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Mealey's ERISA

  • November 20, 2024

    Jury Demand Struck In ERISA Class Action Over Plans’ Use Of TDFs

    ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge briefly granted a motion to strike the plaintiffs’ jury demand in a class action challenging the inclusion of certain target date funds (TDFs) in four defined-contribution pension benefit plans the plaintiffs have said all had “thousands of participants” during the time at issue.

  • November 20, 2024

    DOL Files Suit Over Alleged Self-Dealing Involving Health Plan MEWA

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Alleging that two companies and three individuals associated with a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by using self-funded employer-sponsored health benefit plans “as vehicles to collect and divert to themselves massive fees through self-dealing,” acting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Julie A. Su sued them in Puerto Rico federal court.

  • November 18, 2024

    Retirees Seek 6th Circuit Revival Of ERISA Suit Over Mortality Tables

    CINCINNATI — Parties in an appeal that drew an amicus brief are arguing over whether part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires “reasonable assumptions” in calculating certain pension benefits, with retirees filing a reply brief urging the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to “join the vast majority of other courts that have rejected Defendants’ interpretation.”

  • November 18, 2024

    9 Organizations Seek Amicus Input Into ERISA Fight Over Illinois Temp Worker Law

    CHICAGO — Saying that the eventual ruling in a challenge to an Illinois temporary worker law “may set a precedent for how courts apply” the express preemption provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “in the context of other state and local laws that seek to regulate job-based benefits, extending beyond the regulation of temporary work and reverberating well beyond Illinois,” nine organizations including the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed a Nov. 15 consent motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in Illinois federal court.

  • November 18, 2024

    Class Settlement, Separate Fee Award Approved In ERISA Statements Penalty Case

    TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge approved a $253,700 class settlement and a separate award of $265,000 for attorney fees and costs in what the plaintiffs said “appears to be the first ever class-wide settlement for penalties related to a defendant’s failure to provide annual pension benefit statements to participants” under a provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • November 15, 2024

    $7.1M Class Settlement Of Suit Over ESOP Deals Wins Preliminary Approval

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge on Nov. 14 granted preliminary approval to a $7.1 million class settlement that plaintiffs who sued over 2012 and 2013 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deals said would amount to “20% of the most conservative estimate of losses.”

  • November 13, 2024

    Final Judgment For Class Is Entered In ERISA Row Over 1989 Plan Conversion

    HOUSTON — More than seven months after issuing findings of fact and conclusions of law following the conclusion of a 14-day bench trial, a Texas federal judge on Nov. 12 granted final judgment for a class in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over the 1989 conversion of a retirement plan, briefly adopting “Defendants’ proposal regarding the appropriate form of equitable relief.”

  • November 13, 2024

    Dismissal Row In ERISA Health Plan Suit Involves Standing, Claim Requirements

    MINNEAPOLIS — In Minnesota federal court, parties in a putative class action over alleged mismanagement of prescription drug benefits are disputing a dismissal bid focused on standing and whether fiduciary breach and prohibited transaction claims are sufficiently stated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • November 08, 2024

    3rd Circuit Makes A Change To Opinion On ERISA Plans, Bankruptcy Code Exclusion

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling has been vacated in favor of an amended opinion that swapped out the penultimate paragraph; the change did not affect the panel’s affirmation that creditors in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case cannot collect from two retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act because a U.S. Bankruptcy Code exclusion applies “even if they were operated in violation of” the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and that statute.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge Stands By Determination That ERISA Governs Deferred Compensation Plans

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has declined to alter or withdraw an Employee Retirement Income Security Act determination that financial services firm Morgan Stanley and related defendants said caused issues in derivative arbitrations; the unchanged November 2023 holding in the putative class action is that ERISA governs the compensation incentive and equity incentive plans at issue.

  • November 08, 2024

    5th Circuit Affirms ERISA Severance Denial In ‘Good Reason’ Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — In an unpublished per curiam opinion saying in part that “providing additional reasoning to address [the claimant’s] arguments is not the same as switching its reasoning,” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed summary judgment against the claimant in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case challenging denial of severance benefits following a change of control.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge Rejects Interlocutory Appeal Bid Under Loper Bright After Trial In ESOP Row

    PHOENIX — Rejecting an argument in which leaders of a recreational vehicle company invoked Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, an Arizona federal judge declined their opposed motion for permission to file an interlocutory appeal regarding her ruling that they breached their Employee Retirement Income Security Act duty to monitor in a $105 million employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal.

  • November 08, 2024

    Disability Claimant Appeals Judge’s Any-Occupation Ruling To 11th Circuit

    MIAMI — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal on Nov. 7 to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals following a Florida federal judge’s determination that a disability insurer’s termination of benefits after 11 years was not arbitrary and capricious based on the disability insurer’s extensive review of the claimant’s conditions and her ability to work in any occupation.

  • November 08, 2024

    STD Plan Is Not Governed By ERISA, Federal Judge Says In Remanding Disability Suit

    MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin federal judge remanded a disability claimant’s suit after determining that federal jurisdiction does not exist because the short-term disability (STD) plan at issue is exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act pursuant to the “payroll practice” exemption.

  • November 08, 2024

    Dismissing ERISA Forfeiture Suit, Judge Aims To Narrow Future Briefing

    OAKLAND, Calif. — In the latest of a handful of rulings on dismissal motions in similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions, a California federal judge granted dismissal of all claims with limited leave to amend.

  • November 08, 2024

    Disability Claimant Failed To Show Claims Administrator Acted As Fiduciary

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge granted a long-term disability (LTD) plan claims administrator’s motion to dismiss without prejudice after determining that the disability claimant failed to show that the claims administrator acted in a fiduciary function or exercised discretion administering the plan.

  • November 08, 2024

    Disability Claimant Files Objection To Ruling On Claim Record

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A disability claimant filed an objection to a Massachusetts federal magistrate judge’s denial of a motion to clarify and complete a claim record, arguing that the magistrate judge’s ruling should be modified to ensure that all records that are in the insurer’s possession are included in the record.

  • November 08, 2024

    Former NFL Player Says Reversal Of Lower Court’s Exhaustion Ruling Is Warranted

    ATLANTA — A former National Football League player says the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should reverse a ruling entered in favor of the NFL disability plan because the district court erred in finding that the former player failed to exhaust all administrative remedies and failed to show that exhaustion would be futile.

  • November 07, 2024

    9th Circuit Finds ‘Substantial Compliance’ With QDRO Specificity Requirement

    SAN FRANCISCO — Affirming summary judgment in an interpleader suit over a life insurance policy worth $493,000, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in an unpublished memorandum disposition that the lower court correctly held that a legal separation agreement (LSA) was a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • November 07, 2024

    2nd Circuit Panel Affirms No Private Right Of Action For COVID Test Reimbursement

    NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of a Connecticut federal court, which dismissed the claims of a medical practice seeking reimbursement from a university and its associated health plan for the costs of testing its members for COVID-19 during the pandemic, rejecting the practice’s several arguments as to why its claims are viable.

  • November 07, 2024

    Appeal Filed By Disability Insurer In Long COVID Disability Benefits Dispute

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability insurer filed a notice of appeal in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal following a Virginia federal judge’s determination that a disability claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the claimant met her burden of showing that she is disabled from working as an engineer as a result of symptoms caused by long COVID.

  • November 07, 2024

    Disability Claimant Appeals Federal Judge’s Ruling In Any-Occupation Dispute

    CHICAGO — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of an Illinois federal judge’s finding that she failed to meet her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that she remained disabled from working in a sedentary occupation as a result of symptoms related to fibromyalgia.

  • November 06, 2024

    LTD Benefits Termination Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious, Federal Judge Says

    NEWARK, N.J. — A disability insurer did not act arbitrarily and capriciously in terminating a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the claimant failed to show that the evidence supported a finding that he was totally disabled from working as a result of chronic migraines, a New Jersey federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment and in denying the claimant’s motion for summary judgment.

  • November 06, 2024

    7th Circuit Affirms Rulings For Multiemployer Plan In ERISA Contribution Case

    CHICAGO — Issuing a nonprecedential order in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case involving a multiemployer plan, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld rulings that required the pro se co-owner of a sole proprietorship to pay “nearly $40,000 in unpaid contributions plus nearly $30,000 in interest, liquidated damages, costs, and attorney’s fees.”

  • November 06, 2024

    Judge Denies Bid To Dismiss Unlawful Discharge Claim In Former Twitter Execs’ Suit

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge has denied a motion in which Elon Musk and related defendants sought dismissal of one of six Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims asserted against them by four former Twitter Inc. officers or executives who are seeking severance benefits, equitable relief and statutory penalties.