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October 01, 2026
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Saying in part that “draft reports lose protection when considered by another expert in forming their opinions,” a Wisconsin federal judge granted a motion to compel production of an expert witness’s draft reports in a suit concerning an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transaction.
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September 30, 2026
SEATTLE — Denying a petition for rehearing en banc without substantive explanation, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 29 let stand an unpublished memorandum disposition in which it briefly upheld the trial court’s ruling requiring recalculation of withdrawal liability under Ninth Circuit precedent but declined to award attorney fees for the appeal.
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September 30, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Declining to overturn termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits in a case that involved conditions ranging from depression to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a California federal judge said the claimant failed to “connect the dots, so to speak, between any diagnoses and actual functional limitations that rendered her” disabled from her occupation as an attorney.
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September 30, 2026
DENVER — Resolving cross-appeals filed after the class in an early retirement benefits dispute concerning a multiemployer fund obtained a judgment in the amount of $24,851,056, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 29 revived fiduciary breach claims asserted by 66 boilermakers but otherwise affirmed the trial court.
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September 29, 2026
BOSTON — Overruling objections from each party in a putative class action that is part of a wave of pension risk transfer (PRT) challenges, a Massachusetts federal judge on Sept. 28 adopted a report and recommendation that concluded that the amended complaint “plausibly alleges that a fiduciary breach occurred” but that only a claim against an independent fiduciary and one of the fiduciary’s managing directors survives dismissal.
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September 28, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling reversing the remand of an opioid suit against pharmacy benefit managers provides additional support for rehearing a Ninth Circuit decision allowing California's similar suit to proceed in state court, the PBMs tell the Ninth Circuit in a notice of supplemental authority filed as the court considers their petition for rehearing following the U.S. Supreme Court's April ruling in Chevron U.S.A., Inc., et al. v. Plaquemines Parish, et al.
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September 28, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS — Saying in part that a Maine ban on discretionary clauses does not apply because the group long-term disability (LTD) plan at issue was not continued or renewed after the law went into effect, a Minnesota federal judge upheld the insurer’s decision to terminate benefits after paying them for seven years in a case involving cyclicvomiting syndrome(CVS) and cognitive impairment.
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September 28, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners whose certiorari petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision focuses on the Fourth Circuit’s recent Trauernicht v. Genworth Fin. Inc. ruling have filed a supplemental brief highlighting two developments they say “underscore that this case raises a certworthy question on the scope of ‘appropriate relief’” under part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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September 25, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A certiorari petition in which a pro se petitioner presents two questions concerning qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs) has been distributed for the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sept. 28 conference after the respondents indicated that they did not intend to respond unless asked to, the high court docket shows.
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September 24, 2026
CHICAGO — One of the cases in a wave of tobacco surcharge challenges would be resolved for $8.95 million under a class settlement an Illinois federal judge has granted preliminary approval.
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September 24, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — Following briefing that was conducted on an accelerated schedule, the Fourth Circuit has scheduled oral argument for Oct. 30 in an interlocutory appeal concerning certification of an opt-out class in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where the initial certification of a mandatory class was vacated under the Trauernicht v. Genworth Fin. Inc. ruling the appellate court handed down in March.
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September 24, 2026
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Noting that interest from the defendants’ early payment of $13.4 million had grown the common fund to $13,524,410.05, a Massachusetts federal judge gave final approval to the class settlement of a case in which 401(k) plan participants challenged recordkeeping and managed account fees and inclusion of two allegedly underperforming investment options.
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September 23, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — Ahead of Sept. 24 oral argument before the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the third-party administrator (TPA) of group health plans responded to an amicus curiae brief in which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) urges a ruling “that surcharge is an equitable remedy in suits brought under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and the appellate court granted the DOL’s request to participate in the argument.
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September 23, 2026
SAN DIEGO — A diagnostic lab filed an amended complaint in California federal court, alleging that health care plans and their administrators failed to pay and process claims for diagnostic tests for COVID-19 provided by the lab to individuals with benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) or with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.
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September 22, 2026
NEW YORK — Saying that it was joining a sister circuit in holding that the No Surprises Act (NSA) “does not imply a private right of action to enforce” independent dispute resolution (IDR) awards, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a suit that an out-of-network health care provider filed against companies that administer “private employer-sponsored group health plans.”
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September 22, 2026
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Saying in part that the health care professionals who treated the claimant or reviewed her medical file concluded “nearly unanimously . . . that her Long Covid diagnosis and subjective symptoms did not render her disabled within the meaning of the Policy,” a Virginia federal judge let the challenged termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits stand following de novo review.
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September 21, 2026
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An employee welfare benefit plan that offered voluntary benefits including long-term disability (LTD), life insurance and critical illness coverage is the focus of a putative class complaint filed in New York federal court, with plan participants accusing their employer of violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by making choices that resulted in “excessive charges embedded in premiums, diminished Plan and participant assets, and the loss of value and loyalty owed by a fiduciary operating free of self-dealing.”
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September 21, 2026
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Finding no abuse of discretion in a long-term disability (LTD) insurer’s decision to deny a claim under a preexisting conditions exclusion, a North Carolina federal judge entered judgment against a former pilot who had throat and breathing problems.
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September 18, 2026
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 17 affirmed a withdrawal liability ruling that is contrary to decisions by two sister circuits, saying in part that the case involves “complex” statutory provisions “and both sides offer plausible arguments”; the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America had both filed amicus curiae briefs supporting affirmance.
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September 18, 2026
CLEVELAND — Granting judgment on the administrative record against a claimant who has epilepsy, an Ohio federal judge concluded that it was not arbitrary and capricious to deny his claims for benefits under a group long-term disability (LTD) policy and an individual disability income policy.
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September 18, 2026
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Noting that the long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute concerning deferred compensation “was in the top three percent of contentious cases” she had encountered, a Vermont federal judge awarded less than half of the amounts the parties requested for attorney fees, directing a plaintiff who was a breaching co-fiduciary to pay $189,478.92 for the defendants’ attorney fees and the defendants to pay $320,272.39 for the remaining plaintiffs’ attorney fees and costs.
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September 17, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — After upholding denial of the long-term disability (LTD) the claim of an account executive who argued that conditions including tinnitus and anxiety rendered him disabled, a California federal judge entered judgment against the claimant on Sept. 16; reviewing the denial de novo, the judge said in part that it rested on the claimant’s “failure to demonstrate that the diagnoses resulted in a disability that prevented him from working in his Own Occupation.”
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September 17, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore. — On de novo review, an Oregon federal magistrate judge ruled that a claimant diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease (YOPD) is entitled to have her long-term disability (LTD) benefits reinstated under the plan’s “any gainful occupation” definition of disability because the evidence demonstrates that she “suffers from a chronic, degenerative condition that results in cognitive impairments and fatigue which prevent plaintiff from attending work on a reliable and consistent basis, and, when at work, concentrating on her duties.”
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September 16, 2026
BOSTON — In a memorandum and order citing the prejudice a long-term disability (LTD) claimant suffered and the LTD plan administrator’s “lack of concern for its” statutory obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a Massachusetts federal judge decided that the claimant is entitled to a “modest” penalty of $5,000 because the administrator provided plan documents only 230 days after the first of the claimant’s many requests.
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September 16, 2026
SALT LAKE CITY — On de novo review, a Utah federal judge ruled that a long-term disability (LTD) insurer must reconsider whether a claimant qualifies for benefits under an any-occupation definition of disability because it relied on an employability analysis report that was based on a medical case manager review that “missed all evidence of mental health treatment and care in the record.”