Mealey's ERISA
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February 14, 2024
Panel Doesn’t Follow Metz In Deciding MPPAA Withdrawal Liability Disputes
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saying the reasoning in a sister circuit’s decision is “counter to the text of” the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed rulings for the trustees of a multiemployer pension plan in withdrawal liability disputes involving actuarial assumptions.
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February 09, 2024
$3M Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Imprudence Row, But Judge Trims Fees
SAN FRANCISCO — Attorneys who initially sought $900,000 of a $3 million Employee Retirement Income Security Act class settlement will get just $373,715 under a final approval order in which a California federal judge ruled even their reduced fee request “not reasonable or appropriate in the circumstances of this case.”
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February 09, 2024
LTD Benefits Owed For Post-COVID-19 Syndrome, Claimant Says In Complaint
NEW YORK — A former regional sales manager filed suit in New York federal court, seeking a ruling that he is entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits for post-COVID-19 syndrome under a disability plan sponsored by his employer because the plan administrator’s denial of benefits was contrary to the weight of the medical and vocational evidence.
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February 08, 2024
Federal Judge: Ex-Employees Did Not Show Trustees’ Motive In Stock Plan Complaint
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Finding in part that a group of former employees had not established a breach of duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal judge in Tennessee granted in part a motion to dismiss the putative class complaint filed by their former employer’s fiduciary trustee, while denying in full a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by executives of the employer.
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October 03, 2023
$1.3 Million Class Settlement Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Investment Fees Lawsuit
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge on Oct. 2 granted preliminary approval to a $1.3 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over allegations that retirement plan participants “were subject to excessive investment fees in the form of high-cost share classes and poor investment performance.”
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February 08, 2024
Panel That Upheld Judgment For Insurers In Facility Fees Row Won’t Rehear Case
NEW YORK — Saying only that it “considered the request,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that issued a summary order affirming judgment for a health insurer and related entities in a class suit over reimbursement for facility fees in New York denied a petition for panel rehearing.
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February 08, 2024
$1.3M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Investment Fees Lawsuit
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge has granted final approval to a $1.3 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over allegations that retirement plan participants “were subject to excessive investment fees in the form of high-cost share classes and poor investment performance.”
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February 08, 2024
Limited Benefit Provision Properly Applied But Remand On Portion Of Claim Warranted
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability insurer reasonably applied a limited benefit provision in finding that a claimant’s migraine headaches entitled her to only 24 months of benefits; however, the insurer’s explanation for its denial of benefits for the claimant’s cervical radiculopathy was not consistent, a Virginia federal judge said in determining that remand of claimant’s cervical radiculopathy claim is warranted.
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February 07, 2024
Dismissal Of Ex-Union Member’s Case Over Expulsion, Lost Benefits Is Upheld
NEW YORK — Saying in part that evidence presented at a union trial “is sufficient under” the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a summary order upholding dismissal of a case involving Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims that a retiree filed after being expelled from a union and losing pension and health benefits.
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February 07, 2024
Cigna: ERISA Plans Bar Algorithm Health Care Claims; UCL Claims Lack Specificity
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insureds’ cannot demonstrate denial of claims based solely on review by an algorithm or that the use of such a tool would violate the provisions of their Employee Retirement Income Security Act plans, the insurer tells a federal judge in California in a motion to dismiss while arguing that the plaintiffs fail to plead their California unfair competition law (UCL) claims with requisite specificity.
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February 07, 2024
Agency Gets TRO Against Allegedly Embezzling TPA Of Many Retirement Plans
PITTSBURGH — Granting a motion in which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) urged it to stop two defendants “from continuing their embezzlement and misappropriation of plan assets,” a Pennsylvania federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) involving a company that was third-party administrator (TPA) for many retirement plans.
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February 07, 2024
Mandate Withheld In Appeal Over Big ERISA Class; Rehearing Bid Remains
NEW ORLEANS — Mandate issuance was withheld Feb. 6 in a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case where a panel upheld certification of a large multiplan class and a petition for rehearing en banc that drew an amicus curiae brief has been pending for months.
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February 07, 2024
Disability Claimant’s Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claims To Proceed, Judge Says
BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge on Feb. 6 denied a plan administrator’s motion to dismiss claims for breach of fiduciary duty after determining that a disability claimant sufficiently alleged facts in support of the claims pertaining to the long-term disability (LTD) and life insurance plans at issue.
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February 07, 2024
Disability Benefits Suit Settled; Parties File Stipulation Of Dismissal
DALLAS — Following a Texas federal judge’s ruling that a disability claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be reinstated, the parties reached a settlement of the LTD benefits dispute and filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice.
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February 06, 2024
Fiduciaries Want To Appeal 9th Circuit Ruling In ERISA Prohibited Transaction Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retirement plan fiduciaries were given a March 7 deadline to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of a ruling concerning the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s prohibited transaction provision after arguing that the ruling involves a circuit split, is not consistent with Lockheed Corp. v. Spink and “threatens serious practical consequences for plan administration.”
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February 06, 2024
Disability Insurer Breached Fiduciary Duty In Terminating Benefits, Claimant Says
DENVER — A disability insurer breached its fiduciary duty in terminating a claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer mischaracterized the claimant’s medical condition and failed to follow the plan’s guidelines and procedures in handling the claim, a disability claimant alleges in a complaint filed Feb. 5 in Colorado federal court.
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February 06, 2024
Disability Insurer Improperly Terminated Benefits, Claimant Alleges In Complaint
DENVER — A disability claimant alleges in a Feb. 5 complaint filed in Colorado federal court that a disability insurer acted improperly, arbitrarily and capriciously in terminating her long-term disability (LTD) benefits based on a finding that she was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation.
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February 06, 2024
$3.8M Settlement For Class Of More Than 30,000 Gets Initial OK In ERISA Row
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on Feb. 5 granted a motion by former participants in a 403(b) retirement plan for preliminary approval of a $3.8 million class settlement that would resolve allegations of imprudence regarding record-keeping fees and share classes.
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February 06, 2024
ERISA Fiduciary Breach Claims Asserted Over J&J Drug Plan That Used PBM
CAMDEN, N.J. — Calling herself a “whistleblower” and asserting fiduciary breach claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, an employee on Feb. 5 filed a putative class case against Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and related entities and individuals over alleged “mismanagement of prescription-drug benefits” involving a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM).
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February 05, 2024
$7.5M Would End ERISA Row Over Proprietary Trusts Under Global Proposal
FLORENCE, S.C. — A South Carolina federal court that rejected a $4.5 million class settlement with one defendant has now been asked to approve a $7.5 million global deal, with all parties signing on to a Feb. 2 motion for preliminary settlement approval in the suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs).
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February 05, 2024
Parties Dispute Dismissal Bid In 1 Of 5 ERISA Suits Over Forfeiture Allocation
OAKLAND, Calif. — Parties in one of five similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits in California federal courts challenging “reallocation of the forfeitures in the [retirement plan’s] trust fund to reduce [the company’s] contributions” are disputing standing and whether the complaint sufficiently states the claims, with the defendants reiterating their arguments in a reply brief supporting their dismissal motion.
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February 02, 2024
DOL Files ERISA Suit Against TPA Over Handling Of MinnesotaCare Tax
MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has sued a third-party administrator (TPA) in Minnesota federal court over what it alleges was at least $66.8 million the TPA collected from self-funded health benefit plans without authorization between 2016 and 2020 for a Minnesota provider tax.
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February 02, 2024
11th Circuit Denies Dermatologist’s Bid To Void 8 Years Of ERISA Rulings
ATLANTA — Two 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges have denied a request addressed to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas but filed in their court in which a dermatologist sought relief including the voiding of nearly 20 rulings the 11th Circuit issued in her Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases over the last eight years.
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February 02, 2024
$2M Deal Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Case Against Georgia Health System
COLUMBUS, Ga. — A Georgia federal judge on Feb. 1 granted preliminary approval to a deal in which a $2 million payment would settle a class action involving the investment decisions and administrative costs of a terminated retirement plan.
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February 02, 2024
Appellee To 3rd Circuit: Affirm That Trustees, Others Are Liable Under ERISA
PHILADELPHIA — Responding to multiple arguments, an individual claiming benefits under a pension trust established in 1947 urged the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny challenges to decisions in the case where trustees and grandchildren of the trust settlor were ruled liable under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act for millions in underfunding.