Mealey's ERISA
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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NEW ORLEANS — In an unpublished per curiam opinion saying in part that “providing additional reasoning to address [the claimant’s] arguments is not the same as switching its reasoning,” a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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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November 06, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Partly Reviving Pension Benefits Class Action
PASADENA, Calif. — After partly reviving an Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension benefits class action after a bench trial in an unpublished memorandum disposition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for panel or en banc rehearing that was supported by an amicus curiae brief.
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November 06, 2024
Jury Awards Cigna $7.25M In Suit Over Fraudulent Billing For Drug Testing
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal court jury has awarded Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. $7,256,100.60 in damages in a suit alleging that Florida drug testing labs were unjustly enriched by submitting to Cigna claims for reimbursement for medically unnecessary urine drug testing, resulting in purported overpayments to the labs of more than $20 million.
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November 05, 2024
2nd Circuit Upholds ERISA Denial Of Benefits, Documents Lawsuit
NEW YORK — In a summary order agreeing with the trial court’s ruling that a certain Employee Retirement Income Security Act provision does not cover the appellant’s personnel file and that a benefits claim was untimely, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld dismissal of a former employee’s suit seeking severance and pension benefits.
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November 05, 2024
After Bench Trial Loss, Class Takes ERISA Suit Over TDFs To 9th Circuit
LOS ANGELES — After being granted only a slight amendment of the findings issued after a bench trial, retirement plan participants who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs) and were taxed nearly $94,000 in costs are challenging the judgment against them and the trial court’s latest order in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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November 05, 2024
9th Circuit Sets January Argument In Appeal Of Ruling That TPA Discriminated
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set Jan. 17 oral argument in an appeal where a third-party administrator (TPA) seeks reversal of a ruling that it violated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision by administering exclusions of gender-affirming care.
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November 05, 2024
U.S. High Court Again Lets An ERISA Effective Vindication Ruling Stand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As it did with several previous requests for review of decisions that applied the “effective vindication” doctrine in such cases, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 denied a certiorari request in which trustees of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) urged the high court to address what they argued is a circuit split on whether to “recognize the availability of individual arbitration for [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] claims.”