Mealey's ERISA
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March 08, 2024
8th Circuit Sets Argument In ERISA Case Over Cross-Plan Offsetting
ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set argument for March 14 in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act appeal where health plan participants challenging the practice known as “cross-plan offsetting” are seeking revival of their putative class suit, which was dismissed for failure to plead an injury in fact.
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March 08, 2024
$5M Class Deal With Health System Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Imprudence Case
DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge has granted preliminary approval of a $5 million class settlement proposal in a suit challenging numerous aspects of the management of two Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) retirement plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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March 08, 2024
Disability Insurer’s Interpretation Of Plan Terms Was Incorrect, Judge Says
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas federal judge granted a disability claimant’s motion for summary judgment after determining that the claimant is owed disability benefits under his employer’s disability plan because the disability insurer’s interpretation of the plan terms regarding eligibility of coverage was incorrect.
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March 08, 2024
Disability Claimant Failed To Meet Burden Of Proving Disability, Judge Says
LAS VEGAS — A disability claimant failed to meet his burden of proving that he was disabled from performing the duties of his regular occupation as an attorney, a Nevada federal judge held after determining that the long-term disability (LTD) insurer engaged in meaningful dialogue with the claimant and did not abuse its discretion in denying the claim for LTD benefits.
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March 08, 2024
Parties Settle Long-Haul COVID Disability Dispute; Dismissal Order Entered
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge entered an order of dismissal after the parties in a dispute over the availability of long-term disability (LTD) benefits for long-haul COVID symptoms notified the court that they reached a settlement.
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March 07, 2024
Airline Entities Seek Summary Judgment In Narrowed ERISA Suit Over ESG Factors
FORT WORTH, Texas — Days after a Texas federal judge denied their dismissal bid, airline defendants in a putative class case concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms filed a summary judgment motion arguing that lack of proof dooms the action’s pleaded and unpleaded theories.
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March 07, 2024
Plaintiffs Beat Dismissal Bid In ERISA Fees, Funds Row Despite Documents Ruling
LOS ANGELES — Ruling in part that certain documents were incorporated by reference into the amended complaint, a California federal judge denied dismissal of a putative class case against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and related defendants over a 403(b) retirement plan’s fees and funds.
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March 07, 2024
Exhaustion Of Remedies Under LTD Plan Not Required Prior To Filing Suit
TACOMA, Wash. — A disability insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings must be denied because the long-term disability (LTD) plan at issue did not require the disability claimant to exhaust all administrative remedies prior to filing suit, a Washington federal judge concluded in denying the insurer’s motion.
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March 07, 2024
Former Twitter Officers File ERISA Suit For Severance Against Musk, Others
OAKLAND, Calif. — Alleging that Elon Musk “fired them without reason, then made up fake cause and appointed employees of his various companies to uphold his decision,” four former Twitter Inc. officers or executives sued Musk and other defendants in California federal court, asserting Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims for severance benefits, equitable relief and statutory penalties.
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March 07, 2024
Judge Refuses To Compel Disability Claimant To Exhaust Administrative Remedies
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge denied a disability plan’s motion to compel a disability claimant to exhaust all administrative remedies because the disability plan failed to adhere to the 45-day deadline for deciding a claimant’s appeal of a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim and failed to show that a special circumstance existed that warranted an extension to the 45-day deadline.
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March 06, 2024
Disability Insurer Abused Its Discretion In Denying LTD Benefits, Judge Determines
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability insurer abused its discretion in denying a claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer failed to consider the opinions of the claimant’s treating physicians and failed to consider whether the claimant’s heart condition and health would deteriorate if he was forced to work in a high-stress job, a Virginia federal judge said in granting the claimant’s motion for summary judgment and denying the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
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March 06, 2024
Award Of Attorney Fees, Costs Not Warranted Based On Remand Of Claim, Judge Says
TULSA, Okla. — A disability claimant is not entitled to an award of attorney fees or costs based on the remand of the claimant’s short-term disability (STD) claim to the plan administrator because the remand order was a procedural ruling and does not constitute a success on the merits of the claim, an Oklahoma federal judge said in denying the claimant’s motion for an award of attorney fees and costs.
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March 06, 2024
LTD Benefits Must Be Reinstated, Kentucky Federal Judge Says
OWENSBORO, Ky. — A disability claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be reinstated because the disability insurer’s termination of benefits is not supported by the medical evidence, a Kentucky federal judge said in granting the disability claimant’s motion for judgment.
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March 06, 2024
11th Circuit Again Rules Against Dermatologist In ERISA Assignment Row
ATLANTA — Saying in an unpublished per curiam opinion that a dermatologist’s “arguments are foreclosed by the prior panel precedent rule,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued the latest of many rulings against her over patients’ purported assignment of benefits.
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March 06, 2024
$19M Deal In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds Wins Preliminary Approval
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on March 5 granted preliminary approval of a $19 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans and use of a stable value fund as the default investment.
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March 06, 2024
Certiorari Filing Deadline Extended In ERISA Preemption Case Over Oklahoma PBM Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oklahoma regulators now have until April 10 to file a certiorari petition seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of an August opinion ruling an Oklahoma pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) law partially preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D.
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March 06, 2024
Disability Claimant Not Provided Full, Fair Review, Texas Federal Judge Says
DALLAS — A Texas federal judge remanded a claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits to the plan administrator after determining that the claimant was deprived of a full and fair review based on the disability insurer’s failure to consult with a different physician regarding the claimant’s appeal following the termination of her claim.
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March 06, 2024
Joint Pretrial Proposals Are Filed In ERISA Fees Row Heading Toward Jury Trial
NEW YORK — As parties in a class action over the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan (MEP) approach a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial, they outline competing positions in several filings in New York federal court.
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March 05, 2024
DOL Files Amicus Brief In 9th Circuit ERISA Case Involving Tobacco Surcharge
SAN FRANCISCO — For the third time in recent months — this time in a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case concerning a health plan’s tobacco surcharge — the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed an amicus curiae brief supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute involving what the DOL calls a representative action waiver.
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March 05, 2024
5th Circuit Lets DOL Participate In Arguing ESOP Effective Vindication Row
NEW ORLEANS — With the appellees’ consent, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is letting the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) participate as amicus curiae in March 11 oral argument concerning the “effective vindication” exception, which a federal court invoked in declining to compel arbitration in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
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March 05, 2024
ERISA Pleading Standard Disputed In 2nd Circuit Briefs In Record-Keeping Fees Case
NEW YORK — In a reply brief likening the facts at issue to those in a sister circuit’s 2023 Hughes v. Northwestern University (Hughes II) ruling, participants in two Deloitte retirement plans urge the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to revive an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over record-keeping fees.
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March 04, 2024
$9M Global Deal In ERISA Proprietary Funds Row Follows Ruling In Similar Case
CINCINNATI — Plaintiffs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary funds whose former motion concerned a $4.5 million deal with one defendant have now asked an Ohio federal court for preliminary approval of a global $9 million settlement with all defendants.
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March 04, 2024
Judge Denies Expert Preclusion Bids, Most Other Motions In ERISA Fees, Funds Case
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Ruling on requests to preclude testimony and exclude evidence in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over fees and funds, a California federal judge denied seven motions by the defendants and one by the plaintiffs, partly granting just one motion by the plaintiffs.
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March 04, 2024
Global $7.5M Class Deal Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Proprietary Trusts Row
FLORENCE, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge has granted preliminary approval to 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).
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March 01, 2024
$19M Deal Proposed In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds, Default Investment
NEW YORK — Parties in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans — including use of a stable value fund as the default investment — have struck a $19 million class deal, plaintiffs told a New York federal court.