-
July 01, 2026
ST. LOUIS — In a June 30 judgment issued without substantive explanation, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition to allow an interlocutory challenge to certification of three opt-out classes and one mandatory class in a case that is part of a wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to health plan tobacco surcharges.
-
July 01, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — In a June 30 joint notice that was filed just over a week before a bench trial was scheduled to begin, parties in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over severance benefits told a California federal court “that they have reached agreement on all terms of their proposed class action settlement and expect to have a fully executed Memorandum of Understanding within the next few days.”
-
June 30, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — In a June 29 order without substantive explanation, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to allow 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 appellate court’s recent Trauernicht v. Genworth Fin. Inc. ruling.
-
June 30, 2026
ST. LOUIS — Affirming dismissal of a putative class unjust enrichment suit concerning allegations that a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) violated Arkansas law, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 29 ruled in part that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts geographic coverage requirements imposed by regulations implementing the law’s network adequacy provision.
-
June 29, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 26 denied a certiorari petition in a complicated withdrawal liability case concerning federal special financial assistance (SFA) awarded to multiemployer pension plans.
-
June 29, 2026
NEW YORK — Saying she “has been advised that this action has been or will be settled,” a New York federal judge on June 26 dismissed a case in which she recently mostly denied cross-motions for summary judgment regarding a long-term disability (LTD) claimant who purportedly suffered from long COVID but was denied benefits; the judge noted that the dismissal was without prejudice to restoration if an application seeking such is filed within 30 days.
-
June 26, 2026
HOUSTON — Asserting claims against purported fiduciaries of the Hand Composite Employee Benefit Trust in a Texas federal court, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on June 25 alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in connection with management of more than $5 billion in assets.
-
June 26, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 25 respondent brief requested by the U.S. Supreme Court, Netflix Inc. urges the court to deny a certiorari petition that concerns an Employee Retirement Income Security Act disclosure requirement, arguing that “there is no circuit split on either the question presented or the broader question of how to interpret” the requirement and that the question is of little importance.
-
June 26, 2026
NEW YORK — Affirming dismissal of a union member’s suit against a multiemployer pension fund in a summary order, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the pro se member was entitled to benefits from the fund only after 2020 because “the collective bargaining agreement shows that the employer was not paying into the Fund’s pension plan until that year,” adding that the employer had apparently been paying into a separate retirement fund from 2009 through 2019.
-
June 25, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — Addressing what it said was “a question of first impression for this Court,” the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 24 ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “broadly preempts state-law claims” and that explanation of benefits (EOB) forms central to the defamation case it was reviewing “fall well within the scope” of that express preemption.
-
June 24, 2026
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Just over a month after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a certiorari petition that asked it to strike down application of the “effective vindication” doctrine, the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over use of a half-century-old mortality table to calculate joint and survivor annuities (JSAs), and a New York federal judge accordingly ordered the case closed.
-
June 24, 2026
The recent Trauernicht v. Genworth Fin. Inc. opinion vacating certification of a mandatory class in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case is having an impact on a variety of ERISA cases, with the ruling cited in at least six developments ranging from an interlocutory appeal to decertification motions to extra steps in settlement proceedings.
-
June 23, 2026
NEWARK, N.J. — Saying in a June 22 letter that they reached an agreement regarding unspecified monetary terms in mediation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case and “are diligently finalizing the remaining non-monetary settlement terms,” the parties asked a New Jersey federal court to temporarily stay all deadlines in the suit that involves a class of more than 50,000 individuals and had been progressing toward an October bench trial.
-
June 23, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — Saying, “Sometimes, even a good process produces disappointing results,” the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 22 affirmed summary judgment for retirement plan fiduciaries who were sued under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act over retention of allegedly underperforming actively managed funds, concluding that the fiduciaries “followed a sound process, collaborating with an outside investment advisor and meeting with the managers of the challenged Funds” and that “[a] fund’s poor performance alone does not mandate drastic or sudden action.”
-
June 22, 2026
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge ordered a long-term disability (LTD) claimant’s case administratively closed and all pending motions denied as moot upon being informed that the parties had come to “an amicable resolution”; the deal followed a recommendation that summary judgment be granted in favor of the claimant, with a magistrate judge concluding on de novo review that the claimant “sufficiently supported her claim with both objective and subjective evidence of disabling migraines” but that “the record is less clear on whether symptoms associated with” postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and “post-concussive cognitive impairments” were disabling.
-
June 22, 2026
ATLANTA — Issuing a sua sponte dismissal of a complaint as a “shotgun” pleading, a Georgia federal judge said the plaintiff in the suit over a long-term disability (LTD) benefit overpayment “has presented the Court with a box of parts and expects the Court to build the claim without providing an instruction manual.”
-
June 19, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — Affirming a ruling that barred a woman who was convicted of murdering her husband from claiming his Employee Retirement Income Security Act benefits, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in an unpublished memorandum disposition that under a state “slayer” statute, “a person’s killer is not entitled to benefit from the decedent’s pension” and that “federal common law refuses to allow a person to benefit financially from a murder she has committed.”
-
June 19, 2026
NEW YORK — Concluding that possible ambiguities in an insurer’s communications kept it from showing that the plaintiff failed to exhaust her administrative remedies, a New York federal judge on June 18 denied the defendant insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a suit over terminated long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
-
June 19, 2026
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Granting summary judgment for an insurer on all claims in a putative class case involving disability benefits under a group occupational accident coverage (OAC) policy offered to independent contractors, a California federal judge ruled that the insurer is entitled to $75,446.71 in equitable restitution for short-term disability (STD) benefits it paid because the claimant also received a $40,000 settlement that falls under the policy’s nonduplication of workers’ compensation provision.
-
June 18, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — Concluding that neither claim was plausible under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 17 affirmed rulings against a widower who argued that his late wife’s employer wrongly denied his claim for basic accidental life insurance and optional accidental death and disability (AD&D) benefits and wrongly failed to provide plan documents.
-
June 18, 2026
EL PASO, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge recommended granting a dismissal motion filed by Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plan administrators in a woman’s suit asserting claims against the administrators, a physician, his practice and a hospital regarding the alleged negligent treatment she received during a joint replacement surgery after which she contracted COVID-19, finding that the woman cannot plead ERISA claims while arguing that ERISA is inapplicable.
-
June 18, 2026
NORFOLK, Va. — Asking a Virginia federal court to order that the administrative record in his suit over total and permanent (T&P) disability benefits “be filed and maintained under seal,” a former National Football League player who is currently a Virginia state senator argues in part that disclosure “would invite public speculation and media scrutiny concerning Plaintiff's mental and physical health, cause harm to his professional reputation entirely unrelated to the legitimate issues before this Court, and constitute an egregious invasion of privacy that no amount of legal remedy could adequately redress.”
-
June 17, 2026
NEW YORK — Pursuant to joint stipulations, a New York federal judge on June 16 certified mandatory classes as to the remaining claims in two related long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases that generally allege imprudent management of New York University (NYU) retirement plans.
-
June 16, 2026
CHICAGO — Asking the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a decision that upheld termination of his long-term disability (LTD) benefits under a “regular care of a physician” requirement, a former Whole Foods worker argues in his June 15 opening brief that the trial court was wrong both in concluding that the insurer cited the requirement during his administrative appeal and in ruling that under de novo review it could consider the requirement even if the insurer hadn’t cited it in the administrative appeal.
-
June 12, 2026
NEW YORK — Retirees who sued Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and related defendants over the use of allegedly outdated mortality tables in calculating qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA) benefits have won a New York federal court’s preliminary approval of a class settlement they say has a present value of $23 million.