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Mealey's ERISA

March 04, 2026
4th Circuit Affirms Use Of De Novo Review For Untimely LTD Decision

RICHMOND, Va. — Affirming a lower court’s use of the de novo standard of review in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case because the plan administrator failed to meet a regulatory deadline during the administrative appeal of its initial decision, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 3 upheld a ruling that the appellee is owed past-due benefits because long COVID symptoms have disabled her from working as an engineer.
March 04, 2026
4th Circuit Backs Trial Court In ERISA Plan Termination Case

RICHMOND, Va. — Concluding in an unpublished opinion that the trial court properly applied the governing principles of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, “credited evidence where warranted, and rejected claims where the proof fell short,” the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 3 affirmed two denials of class certification and two other rulings in a long-running case over termination of a retiree welfare benefits plan that was the subject of consolidated appeals.
March 02, 2026
Top Hat Plan Administrator Urges Supreme Court To Skip Cert Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Feb. 27 respondent brief that the U.S. Supreme Court requested, the trust administrator for “top hat” deferred compensation and retirement plans contends that there is “no bona fide split” on a question regarding equitable relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, that the petitioners don’t even argue that there is a split on the other question concerning preemption and that “[n]o guidance or uniformity is needed in this unusual factual context.”
March 02, 2026
5th Circuit Affirms Standard Of Review, Denial Of ERISA Severance Benefits

NEW ORLEANS — Distinguishing a sister circuit’s ruling that upheld an award of benefits under the same Employee Retirement Income Security Act severance plan following de novo review, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an unpublished opinion agreed with the lower court that the abuse-of-discretion standard applies and substantial evidence supported denial of benefits under the plan’s “good reason” clause.
March 02, 2026
ERISA Forfeiture Dismissal Appeals Update: Oral Argument And DOL Briefs

Appellate courts have yet to weigh in on the wave of putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions, but the U.S. Department of Labor has filed amicus curiae briefs supporting affirmance in four of the 10 pending appeals of rulings dismissing such cases, and the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for March 18 in one of those appeals.
March 02, 2026
Withdrawal Liability Is Focus Of Yet Another Certiorari Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has been presented with yet another certiorari petition concerning withdrawal liability, with the petitioners who filed the latest request saying that the ruling they are challenging regarding federal special financial assistance (SFA) that was awarded to multiemployer pension plans “implicates multiple circuit splits,” including one that the high court has already agreed to resolve, and warning that the ruling will have “seismic” economic impacts if not reversed.
February 27, 2026
Retirees File 8th Circuit Appeal In ERISA Pension Actuarial Equivalence Case

ST. LOUIS — Retirees have filed an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenge to a ruling that ended their putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit actuarial equivalence case by excluding their expert’s testimony and entering summary judgment against them.
February 26, 2026
Nonparties Win Subpoena Fight In Case Over TIAA Cross-Selling

NEW YORK — Saying in a memo endorsement order that she “does not believe it is appropriate” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 “to force the nonparty Universities to bear this burden for information of such limited relevance,” a New York federal judge denied a motion to compel compliance with subpoenas that was filed by the plaintiffs in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case potentially involving participants in thousands of retirement plans.
February 25, 2026
Consent Order Closes Case DOL Filed Over 2016 ESOP Transaction

NEW YORK — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) filed over a July 2016 Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) deal has been resolved under a consent order and judgment that the agency told a New York federal court consists of “debt forgiveness totaling $14 million; cancellation of warrants giving defendants the right to purchase 40% of the company; and cash payments (including penalties) totaling $1.1 million all coming from the persons that caused and knowingly participated in the violations.”
February 25, 2026
D.C. Federal Judge Nixes Bid To Amend Complaint In Dismissed PRT Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Roughly 11 months after issuing a dismissal without prejudice for lack of standing, a District of Columbia federal judge on Feb. 24 declined to let Alcoa USA Corp. retirees file a second amended putative class complaint challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
February 24, 2026
Judge Confirms Arbitration Awards Including Nearly $2.4M For Attorney Fees

PHOENIX — Resolving competing motions in favor of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participant who filed a putative class complaint but was forced into individual arbitration, an Arizona federal judge confirmed an $11,029.50 arbitration award and an order awarding $2,359,909 in attorney fees incurred during the arbitration proceedings and $132,310.97 in arbitration costs.
February 23, 2026
Claimant Who Sought Disability Benefits For Long COVID Loses Case

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Granting judgment on the administrative record against a claimant who unsuccessfully sought short-term and long-term disability (STD and LTD) benefits due to symptoms he attributed to long COVID despite being awarded disability benefits by the Social Security Administration (SSA), a Vermont federal judge on Feb. 20 said she found “no evidence that Plaintiff was intentionally deceitful” but concluded that he “is not a reliable source of information due to his conflicting statements, self-described poor memory, psychiatric symptoms, and extensive marijuana use.”
February 20, 2026
Amici Urge High Court To Review Federal Circuit Takings Ruling In Pension Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A retiree’s widow, public policy group Manhattan Institute (the Institute) and several law professors are among the amici curiae that filed briefs on Feb. 19 urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari and reverse a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) “was not a physical taking and plaintiffs did not prove it was a regulatory taking” and therefore the attempt by a certified class of retirees to get federal compensation for cuts made to their vested pension benefits failed.
February 20, 2026
Deal Including $13.4M Payment Proposed In ERISA Fees, Funds Lawsuit

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — In a settlement that a Massachusetts federal court has been asked to preliminarily approve, a class action where 401(k) plan participants challenge record-keeping and managed account fees and inclusion of two allegedly underperforming investment options would be resolved by a $13.4 million payment and nonmonetary relief; the parties reached a tentative agreement less than a month before a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial was scheduled to begin.
February 20, 2026
Hundreds Of NSA Suits Are Stayed Over Potential Shift To ERISA, State Law

NEWARK, N.J. — Unofficially referring to one case as the lead, New Jersey federal judges have stayed hundreds of similar suits that medical providers initially filed under the No Surprises Act (NSA) but are expected to amend to assert Employee Retirement Income Security Act and unjust enrichment claims; an opposed pre-motion letter request concerning a dismissal bid is pending in that lead case.
February 20, 2026
Judge: Government Cannot Be Forced To Enforce COVID Test Reimbursement Statutes

SAN FRANCISCO — In a lawsuit brought by a COVID-19 diagnostic test provider seeking to force the federal government to enforce provisions of COVID-era legislation providing for reimbursement for COVID-19 testing by health insurers, a California federal judge granted the government’s motion to dismiss after finding that whether and how to enforce the statutes was within the discretion of the government.
February 19, 2026
2nd Circuit Resolves MPPAA Interpretation Case In Employer’s Favor

NEW YORK — Resolving what it said was “a split between two district courts in our Circuit” and saying the “case presents a novel legal question in this and other Circuits,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 18 affirmed an interpretation of the phrase “unfunded vested benefits” in the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) that reduced withdrawal liability from $1.8 million to zero for an exit caused by employees’ decision to switch unions.
February 18, 2026
Attorney Fees Exceeding $96M Awarded In ERISA Residual Annuities Case

NEW YORK — Wrapping up a decade-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over residual annuities (RAs) that resulted in a $332 million class settlement, a New York federal judge on Feb. 17 granted awards from the common fund as requested in amounts including $96.28 million for attorney fees and $10,000 for a service award.
February 18, 2026
Judge: LTD Claimant Met Only Own-Occupation Definition Of Disability

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On de novo review of a case challenging termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits for a marketing agency account executive who was diagnosed with “an acute intractable headache,” a Michigan federal judge ruled that the claimant is entitled to benefits under the plan’s initial “regular occupation” definition of disability but not under the subsequent “any gainful occupation” definition.
February 18, 2026
Suit That Former Physician’s Assistant Filed Over LTD Benefits Is Dropped

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Pursuant to a joint stipulation, dismissal with prejudice has been entered in a suit that a former emergency room physician’s assistant filed against the claims administrator that terminated his long-term disability (LTD) benefits; the plaintiff said he “underwent a PET/CT scan that indicated Alzheimer’s dementia” and argued in part that discovery from other lawsuits has shown that the insurer’s reviewer “denies 85-90% of all disability claims she reviews.”
February 17, 2026
California Federal Judge: Massachusetts Law Applies To Suit Over LTD Benefits

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A claims administrator’s decision to deny long-term disability (LTD) benefits to a former executive will be reviewed for abuse of discretion rather than de novo after a California federal judge on Feb. 13 ruled that because the policy has a Massachusetts choice of law clause, a California law that invalidates discretionary clauses does not apply.
February 17, 2026
$42.7M Class Deal Reported In ERISA Forfeiture Case Against Providence Health

SEATTLE — A case that is part of a wave of putative class actions challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions would settle for an estimated $42,724,532 under a deal a Washington federal court was asked to grant preliminary approval in a Feb. 13 motion.
February 13, 2026
Pa. Federal Judge Partly Grants Motion To Compel In LTD Benefits Case

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on Feb. 12 declined to compel production of “batting average” information and communications concerning state or federal investigations but ordered the administrator of a group long-term disability (LTD) policy to provide some of the information a claimant seeks regarding incentives for insurance adjusters and reviewing physicians, the administrator’s review policies and procedures and its use of a third-party medical review company.
February 13, 2026
5th Circuit Uses Effective Vindication Doctrine In ERISA Cash Investment Case

NEW ORLEANS — Becoming the eighth circuit to apply the effective vindication doctrine to Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered remand in the putative class suit over allegations that a bank holding company and related entities violated their fiduciary duties by, among other things, putting large portions of their retirement plan’s funds into proprietary cash investments; under the ruling, the lower court could compel arbitration of representative claims if it decides that the arbitration provisions that violate the doctrine are severable.
February 13, 2026
Disability Retirement Denial Is Reversed Due To Inadequate Medical Reviews

LONDON, Ky. — Concluding that there was not substantial evidence to support an independent medical examination (IME) on which the administrator relied and that the administrative record as a whole shows that the decision to deny disability retirement benefits was arbitrary, a Kentucky federal judge granted judgment in favor of a former ward clerk that he ruled is entitled to the benefits.