Mealey's ERISA
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October 01, 2024
Summary Judgment Bid Fails In ERISA Class Action Over Mortality Tables
NEW YORK — Denying a summary judgment motion filed by a life insurer and related defendants in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action challenging the use of allegedly outdated mortality tables in calculating qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA) benefits, a New York federal judge said he was reserving expert disputes and other issues for a bench trial.
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October 01, 2024
Adopting Groetzinger, 6th Circuit Partly Reverses Withdrawal Liability Ruling
CINCINNATI — Partly reversing a ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel adopted the test outlined in Commissioner v. Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23 (1987), saying that the trial court applied the wrong test but it made a difference for only the wife of the couple involved, who therefore is not personally liable for withdrawal liability.
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October 01, 2024
Insurers Again Rebut Lab’s Effort To Establish ERISA Standing For Testing Repayment
NEWARK, N.J. — After a New Jersey federal judge allowed a medical testing laboratory seeking reimbursement for COVID-19 testing from two insurers to amend its complaint, concluding that further amendment could resolve a question of whether the laboratory has derivative standing under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the insurers moved a third time to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
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October 01, 2024
11th Circuit Denies En Banc Hearing In ERISA Row Over Exhaustion Precedent
ATLANTA — Rejecting a request that drew amicus curiae support from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied initial hearing en banc in the suit where appellants seek the overturn of longstanding circuit precedent concerning exhaustion of administrative remedies in Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits.
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September 27, 2024
Judge: Loper Bright Argument In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Row Merits Consideration
COLUMBUS, Ohio — After supplemental briefing in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case the U.S. Department of Labor filed over a tobacco surcharge wellness program (TSWP), an Ohio federal judge on Sept. 26 denied dismissal without prejudice, saying the defendants’ argument regarding the impact of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo “warrants full consideration.”
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September 27, 2024
Federal Bankruptcy Judge Upholds PBGC Regulations In Withdrawal Liability Row
WILMINGTON, Del. — Ruling on four partial summary judgment motions in the Chapter 11 cases of trucking company Yellow Corp. and its affiliates over $6.5 billion in withdrawal liability, a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge rejected challenges to two Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) regulations regarding federal funds awarded to multiemployer pension plans.
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September 26, 2024
3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of ERISA Suit Over $65M In Drug Rebates
NEWARK, N.J. — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 25 upheld dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit concerning approximately $65 million in drug rebates for lack of standing but said it doesn’t read two key precedents as “broadly” as the trial court did.
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September 25, 2024
Class Settlements Totaling $14.5M Get Preliminary OK In Suit Over ESOP Deal
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on Sept. 24 granted preliminary approval to two class settlements the plaintiffs said would sit “at the high end of the range of settlements resolving” similar employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) claims, with a combined recovery of $14.5 million that would average “about $41,076 per Class Member before fees, costs, and expenses.”
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September 24, 2024
Another ERISA Suit Over Use Of Retirement Plan Forfeitures Is Dismissed
SAN DIEGO — As Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims over use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement plan contributions become more widespread, a California federal judge granted dismissal of one of the first suits to focus on the issue but allowed leave to amend.
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September 24, 2024
Cigna, Insureds Debate ERISA, UCL Impact On AI Claims Denial Case
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Individuals allegedly denied coverage by an artificial intelligence algorithm employed by Employee Retirement Income Security Act insurer Cigna Corp. debated whether the program’s use violated plan terms on how the company would review claims, preemption and whether California unfair competition law claims were properly pleaded in briefing over a motion to dismiss a third amended complaint.
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September 24, 2024
DOL To Challenge Stay Of New Investment Advice Fiduciary Rule In 5th Circuit
Notices of appeal have been filed for two July rulings in Texas federal courts that imposed a nationwide stay of the effective date of a new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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September 23, 2024
9th Circuit Orders More Briefing In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Arbitration Dispute
SAN FRANCISCO — Following oral argument in which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) participated as amicus curiae supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine in a putative class case, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ordered supplemental briefing in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over a tobacco surcharge.
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September 20, 2024
5th Circuit Likens Reversal Of Insurer’s Denial To Sister Circuit Rulings
NEW ORLEANS — In a Sept. 19 reversal calling one of the insurer’s statements “a doozy,” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled an insurer’s denial of partial-hospitalization benefits for child’s eating disorder substantively and procedurally deficient, also saying the insurer’s failure to respond to an administrative appeal regarding reimbursement rate “forfeited its rights to contest” that issue.
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September 19, 2024
3rd Circuit Orders Judgment For Trustees, Grandchildren In Trust Benefits Row
PHILADELPHIA — In a Sept. 18 nonprecedential disposition resolving all claims in a long-running case where trustees and grandchildren of the trust settlor had been ruled liable for tens of millions in underfunding, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel disagreed with the trial court’s key holding that the “coverage provision” of the Employee Retirement Act “is triggered on the facts of this case.”
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September 19, 2024
Class Counsel Get A Third Of $7.5M Settlement In ERISA Proprietary Trusts Row
FLORENCE, S.C. — A $7.5 million global class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs) has been granted final approval, with a South Carolina federal judge awarding $2.5 million of the settlement for attorney fees, $100,000 for service awards and $659,240.95 for litigation expenses.
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September 18, 2024
Appeal Filed, Attorney Fee Bid Contested In Suit Over Missouri’s ESG Factor Rules
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri state officials have filed a notice of appeal regarding a ruling that imposed a statewide permanent injunction barring enforcement of parts of two new rules a trade association said would have required “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice.”
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September 18, 2024
Disability Claimant Must Return $322K Overpayment To Disability Plan, Judge Says
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A disability plan’s determination that a claimant must return $322,000 in overpayments made by the plan to the claimant was not an abuse of discretion because the plan requires any overpayment of benefits to be returned to the plan, a South Carolina federal judge said in granting the plan’s motion for summary judgment.
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September 18, 2024
Disability Claimant Owed LTD Benefits, Virginia Federal Judge Says
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge granted a disability claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record and ordered the disability insurer to pay the claimant past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits after determining that 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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September 16, 2024
9th Circuit Partly Revives ERISA Life Insurance Case Involving Divorce
PASADENA, Calif. — Issuing an unpublished memorandum disposition in a group life insurance benefit plan case involving divorce and death, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims against the plan issuer but partly reversed and remanded as to dismissal of a fiduciary breach claim against the plan sponsor and the committee that served as the plan’s administrator.
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September 16, 2024
4th Circuit OKs Interlocutory Appeal On Class Certification In Index TDF Case
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 13 agreed to interlocutory review of a grant of class certification in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs).
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September 13, 2024
Summary Judgment Bid Largely Fails In ERISA Class Row Over Proprietary Funds
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge has mostly denied summary judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action challenging the selection and retention of proprietary funds, also denying the defendants’ requests to partly exclude the opinions and exhibits of two of the plaintiffs’ experts.
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September 13, 2024
2 More ERISA Suits Target Companies, State Street Over Pension Risk Transfers
Two more putative class actions are challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, bringing the total of PRT cases filed in recent months to at least seven.
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September 12, 2024
Magistrate Addresses Row Over Documents DOL Gave Plaintiffs Challenging ESOP Deal
DENVER — Ruling that a common interest agreement (CIA) does not protect the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from waiving its privileges and protections by sharing investigative materials with plaintiffs challenging an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal, a Colorado federal magistrate judge on Sept. 11 said the plaintiffs gained “access to information they can leverage, use to take shortcuts, and rely upon to circumvent ordinary discovery protocols.”
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September 12, 2024
Government To U.S. High Court: Let EAJA Fee Denial In ESOP Challenge Stand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Opposing a certiorari petition that is supported by two amicus curiae briefs, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) told the U.S. Supreme Court that denial of an Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) request for attorney fees and nontaxable costs in an unsuccessful challenge to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal is a “factbound determination” that “is correct and does not conflict with any decision of this Court or of any other court of appeals.”
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September 12, 2024
11th Circuit Won’t Rehear ERISA Fees, Funds Ruling Rejecting Burden-Shifting
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc in which 401(k) plan participants argued that the panel ruling “conflicts with Supreme Court precedent, this Court’s precedent, and other circuits’ authoritative decisions” and that “[w]hich party bears the burden on causation, what satisfies that burden, and the standard for inadvertent waiver of all available remedies are questions of exceptional importance.”