(January 6, 2017, 2:17 PM EST) -- MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on Dec. 21 granted a motion for AARP and six other organizations to appear as amici curiae in the support of the defendants in a case in which a membership-owned and member-governed fraternal benefit society of Christians sued the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez seeking judicial review of the DOL’s issuance of regulations promulgating a new definition of investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which it says could expose it to breach of contract and class action lawsuits (Thrivent Financial for Lutherans v. Thomas E. Perez, et al., No. 0:16-cv-03289, D. Minn.)....