Mealey's ERISA : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's ERISA

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.
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).
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.