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Mealey's ERISA

  • February 07, 2025

    3rd Circuit Affirms Retiree Released Claims In ERISA Pension Row

    PHILADELPHIA — Agreeing with the trial court that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims that a retiree sought to revive were included in a release that she signed knowingly and voluntarily, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a nonprecedential per curiam disposition on Feb. 6 affirming summary judgment against the retiree in a pension benefits dispute.

  • February 07, 2025

    HP Inc. Gets Amended ERISA Forfeiture Suit Tossed With Prejudice In Federal Court

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — One of the first companies to face an Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit for allegedly not putting forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions toward administrative expenses got the amended complaint dismissed with prejudice; the California federal judge said in part that “the same categorical rule implicit in Plaintiff’s initial Complaint pervades the revised pleading” and “flies in the face of decades of ERISA practice.”

  • February 07, 2025

    10th Circuit Affirms Ruling For Worker In ERISA Severance Dispute

    DENVER — In an unpublished order and judgment noting the “stark” change in responsibilities that occurred after a change of control, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed that a former employee was due severance benefits in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case that involved disputes over a “good reason” clause and the correct standard of review.

  • February 07, 2025

    LTD Benefits Termination Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious, Magistrate Judge Says

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A disability insurer’s termination of a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits was de novo wrong; however, the termination was not arbitrary and capricious because the disability insurer had reasonable grounds to support its termination of benefits decision, a Florida federal magistrate judge said in recommending that the disability insurer’s motion for summary judgment be granted.

  • February 06, 2025

    Indiana Federal Judge Refuses To Reconsider Evidence Ruling In Disability Dispute

    FORT WAYNE, Ind. — An Indiana federal judge on Feb. 5 denied a disability insurer’s motion for reconsideration, refusing to reconsider a decision granting a disability claimant’s motion to exclude evidence collected after the date on which a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was deemed exhausted based on the insurer’s failure to decide the claimant’s appeal within 45 days as required by regulations set forth by the U.S. Department of Labor.

  • February 06, 2025

    Disability Plan Administrator Failed To Conduct Full, Fair Review, Panel Says

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s ruling in favor of a disability plan and said remand to the plan administrator is necessary because the plan administrator failed to consider evidence submitted by the disability claimant as part of his administrative appeal following the termination of his long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

  • February 06, 2025

    Amici Support Appellees In 11th Circuit ERISA Pension Assumptions Row

    ATLANTA — Agreeing with appellees, amici curiae have filed two briefs supporting affirmation of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act ruling that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) as amicus in December urged the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn; the appeal seeks revival of a putative class action challenging assumptions used to calculate annuities for married pension plan participants.

  • February 06, 2025

    Federal Judge Says Denial Of Disability Benefits Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious

    NEW YORK — A disability insurer’s denial of a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was not arbitrary and capricious because the insurer’s denial was supported by substantial evidence and because the insurer provided the disability claimant the opportunity to respond to all evidence collected by the insurer’s medical reviewers, a New York federal judge said in granting judgment in favor of the insurer.

  • February 06, 2025

    Claimant Met Burden Of Showing She Is Disabled From Own Occupation

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge granted a disability claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record after determining that the claimant met her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that she was disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation because her disability prevented her from sitting for more than four hours at a time.

  • February 04, 2025

    $5.9M Class Deal To Resolve Suit Against ESOP Trustee Wins Initial Approval

    CHICAGO — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action asserting claims against the former trustee of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) would be resolved under a $5.9 million class settlement that an Illinois federal judge has preliminarily approved.

  • February 04, 2025

    Former Independent Trustee Loses Renewed Dismissal Bid In ESOP Dispute On Remand

    GREEN BAY, Wis. — On remand after partial revival of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit concerning an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and alleged price inflation, a Wisconsin federal judge denied a former independent trustee’s motion to dismiss the two claims against it, which are based on the trustee’s approval of what turned out to be the penultimate stock evaluation before an ESOP stock purchase.

  • February 04, 2025

    Judge Certifies Classes, Denies Summary Judgment In ERISA Imprudence Row

    GALVESTON, Texas — Briefly adopting memorandum and recommendations issued in 2023, a Texas federal judge on Feb. 3 overruled all objections, denying motions for summary judgment and partial summary judgment and granting certification of two classes in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over alleged retirement plan mismanagement.

  • January 31, 2025

    Amid ERISA Bench Trial, Defendants Seek Partial Decertification Of Class

    BOSTON — More than a week into a bench trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit primarily challenging the selection and retention of proprietary funds, the defendants on Jan. 30 moved in Massachusetts federal court to decertify the mandatory class as to one claim, saying in part that the named plaintiffs’ expert agreed that that claim “is unique to” a fund that is no longer proprietary “and different from the other claims he opines on.”

  • January 31, 2025

    Amici To 2nd Circuit: Reverse ERISA Determination On Deferred Compensation Plans

    NEW YORK —  A handful of amici curiae organizations are urging the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate or reverse a determination that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act governs the compensation incentive and equity incentive plans at issue in a suit over a Morgan Stanley deferred compensation program, with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) arguing that the lower court’s “conclusions run counter to significant contrary case law and regulatory guidance and upend employers’ longstanding understanding of the rules applicable to incentive plans.”

  • January 30, 2025

    Lab Seeking COVID-19 Testing Repayment Adequately Pleads Derivative ERISA Standing

    NEWARK, N.J. — Concluding that a medical testing laboratory had obtained derivative standing under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act via assignments of rights by ERISA-governed plan beneficiaries to sue health insurers for reimbursement for COVID-19 testing, a New Jersey federal judge on Jan. 29 denied in part the insurers’ motion to dismiss, while dismissing state law claims and claims based on assignments of rights that were executed after the litigation began.

  • January 30, 2025

    Allstate Prevails In Suit Over 401(k)’s Use Of Certain TDFs, Advisory Services

    CHICAGO — Saying in part that without “relevant analysis and opinions,” an expert’s “report and testimony cannot create a genuine factual dispute,” an Illinois federal judge granted summary judgment against plaintiffs who challenged a retirement plan’s use of Northern Trust target date funds (TDFs) and advisory services under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 29, 2025

    ERISA ‘Excessive Fee’ Settlements, Proposals Under $5M

    Class settlements below $5 million have been finalized or proposed in 17 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between mid-October and late January.

  • January 29, 2025

    $4.5M Deal Gets Final OK In ERISA Lawsuit Over Proprietary Index Funds

    NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge has granted final approval to a $4.5 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over the selection and retention of proprietary index fund products, awarding $1.5 million of that sum for attorney fees and a total of $45,000 for incentive awards.

  • January 28, 2025

    Lower Court Did Not Commit Reversible Error In Ruling For Disability Insurers

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of two disability insurers, noting in a three-page unpublished opinion that the lower court did not commit reversible error in entering judgment for the insurers after determining that the doctrine of issue preclusion bars the disability claimant from arguing that he remains disabled under a group disability policy.

  • January 28, 2025

    Settlement With ‘Landmark’ Recovery In Mortality Table Row Wins Final Approval

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Jan. 27 granted final approval to a class settlement including what retirees said is a “landmark recovery” of $10 million in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans; he also approved the separate $4.75 million agreement, of which $4,366,908.05 is for attorney fees, $308,091.95 is for expenses and $75,000 is for service awards.

  • January 27, 2025

    J&J Wins Dismissal Of Fiduciary Breach Claims In ERISA Drug Costs Lawsuit

    CAMDEN, N.J. — One of the two high-profile Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duty suits focused on health plans’ pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) and prescription drug benefits has been partly dismissed with leave to amend, with a New Jersey federal judge on Jan. 24 ruling that the plaintiff lacks standing to assert the key claims in her putative class case.

  • January 27, 2025

    $69M Settlement Gets Initial OK In ERISA Target Date Funds Challenge

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on Jan. 24 preliminarily approved a $69 million proposal that the class representative said would be “the largest settlement in the history of investment performance cases in an [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] context.”

  • January 27, 2025

    Disability Claimant Failed To Meet Necessary Heightened Standard, Panel Says

    CINCINNATI — A district court did not err in dismissing a disability claimant’s suit because the claimant failed to meet a heightened standard that is necessary to prevail on an estoppel claim when a plan’s terms are unambiguous, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.

  • January 24, 2025

    Any-Occupation Ruling Must Be Reversed, Disability Claimant Tells 11th Circuit

    ATLANTA — A district court’s ruling that a disability insurer’s termination of benefits after 11 years was not arbitrary and capricious must be reversed because the evidence shows that the claimant’s disability worsened and that the insurer’s handling of the medical evidence was unreasonable, a disability claimant tells the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in her appellant brief.

  • January 24, 2025

    Regulatory Freeze Hits ‘Adequate Consideration’ Proposed Regulation For ESOPs

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A regulatory freeze that President Donald J. Trumpinstituted as part of his first official acts has affected a long-awaited revised proposed regulation and a proposed class exemption in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act issue that has seen significant litigation — employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transactions.