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Mealey's ERISA

September 11, 2024
After ERISA 401(k) Win, Defendants Seek Awards Totaling $222,275

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Defendants who won on all claims after a bench trial in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) fees and funds have asked a California federal court to award them $10,000 in attorney fees from each of the three named plaintiffs and $192,275.32 in attorney fees and expert expenses from class counsel.
September 10, 2024
Class Counsel Get A Third Of $11.8M ERISA Settlement In Retirement Plan Case

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge granted final approval to an $11.8 million class settlement that the named plaintiff who challenged management of a Maryland health system 403(b) retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act said “provides for average relief of $481 to Class Members,” also overruling the lone objection to awarding $3,933,333.33 for attorney fees.
September 10, 2024
DOL, Other Departments Issue New Final Rules Implementing MHPAEA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Sept. 9 joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury in issuing new final rules implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA or Parity Act).
September 09, 2024
Class Certification Bid Fails In Remanded ERISA Case Over LTC Premium Hikes

BOSTON — On remand after partial revival of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenge to long-term care (LTC) insurance premium increases, a Massachusetts federal judge declined to certify injunctive relief and damages classes, saying in part that the central dispute “can only be resolved by examining extrinsic evidence that is necessarily individualized in nature.”
September 09, 2024
11th Circuit To Hear Oral Argument In ERISA Withdrawal Liability Row

ATLANTA — Oral argument has been set for Sept. 26 in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act multiemployer pension fund withdrawal liability dispute in which an employer asks the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “to split from” a sister circuit’s ruling.
September 09, 2024
Citing Res Judicata, 9th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Suit Against Judges, Others

SAN FRANCISCO — Affirming dismissal of a pro se litigant’s suit against a chiropractor, attorneys, judges and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes in an unpublished memorandum disposition, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in part that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear claims related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act based on the doctrine of res judicata.
September 09, 2024
Judge Certifies Summary Judgment Ruling In ERISA Fees Case For Publication

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge has agreed to certify for publication a ruling in which she granted summary judgment against the plaintiffs on all claims in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over record-keeping fees after excluding their expert but declining to exclude the defendants’ expert.
September 06, 2024
Disability Claimant’s LTD Benefits Must Be Reinstated, Minnesota Federal Judge Says

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge reinstated a disability claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits after determining that the evidence shows that the claimant’s symptoms were disabling and that his condition did not improve to the point where he could work in his own occupation as a medical malpractice attorney.
September 06, 2024
9th Circuit Stops Efforts To Revive Behavioral Health Benefits Claim In Coverage Row

SAN FRANCISCO — Saying in an unpublished memorandum disposition that it previously “reversed (without remand) both the district court’s class certification order and merits judgment on the denial of benefits claim,” a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel granted a mandamus petition in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where health insurance plan participants sought reprocessing of nearly 67,000 mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims.
September 06, 2024
Amici File Briefs Urging High Court To Review NFL Disability Benefits Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three amicus curiae briefs, filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a former National Football League player’s petition for a writ of certiorari, urge the high court to review the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the former NFL player failed to prove he is entitled to additional disability benefits under the NFL’s benefits plan, arguing that a de novo standard of review applies based on the plan’s procedural violations.
September 06, 2024
Utah Federal Judge Denies Disability Claimant’s Motion To Reopen Disability Suit

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah federal judge denied a disability claimant’s motion to reopen a disability suit after determining that the claimant is required to file a civil enforcement action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act because the dispute is centered on the disability insurer’s calculation of benefits.
September 06, 2024
Disability Plan’s Special Conditions Limitation Rider Bars LTD Benefits Claim

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge on Sept. 5 granted a disability insurer’s motion for summary judgment after determining that the disability plan’s special conditions limitation rider applies as a bar to the disability claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
September 06, 2024
Disability Claimant Failed To Show Termination Of Benefits Was Arbitrary, Capricious

NEW YORK — A disability insurer’s termination of a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was not arbitrary and capricious because nothing in the medical record reviewed by the insurer and its reviewing physicians supported a finding that the claimant was disabled from working on a full-time basis, a New York federal magistrate judge said in recommending that the insurer’s motion for summary judgment be granted and that the disability claimant’s motion for summary judgment be denied.
September 06, 2024
7th Circuit Affirms ERISA Preemption Ruling In Suit Over Medical Bills

CHICAGO — Affirming dismissal of a suit over medical bills, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts Illinois state law claims and that the “deemer” exception to ERISA’s saving clause applies.
September 06, 2024
Default Judgment Entered Against Disability Claimant For Failure To Repay Plan

CINCINNATI — A plan administrator is entitled to default judgment on a breach of fiduciary duty claim alleged against a disability claimant who failed to reimburse the long-term disability (LTD) plan for the overpayment of benefits following the claimant’s award of Social Security disability benefits because the claimant failed to respond to the plan administrator’s suit and breached his fiduciary duty by not repaying the plan as required by the plan’s terms, an Ohio federal judge said.
September 05, 2024
ERISA Suit Over Stripped Retirement Account Is Dismissed On Settlement Report

NEW YORK — Saying she was advised “that all claims asserted herein have been settled inprinciple,” a New York federal judge issued a Sept. 4 order of dismissal in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over whether a retirement plan administrator and record-keeper should have acted differently to keep a fraudster from stripping the plaintiff’s account.
September 05, 2024
3rd Circuit Affirms Rulings Against Claimant In Excess Pension Dispute

PHILADELPHIA — In nonprecedential disposition, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld rulings against an individual who unsuccessfully argued that an excess pension program is a “top hat” plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and that a settlement was improperly excluded from his benefits calculation.
September 05, 2024
Denial Of Attorney Fee Award To Disability Claimant Was Proper, Panel Says

CINCINNATI — A district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a disability claimant’s motion for attorney fees because the claimant failed to carry his burden of showing that the attorney fees he sought to recover were reasonable, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.
September 04, 2024
8th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of ERISA Excessive Fee Suit On Benchmarks Issue

ST. LOUIS — Repeatedly citing Matousek v. MidAmerican Energy Co. and ruling that there was “a lack of meaningful benchmarks suggesting that the costs are too high for a plan of its size,” an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a 401(k) plans fees and funds.
September 04, 2024
Attorney Fees, Costs Not Warranted, Minnesota Federal Judge Says

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge denied a disability claimant’s motion for attorney fees and costs after determining that an award of fees and costs is not warranted because no other plan participant will benefit from the claimant’s suit and the suit did not resolve an important legal question.
September 03, 2024
ERISA-Based Injunction Bid Fails In Federal Suit Over N.J. Temp Worker Law

CAMDEN, N.J. — Denying a preliminary injunction motion concerning New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (TWBR), a New Jersey federal judge on Aug. 30 said she “is hard pressed to imagine a situation that would upset the status quo more and detrimentally impact public interest.”
September 03, 2024
After Affirming Dismissal Of ERISA Offsetting Case, 8th Circuit Denies Rehearing

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a petition for panel or en banc rehearing in a putative class suit over the practice known as “cross-plan offsetting”; in seeking rehearing, health plan participants argued that the ruling upholding dismissal ignored their “plausible allegations that the plans’ offset-authorizing terms are unenforceable and this Court’s prior decision in [Peterson v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc. (Peterson II)] holding that both patients and their doctors are obviously injured when they receive cross plan offsets instead of cash.”
August 30, 2024
ERISA Class Action Over BlackRock Index TDFs Survives Summary Judgment

RICHMOND, Va. — Two weeks after certifying a class in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs), a Virginia federal judge on Aug. 29 issued separate rulings denying the defendant's summary judgment motion and denying the plaintiffs’ motion to exclude experts Lorie L. Latham and Russell R. Wermers.
August 30, 2024
Oral Argument Including DOL Set In 9th Circuit ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Case

SAN FRANCISCO — With oral argument set for Sept. 12 in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving the effective vindication doctrine, a health plan participant who filed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over a tobacco surcharge has filed a notice of supplemental authorities including a recent Sixth Circuit ruling.
August 30, 2024
After 16-Day Bench Trial, Judge Finds ESOP Price Too High, Rules Against Sellers

PHOENIX — Ruling that leaders of a recreational vehicle company breached their duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in a $105 million employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal, an Arizona federal judge said the 16-day bench trial showed that the fair market value of the equity “was less than half” of what the ESOP paid.