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Mealey's ERISA

December 05, 2024
Amicus-Supported Bid For 3rd Circuit Rehearing Fails In Trust Benefits Dispute

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 4 denied a motion for panel and en banc rehearing of a nonprecedential decision; the motion drew an amicus curiae brief in which the Pension Rights Center argued the that decision “seriously misreads” Gruber v. Hubbard Bert Karle Weber, Inc. and “will be read closely by those who can replicate it as an employer escape hatch from the responsibilities of” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
December 04, 2024
Federal Judge Affirms Denial Of Disability Claimant’s Motion To Clarify Record

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts federal judge affirmed a magistrate judge’s denial of a disability claimant’s motion to clarify and complete a claim record after determining that no part of the magistrate judge’s order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law.
December 04, 2024
Government Files Amicus Brief Urging Reversal Of 2nd Circuit ERISA Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A day after the U.S. government filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting petitioners on the question of what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim for a prohibited transaction between a plan and a party in interest, the petitioners on Dec. 3 submitted a corrected merits brief.
December 03, 2024
In Partial Reversal, Judge Addresses Standing In ERISA Pension Calculation Row

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Partly reversing an earlier ruling in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over using a half-century-old mortality table to calculate joint and survivor annuities (JSAs), a New York federal judge allowed claims asserted on behalf of the plan to proceed in the putative class action while the plaintiffs’ individual claims are arbitrated.
December 02, 2024
High Court’s Look At ERISA Prohibited Transaction Ruling Draws Amicus Input

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four amicus curiae briefs, the most recent filed Nov. 27, have been filed in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the petitioners in the high court’s review of what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim for a prohibited transaction between a plan fiduciary and a party in interest.
December 02, 2024
$5M Class Settlement In ERISA Fees, Funds Case Gets Preliminary Approval

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a $5 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging a multiemployer retirement plan’s fund choices, share classes and record-keeping fees.
December 02, 2024
Amicus Bid To Support Dismissal In Pension Risk Transfer Case Draws Opposition

ALBANY, N.Y. — The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) has asked a New York federal court for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in a pension risk transfer (PRT) case it says is “pursuing a novel, speculative theory that would limit plan sponsors’ ability to manage future pension expenses,” drawing opposition from retirees who argue that the proposed brief is too late, too long, “offers no unique information or insight that can assist the Court, and would prejudice Plaintiffs.”
November 27, 2024
Partial Judgment On Pleadings Granted In Long-Running ERISA Case

NEW YORK — A company that provided investment advice to two retirement plans saw its motion for judgment on the pleadings partly granted in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act putative class action challenging fees and funds, with a New York federal judge ruling that issue preclusion applies to some of the allegations.
November 27, 2024
Split 9th Circuit Addresses Retirement Contributions In Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

SAN FRANCISCO — In a reversal urged by amici curiae the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) and the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center (NCBRC), a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel joined “the majority of courts that have considered the question in concluding that voluntary retirement contributions do not constitute disposable income” in Chapter 13 bankruptcies.
November 27, 2024
Effort To Revive Pension Row That Was Ruled Untimely Draws 2nd Amicus Brief

NEW YORK — Weighing in on an Employee Retirement Income Security Act appeal that already drew an amicus curiae brief from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the American Benefits Council and two other amici support part of the appellees’ argument that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should affirm that all claims are time-barred in the putative class action in a joint and survivor annuity (JSA) dispute over allegedly outdated mortality tables.
November 26, 2024
Citing Loper Bright, Macy’s Again Seeks Dismissal In Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuit

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Amid a recent wave of at least 15 putative class actions challenging health plan tobacco surcharges, defendants in a similar suit the U.S. Department of Labor initiated seven years ago filed Nov. 25 motions in Ohio federal court calling Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo “a landmark change in the law” that supports dismissing the remaining claims against them.
November 22, 2024
COMMENTARY: 2024 Key Insurance Decisions, Trends & Developments & A Look Ahead To 2025

By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova
November 22, 2024
Rehearing Bid For 9th Circuit’s Mandamus Grant In Behavioral Health Row Fails

SAN FRANCISCO — With no substantive explanation for rejecting a petition for rehearing en banc regarding an unpublished ruling granting a mandamus petition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals let stand its latest ruling 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.
November 22, 2024
Discovery Row Over Info DOL Gave Plaintiffs Grabs House Committee’s Attention

DENVER — Discovery developments in a putative class action challenging an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal are the focus of a Nov. 21 letter in which the chairwoman of U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce asks the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for an investigation because “DOL appears to be working in concert with plaintiffs’ attorneys to circumvent the discovery protections” of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
November 21, 2024
U.S. High Court Is Again Asked To Review An ERISA Effective Vindication Decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that “statutory construction errors caused the Sixth Circuit to find that a participant has a statutory right to represent other participants’ financial interests that Congress did not provide for” in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 401(k) plan fiduciaries asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision involving application of the effective vindication doctrine.
November 21, 2024
Amicus Supports Rehearing Bid In 3rd Circuit Trust Benefits Row

PHILADELPHIA — The Pension Rights Center has been granted permission to file an amicus curiae brief in which it urges panel and en banc rehearing of a nonprecedential Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision it argues “seriously misreads” Gruber v. Hubbard Bert Karle Weber, Inc. and “will be read closely by those who can replicate it as an employer escape hatch from the responsibilities of” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
November 21, 2024
Split 6th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of ERISA Funds, Share Classes Challenge

CINCINNATI — A split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 20 revived a challenge to a retirement plan’s retention of the passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs) and choice of share classes, with the majority saying in part that the dissent sets “an inappropriately exacting standard” and the dissenter opining that “my colleagues open the door to ‘speculative’” lawsuits.
November 21, 2024
Ample Evidence Supports Disability Plan’s Termination Of Benefits, Panel Says

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a disability insurer after determining that ample evidence supports the determination that the claimant was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation.
November 21, 2024
6th Circuit Panel Says Mental Health Limitation Was Not Exhausted

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a disability insurer’s argument that a district court erred in finding that a disability plan’s 24-month mental health limitation was exhausted after determining that the mental health limitation did not apply during the time period in which the plan participant was totally disabled as a result of a physical disability.
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.”