pricier than similar funds from Fidelity and Vanguard, due to their fees, and they had underperformed the Vanguard target-date fund.

But so what? The judges ruled that Wells was within its legal rights to choose its own funds for its plan. “Fiduciaries are not required by ERISA to select ‘the cheapest possible fund’ available in the market,” the judges said, referring to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a 1974 law governing workplace retirement plans.

Moreover, the Wells funds weren’t “imprudent” choices, partly because the lawsuit didn’t make apples-to-apples comparisons to rival funds. The Wells funds held more bonds than the lower-cost Vanguard fund referenced in the lawsuit, resulting in underperformance by the Wells funds. But “no authority requires a fiduciary to pick the best performing fund,” the judges ruled.

Read more: Ditch These High-Priced Index Funds Now

Wells isn’t the only financial firm facing lawsuits of this nature. BlackRock (BLK), BB&T (BBT), Franklin Resources (BEN), T. Rowe Price (TROW) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) have all been sued for alleged self-dealing in their 401(k) plans, according to a summary of such cases by Bloomberg Law.

Each case involves different claims and circumstances. But the rise of low-cost index funds may make it much tougher for firms to plausibly argue that their own higher-fee, underperforming funds are actually in the best interest of employees — rather than the firms making money off the funds.

“There’s been a lot of litigation recently premised on the idea that low cost is imperative and any fund that is higher priced than the lowest cost alternative is imprudent,” says attorney William Jewett, a partner at law firm Ropes & Gray.

Financial firms have an exemption under ERISA to include their own funds in 401(k) plans, he adds. But to get that exemption they only have to show that their funds are available in the plan on the same or better terms as they are to outside investors. “It could be a high fee poor performing fund without violating the exemption,” Jewett says.

Wells “got off the hook” for stuffing its 401(k) plan with its own funds, Jewett adds. But other firms may not be so fortunate, especially if they keep steering employees to funds that have underperformed lower cost rivals for long periods.