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Mealey's ERISA

  • November 07, 2025

    3rd Circuit Affirms Plan Should Not Have Suspended Early Retirement Benefits

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling requiring retroactive reinstatement of early retirement benefits in a nonprecedential opinion issued Nov. 6, concluding that the suspension was based on a flawed interpretation of a phrase in the multiemployer pension plan and that the plan forfeited its other arguments by not raising them in the trial court.

  • November 07, 2025

    High Court Signals Interest In Petition For Review Of ERISA Releases Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 6 requested a response to a certiorari petition in which an employer and related entities seek review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in a long-running class action concerning severance benefits, with the petitioners arguing that the decision “creates a roadmap for plaintiffs to evade” releases of Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.

  • November 07, 2025

    Providers, AMA Urge High Court To Review No Surprises Act Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A medical society has filed an amicus curiae brief supporting a certiorari petition in which air ambulance providers seek review of a ruling concerning enforcement of No Surprises Act (NSA) independent dispute resolution (IDR) awards; additionally, in a part of their petition the society doesn’t address, the providers challenge a holding they say creates a 2-1 circuit split regarding Employee Retirement Income Security Act standing.

  • November 06, 2025

    3rd Circuit Won’t Rehear Overtime Contribution Case That Yielded Split Ruling

    PHILADELPHIA — With only a procedural explanation, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a union’s petition for panel and en banc rehearing in an appeal that yielded a split decision reversing judgment against an employer and a ruling that “the phrase ‘hours paid’ does not require increased contributions to multiemployer plans for overtime hours.”

  • November 06, 2025

    Stable Value Funds Are Focus Of ERISA Suits Over Alleged Imprudence

    Often echoing arguments seen in recent pension risk transfer litigation concerning reinsurance arrangements and the risk of insolvency, a firm representing at least six different plaintiffs in various federal jurisdictions filed putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases challenging retirement plan use of certain guaranteed income funds (GIFs) and stable value funds (SVFs) that the plaintiffs claim no prudent fiduciary would have selected and retained.

  • November 06, 2025

    6th Circuit Sets Argument For Challenge To Ruling That PBM Is Partly Preempted

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for Dec. 10 in a challenge to a ruling that parts of a Tennessee law regarding pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are “preempted to the extent they purport to govern self-funded” health plans that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; the appeal has drawn amicus curiae input from numerous advocacy organizations.

  • November 05, 2025

    Full Dismissal Of Tobacco Surcharge Suit Granted In Rhode Island Federal Court

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Following a string of at least seven rulings in which similar putative class challenges to health plan tobacco surcharges survived wholly or in part, a Rhode Island federal judge on Nov. 4 granted full dismissal of a case that is part of a recent wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits.

  • November 05, 2025

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

    Class settlements below $5 million were proposed, granted preliminary approval or finalized in 25 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between early August and late October.

  • November 04, 2025

    High Court Is Asked To Weigh Dismissal Of ERISA Private Equity Investments Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retirement plan participants have filed a certiorari petition but asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hold it until a pending petition concerning “a similar question” is resolved; both cases concern the role benchmarks play in pleading Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.

  • November 04, 2025

    LTD Insurer To 11th Circuit: Affirm Ruling In Dispute Involving Tax Returns

    ATLANTA — Arguing that the plan terms gave its claims administrator the discretion to determine what constitutes sufficient proof of disability, a long-term disability (LTD) insurer filed a Nov. 3 brief asking the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm summary judgment in its favor in a dispute involving interpretation of the term “work” and reject the claimant’s urging to take the position outlined in a report and recommendation the lower court declined to adopt.

  • November 03, 2025

    New York Federal Judge Grants Dismissal Of ERISA Forfeiture Lawsuit

    NEW YORK — Siding with the majority of courts that have considered dismissal motions in a much-watched wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases, a New York federal judge dismissed a putative class action challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions, but the judge said the plaintiffs could amend some claims.

  • November 03, 2025

    Federal Judge Skips LTD Claimant’s Fees Tangle With Her Own Attorneys

    NEW YORK — Declining to exercise ancillary jurisdiction over a fee issue that involves a retainer agreement, a New York federal judge said that doing so in the otherwise concluded case concerning long-term disability (LTD) benefits “would require the Court to decide entirely new claims and would not result in judicial economy.”

  • October 31, 2025

    Fee Award Trimmed In 401(k) Management Suit Resolved By $8.75M Deal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A class settlement including an $8.75 million payment and other relief has been granted final approval in a suit over allegedly imprudent management of a 401(k), with a California federal judge also awarding slightly trimmed attorney fees of $2,179,000.

  • October 30, 2025

    Kentucky Federal Judge Grants Remand Of LTD Claim That Insurer Overlooked

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Citing a 2012 ruling, a Kentucky federal judge granted remand to a long-term disability (LTD) insurer’s claims administrator in a case where the plaintiff’s claim was overlooked for months because of an employee’s procedural mistake; the judge also said that it appears that the claimant “is eligible to receive a fee award because she has achieved some degree of success on the merits by virtue of the remand order.”

  • October 30, 2025

    Amici To High Court: Reject Timing Rule In Withdrawal Liability Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amici curiae urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a withdrawal liability decision and reject the “timing rule” of Nat'l Ret. Fund v. Metz Culinary Mgmt. include the federal government, which in addition to detailing its position in a merits amicus brief moved for permission to participate in oral argument, which has yet to be scheduled.

  • October 30, 2025

    4th Circuit Sets Argument In Long COVID Disability Benefits Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for Dec. 9 in an appeal of a ruling that a claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits because long COVID symptoms have disabled her from working as an engineer; a key issue in the case is whether de novo review was proper.

  • October 29, 2025

    Arbitration Participants Challenge DOL’s Deferred Compensation Advisory

    NEW YORK — Arguing that a recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) advisory opinion concerning a deferred compensation program is “flawed” and was obtained “for impermissible purposes,” three former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC financial advisersfiled an Oct. 28 complaint invoking the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and asking a New York federal court to vacate and set aside the advisory.

  • October 28, 2025

    New 9th Circuit Test For ERISA Releases Is Focus Of High Court Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The named plaintiffs in a long-running class action concerning severance benefits on Oct. 27 waived their right to respond to a U.S. Supreme Court petition in which an employer and related entities seek review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that they argue “creates a roadmap for plaintiffs to evade” releases of Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.

  • October 28, 2025

    5th Circuit Slightly Revises Opinion In Health Care Claims Assignment Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — Granting what it construed as a petition for panel rehearing in a reimbursement dispute over out-of-network care, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a slightly revised substituted opinion with the same result as the original — it mostly vacated and remanded summary judgment against health insurance plans.

  • October 28, 2025

    $4.7M Class Deal Reported In Tobacco Surcharge Case That Survived Dismissal

    RICHMOND, Va. — A putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over health plan tobacco surcharges would be resolved under a $4.7 million settlement agreement that the plaintiffs told a Virginia federal court the parties have signed.

  • October 27, 2025

    5th Circuit Argument Set In Appeal Of Fees Award To NFL Disability Claimant

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled Dec. 3 oral argument in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act appeal where the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan challenges an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs to a former National Football League player who sought a higher level of disability benefits than he had been awarded, and the former player counters that the issue “was forfeited long ago.”

  • October 21, 2025

    Parties, Amici File High Court Merits Briefs In Withdrawal Liability Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a merits brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm the withdrawal liability decision at issue, multiemployer pension plan trusteesargue that the “timing rule” of Nat'l Ret. Fund v. Metz Culinary Mgmt. should be rejected as contrary to the text of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), “longstanding actuarial practice, and common sense.”

  • October 17, 2025

    Change Of Plans In Former Twitter Workers’ Severance Case Sparks Intervention Bid

    SAN FRANCISCO — On Oct. 16 — just under two months after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to postpone oral argument based on the parties’ report of an unspecified “imminent class-wide settlement agreement” in former Twitter Inc. employees’ effort to revive their putative class action for more than $500 million in severance benefits — two former employees moved to intervene as of right on the grounds that the two named plaintiffs now intend only “to proceed with individual claims on an individual basis.”

  • October 16, 2025

    On Remand, ERISA Prohibited Transaction Case Is Sent Back To District Court

    NEW YORK — Nearly half a year after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on the question of what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibited transaction claim involving a service provider, the appeals court on Oct. 15 issued two one-paragraph orders — one recalling the mandate and reinstating the case, then one remanding the case to a New York federal court.

  • October 16, 2025

    Majority Of 11th Circuit Panel Criticizes Exhaustion Precedent But Applies It

    ATLANTA — After applying a 40-year-old circuit precedent in a unanimous Oct. 15 panel ruling affirming dismissal of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) valuation case but remanding for clarification on “whether prejudice attaches,” two panel members suggested that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals convene en banc “to consider overruling” that precedent, which they said “imposed a judicially-created and atextual administrative exhaustion requirement for fiduciary-breach and statutory claims under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.