Mealey's ERISA
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May 22, 2024
Complete Administrative Record Needed To Review Denial Of LTD Claim, Judge Says
PORTLAND, Ore. — A disability claimant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings must be denied because the claimant submitted only portions of the administrative record, an Oregon federal judge said, noting that the complete administrative record, as reviewed by the plan administrator, is necessary to judicially review the plan administrator’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits decision.
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May 22, 2024
Retirees Lose 2nd Circuit ERISA Bid For Retroactive Early Pension Benefits
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a summary order upholding two decisions against retirees who sought retroactive early pension benefits in a putative class action, including a decision under which submission of an election form resulted in only forward-looking benefits.
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May 21, 2024
ERISA Residual Annuities Class Action Is Headed Back To 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — After a New York federal judge entered final judgment for the class on remand in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over residual annuities, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and related defendants filed a notice of appeal.
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May 20, 2024
$3.5M Deal Proposed In ERISA Imprudence Suit Over TDFs, Another Fund
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Retirement plan participants have asked a North Carolina federal court for preliminary approval of a $3.5 million class settlement that would resolve their Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over what they allege are “objectively imprudent investment options.”
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May 17, 2024
Ruling Comparisons Sufficient, 3rd Circuit Vacates ERISA Imprudence Case Dismissal
PHILADELPHIA — In a May 16 opinion largely focused on record-keeping fees, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act imprudence complaint that it said a lower court found didn’t compare “‘apples to apples,’” ruling that under “close examination,” the comparisons “are sufficient to plausibly state a claim.”
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May 17, 2024
U.S. High Court Review Sought For Ruling That Parts Of State PBM Law Are Preempted
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling “ignored” the message of Rutledge v. Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass'n and created two circuit splits, Oklahoma regulators petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D partially preempt an Oklahoma pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) law.
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May 16, 2024
Missouri Officials Win Deposition Dispute In Row Over ESG Factor Rules
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A trade association lost a discovery dispute in its challenge to new Missouri rules that it says require “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice,” with a Missouri federal judge on May 15 rejecting its request to depose Missouri Secretary of State John R. Ashcroft.
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May 16, 2024
U.S. High Court: With Request, Arbitrable Dispute Must Be Stayed, Not Dismissed
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A case involving an arbitrable dispute must be stayed and not dismissed pending arbitration where a party has requested a stay, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 16 in a case brought by delivery drivers against the individual owners and managers of Intelliserve and related corporate entities (together, Intelliserve).
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May 14, 2024
Life Insurance Benefit Not Available Based On Failure To Prove Total Disability
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 13 affirmed a district court’s finding that a life insurance waiver-of-premium benefit was properly terminated because the claimant failed to show that he was totally disabled from working in any occupation as required by the life insurance plan to retain the waiver-of-premium benefit.
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May 14, 2024
Retaliation, Other ERISA Claims Decided For Last Defendants In QDRO Dispute
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted summary judgment for an employer and its 401(k) plan on retaliation and all other remaining claims in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute centering on a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO), closing the case.
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May 13, 2024
Petition On 9th Circuit ERISA Prohibited Transaction Ruling Draws Amicus Brief
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Filing an amicus curiae brief urging U.S. Supreme Court review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s prohibited transaction provision, entities including the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) agree with retirement plan fiduciaries that the ruling is problematic and “deepens an existing circuit split.”
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May 13, 2024
High Court Won’t Review 5th Circuit ERISA Prohibited Transaction Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 13 turned down the first of three recent certiorari petitions concerning prohibited transactions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, denying a review request pertaining to a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision.
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May 10, 2024
9th Circuit Again Revives ERISA Pension Statements Case Against Administrator
SAN FRANCISCO — For a second time, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 9 partly revived a putative class action over pension benefit statements, reversing dismissal of what a panel called “cognizable claims” asserted under part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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May 10, 2024
Judge OKs Interlocutory Appeal On Representative Capacity Question In ERISA Row
PEORIA, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge has certified for interlocutory appeal an order in an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) valuation case he said “allowed the Plaintiff to proceed in a representative capacity under [an Employee Retirement Income Security Act provision], notwithstanding the Court’s denial of class certification.”
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May 10, 2024
Attorney Says Termination Of Disability Benefits Was Arbitrary, Capricious
PHILADELPHIA — A disability insurer acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it terminated an attorney’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer failed to consider the actual duties of the claimant’s occupation when it determined that the claimant was no longer disabled from her own occupation as an attorney, the attorney says in a complaint filed in Pennsylvania federal court.
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May 08, 2024
Judge Mostly Denies Summary Judgment In ERISA Case Over Annuity Calculations
CHICAGO — Denying the bulk of a summary judgment motion in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans, an Illinois federal judge said in part that he “cannot credit one expert's opinion over another” at this stage.
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May 08, 2024
Lockheed Martin Moves To Dismiss ERISA Suit Over Pension Risk Transfers
GREENBELT, Md. — Moving to dismiss one of a quartet of similar recent putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Lockheed Martin Corp. told a Maryland federal court that the retirees are receiving all the benefits they are due and fail to state their claims.
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May 08, 2024
Spinal Conditions Continued To Render Claimant Disabled, Calif. Federal Judge Says
LOS ANGELES — Following remand from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a California federal judge found that additional long-term disability (LTD) benefits are owed to a disability claimant because the medical evidence shows that the claimant’s degenerative spinal conditions continued to render him disabled following the claimant’s recovery from a cardiac procedure.
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May 07, 2024
Disability Claimant Failed To Show Longer Shift Was Essential Duty Of Occupation
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 6 affirmed a district court’s ruling that a disability claimant failed to show that the denial of a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was arbitrary and capricious because the claimant failed to show that working a longer shift was an essential duty of his occupation with his current employer.
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May 07, 2024
Claimant Files Complaint, Says LTD Benefits Owed For Long COVID Diagnosis
PHOENIX — A denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits was arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion because the disability insurer failed to properly consider the restrictions and limitations set by the claimant’s treating physicians as a result of the claimant’s diagnosis with long COVID, the claimant contends in a complaint filed in Arizona federal court.
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May 07, 2024
Parties In ERISA Imprudence Case Over Funds Report Unspecified Global Deal
SAN FRANCISCO — With a bench trial imminent, parties in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over the allegedly imprudent retention of certain funds told a California federal court on May 6 that they reached an unspecified agreement “in principle to a global resolution” of the class action and a recently filed related case.
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May 07, 2024
Federal Judge Rules For Class On 2 Issues In ERISA Residual Annuities Case
NEW YORK — After “resolving the two disputed issues” in favor of the class after a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that drew an unsuccessful certiorari petition, a New York federal judge has entered a revised final judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over residual annuities.
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May 06, 2024
Retiree Seeks U.S. High Court Review Of ERISA Ruling In Life Insurance Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A retiree has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling he says held that “[e]mployees and retirees have no rights under [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act] to know why their group life insurance rates have been raised.”
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May 06, 2024
Under ERISA, Dermatologist Loses Yet Another 11th Circuit Appeal Over Assignments
ATLANTA — In the latest of many similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act rulings concerning patients’ purported assignment of benefits, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in an unpublished per curiam opinion that a pro se dermatologist lacks statutory standing to bring a claim for purported failure to provide insurance documents.
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May 06, 2024
‘Waste Of Time’ Summary Judgment Ruling Trims ERISA Class Case Over Fees, Funds
BOSTON — Saying “this entire summary judgment exercise has been a monumental waste of time,” a Massachusetts federal judge partly granted the defendants’ motion in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action challenging management of retirement plans but denied summary judgment as to imprudence allegations regarding record-keeping fees and retention of challenged funds.