Mealey's ERISA
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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rulings concerning patients’ purported assignment of benefits, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in an unpublished per curiam opinion that a pro se dermatologist lacks statutory standing to bring a claim for purported failure to provide insurance documents.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.
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May 03, 2024
Trade Organization And Others Sue DOL Over New ERISA Fiduciary Definition
TYLER, Texas — Seeking vacatur of a new rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, parties including trade organization Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice Inc. (FACC) sued the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and its acting secretary in Texas federal court on May 2.
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May 03, 2024
Amended Complaint Planned In Fiduciary Breach Case Against Health Plans’ Sponsor
CAMDEN, N.J. — In a granted joint stipulation, parties in a high-profile putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duty case over alleged “mismanagement of prescription-drug benefits” told a New Jersey federal court they agree that a pending dismissal motion will be mooted by a forthcoming amended complaint.
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May 03, 2024
2nd Circuit Sets Argument In ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Pleading Standard Row
NEW YORK — Without explanation, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a motion to reschedule May 24 oral argument in a case in which participants in a Deloitte retirement plan seek revival of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over record-keeping fees.
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May 03, 2024
Ophthalmologist’s Disability Suit Settled; Parties File Stipulation Of Dismissal
ROANOKE, Va. — A disability claimant and disability insurer filed a stipulation of dismissal in Virginia federal court after reaching a settlement pertaining to the claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
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May 03, 2024
Disability Claimant Seeks Rehearing Of Preexisting Condition Exclusion Ruling
PASADENA, Calif. — A disability claimant filed a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, contending that rehearing is warranted because the Ninth Circuit panel’s decision that a long-term disability (LTD) policy’s preexisting condition exclusion bars coverage creates an intracircuit conflict with a prior ruling of the Ninth Circuit.
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May 03, 2024
Disability Insurer Files Notice Of Settlement In LTD Benefits Suit
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Less than a week after filing a notice of appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a Tennessee federal judge’s ruling entered in favor of a disability claimant, the disability insurer notified the district court that it reached a settlement with the disability claimant.
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May 02, 2024
Disability Claimant Failed To Show Any Error In District Court’s Benefits Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion for summary affirmance filed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), named as the statutory trustee for a disability benefits plan, because the disability claimant failed to demonstrate any error in a district court’s ruling in favor of the PBGC.
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May 02, 2024
Split 2nd Circuit Affirms Effective Vindication Ruling In ERISA Arbitration Row
NEW YORK — In a 2-1 ruling on a high-profile Employee Retirement Income Security Act issue, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 1 upheld denial of a motion for individual arbitration over an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) deal, with the majority applying the effective vindication exception as three other circuits did “in closely analogous cases” and asserting that “this is not actually a class action.”
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May 02, 2024
Disability Insurer, Claimant Settle Dispute Over Policy’s Monthly Benefit Rider
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals entered an order staying a disability claimant’s appeal and directing the parties to file a joint status report following the disability insurer’s filing of a notice of a settlement between the parties.
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April 26, 2024
7th Circuit Revives Some ERISA Claims In Suit Over Company’s Valuation
CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld dismissal of all federal securities and state law claims in a sprawling suit involving an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and alleged price inflation but reversed and remanded on some Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims against the selling company’s directors and officers and the ESOP’s independent trustees.
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April 25, 2024
Panel Gives Georgetown University, Plan Fiduciaries Win In ERISA Imprudence Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an unpublished per curiam judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over alleged imprudence by Georgetown University and fiduciaries of its retirement plans, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld dismissal of the complaint and denial of leave to file an amended complaint.
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April 25, 2024
Question Of Fact Exists About Disability Insurer’s Knowledge Of Pension Benefits
OPELIKA, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by a disability claimant after determining that it is not clear whether the applicable six-year statute of limitations bars the disability insurer’s suit seeking to recover an overpayment of long-term disability (LTD) benefits because a question of fact exists regarding when the disability insurer learned that the claimant failed to disclose her receipt of pension benefits.
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April 24, 2024
DOL Finalizes New Rule On Who Is An Investment Advice Fiduciary Under ERISA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration on April 23 revealed the final Retirement Security Rule updating and expanding the regulatory definition of an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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April 24, 2024
Alcoa, Independent Fiduciary Are Sued Under ERISA For Pension Risk Transfers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In what is at least the fourth putative class case filed in the past month challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), retirees sued Alcoa Corp., related entities and an independent fiduciary in a District of Columbia federal court over four transactions they argue improperly “offloaded over $2 billion of Alcoa’s pension obligations.”
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April 24, 2024
Minnesota Federal Court: ERISA Record-Keeping Claims Meet Matousek Requirement
MINNEAPOLIS — Claims relating to a 401(k) plan’s bundled record-keeping and administrative (RKA) fees that allegedly averaged $29 survive dismissal in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where the plaintiffs relied on participant fee disclosures, a Minnesota federal judge ruled.
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April 24, 2024
Parties Outline Positions After Summary Judgment Denial In ERISA Funds Row
SAN FRANCISCO — After a California federal judge denied the defendants’ motions for summary judgment and to exclude expert testimony, the parties filed a corrected joint pretrial statement outlining their positions in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over the allegedly imprudent retention of certain funds.
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April 23, 2024
J&J Seeks Dismissal Of ERISA Fiduciary Breach Suit Over Drug Benefits
CAMDEN, N.J. — Arguing in part that the sponsor of the self-funded health plans at issue “has every incentive to negotiate the best overall deal,” Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and related defendants asked a New Jersey federal court to dismiss the complaint and strike the jury demand in a putative class case asserting Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims over alleged “mismanagement of prescription-drug benefits.”
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April 23, 2024
Judge Dismisses Funds’ ERISA Suit Against Administrative Service Providers
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Ruling that the trustees of two multiemployer, self-funded welfare benefit funds had standing to sue administrative service providers but “do not plausibly allege that Defendants exercise or possess[] discretionary authority required to be” fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a Connecticut judge dismissed the case without prejudice on April 22.
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April 23, 2024
Disability Insurer’s Benefits Termination Not Supported By Medical Evidence
MINNEAPOLIS — A disability insurer’s termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits is not supported by the medical evidence, a Minnesota federal judge said in granting the claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record and denying the insurer’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.
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April 22, 2024
Michigan Federal Judge Dismisses ERISA Case Over Outdated Mortality Tables
DETROIT — Saying he “sympathizes with Plaintiffs’ position” but agrees with the defendants’ “statutory interpretation analysis,” a Michigan federal judge dismissed with prejudice a putative class suit in which Kellogg Co. retirees argued that using outdated assumptions and mortality tables to calculate pension benefits violates the actuarial equivalence requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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April 19, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Response To Review Bid For 2nd Circuit ERISA Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After Cornell University and related entities said they didn’t plan to file a brief unless asked, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an April 18 request for a response to a certiorari petition in which retirement plan participants argue that of two 2023 decisions that amplified a “preexisting circuit split” over Employee Retirement Income Security Act pleading standards for prohibited-transaction claims, the ruling against them “is the superior vehicle for review.”
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April 18, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms $13M Ruling For Multiemployer Fund In Withdrawal Liability Row
NEW YORK — In a per curiam opinion upholding confirmation of a roughly $13 million award, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed with an arbitrator that the appellant’s predecessor “was not operating in the business and construction industry” and so didn’t quality for an exemption from withdrawal liability under part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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April 18, 2024
Judge Says Claims Against Disability Plan, Claims Administrator Can Proceed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge denied a motion to dismiss filed by disability plan defendants after determining that the claim for wrongful denial of benefits against the claims administrator can proceed because the plan delegated fiduciary discretion to the claims administrator and the claim for breach of fiduciary duty alleged against the plan and the claims administrator can proceed because the claim is not duplicative of the wrongful denial of benefits claim.