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Mealey's ERISA

  • June 30, 2025

    Through Criticism, Defendants Win ERISA Proprietary Funds Row After Bench Trial

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge who conducted a 10-day bench trial found in favor of defendants in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the selection and retention of proprietary funds, saying in part that the class “cannot tie any specific decision to the Committee’s process failures, with one exception” — and failed to show that the exception caused any loss.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court Seeks Input On ERISA Ruling Concerning Meaningful Benchmarks

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in a June 30 orders list invited the U.S. solicitor general to provide the federal government’s perspective on a petition to review a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 2-1 revival of a putative class action over a passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs); the decision concerns the role benchmarks play in pleading Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.

  • June 30, 2025

    U.S. High Court Agrees To Tackle Withdrawal Liability Timing Assumptions Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an order list, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted a petition for review of a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) withdrawal liability decision that the federal government filed an amicus curiae brief urging it to grant — but did not reformulate the question presented as the government suggested.

  • June 30, 2025

    U.S. High Court Won’t Review Ruling That ERISA Partly Preempts Oklahoma PBM Law

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the federal government urged in a requested amicus curiae brief, the U.S. Supreme Court in a June 30 order list declined to review a ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D partially preempt an Oklahoma pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) law.

  • June 27, 2025

    Split U.S. High Court: Universal Injunctions ‘Likely Exceed’ Courts’ Authority

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nationwide or universal injunctions “likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has granted to federal courts,” a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 27, partially staying nationwide injunctions issued in three cases challenging President Donald J. Trump’s Jan. 20 birthright citizenship executive order (EO),

  • June 25, 2025

    In ‘Close Call’ Case, Judge Rules For LTD Claimant In Any-Occupation Dispute

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a decision he described as “a very close call,” a California federal judge ruled on de novo review that a claimant was disabled from any occupation under the terms of a long-term disability (LTD) plan; among other things, the judge resolved opposed requests for judicial notice and explained his findings that the opinions of several doctors should be given little to no weight but the claimant’s “reports of pain are entitled to some weight.”

  • June 25, 2025

    Judge Issues Final Approval Order For $69M Settlement Of Target Date Funds Case

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on June 24 entered final approval and awards orders in a case concluded by a $69 million deal that the class representative called “the largest-ever ERISA settlement alleging breach of fiduciary duty for failure to remove underperforming investment options.”

  • June 24, 2025

    Declaration Is Struck, For Now, In Case Challenging Pension Risk Transfers

    NEW YORK — Largely granting an unopposed motion, a New York federal judge struck a declaration that retirees who filed a putative class action challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) to Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA) and RGA Reinsurance Co. (RGA) attached to and referenced in their amended complaint but denied a request to order alterations to the operative complaint.

  • June 24, 2025

    Arkansas Moves To Consolidate Cases Over Law Banning PBMs From Owning Pharmacies

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas moved to consolidate four cases that challenge the constitutionality of a recently signed law that bans pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) from owning a pharmacy business in the state, contending that the cases share common questions of law and name the same defendants.

  • June 24, 2025

    In Mixed Ruling, 9th Circuit Approves Denial Of Coverage For Wilderness Program

    SAN FRANCISCO — In an unpublished June 23 memorandum disposition issuing a mixed ruling in a mental health and substance use coverage dispute, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that coverage for a wilderness program was properly denied; that coverage for residential treatment was not properly denied but the correct remedy is reprocessing because factual disputes remain; and that an award of nearly $50,000 for attorney fees and costs can’t stand because it was based on determinations that the appellate court reversed.

  • June 23, 2025

    Citing Delay, Premiums, 5th Circuit Rules For Life Insurance Beneficiary

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 20 granted judgment for the beneficiary in a life insurance dispute involving a policy that the issuer terminated months after it said it temporarily changed its cancellation practices because of COVID-19; the dispute concerned whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act applies and whether a small business owner had employees, and the panel concluded that the answer to both questions is yes.

  • June 23, 2025

    High Court Won’t Review Discovery Ruling In ERISA Health Benefit Denial Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in its June 23 order list denied a petition to review an Employee Retirement Income Security Act discovery ruling in favor of a multiemployer health plan; the petitioner had argued that the “decision exacerbates both the ongoing split between Circuits as to determining what a plan administrator must do in order to satisfy its fiduciary obligation to perform a full and fair review, as well as the inconsistent factors that courts employ in order to determine whether discovery should be permitted,” and the plan countered that the decision shows only “the routine exercise of judicial discretion in applying the same rule to differing facts.”

  • June 23, 2025

    U.S. High Court Won’t Tackle Bankruptcy Dispute Involving Retirement Contributions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its June 23 orders list, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a ruling where a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel concluded “that voluntary retirement contributions do not constitute disposable income” in Chapter 13 bankruptcies.

  • June 23, 2025

    9th Circuit Orders Briefs On Skrmetti In Appeal Of Ruling That TPA Discriminated

    PASADENA, Calif. — The same day the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered supplemental briefing in an appeal where a third-party administrator (TPA) seeks reversal of a ruling that it violated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision by administering exclusions of gender-affirming care; the parties are to address “how, if at all, this case is affected” by Skrmetti.

  • June 23, 2025

    After Claims Of Info Sharing For Class Actions, OIG To Look At DOL Practices

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Plans have been revealed for an Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of “how the U.S. Department of Labor [DOL] has shared investigative information with non-governmental entities involved in class action litigation and the extent of any related controls.”

  • June 23, 2025

    High Court Development Is Flagged In Challenge To Class Certification In TDF Row

    RICHMOND, Va. — Filing a notice of supplemental authority in the interlocutory appeal, an employer that was sued over the decision to offer BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs) in its retirement plan told the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a recent U.S. Supreme Court development means that Alig v. Shea “remains controlling and requires reversal of” the certification of a mandatory class.

  • June 18, 2025

    CVS Asks Court To Halt Law Barring PBMs From Operating Pharmacies In Arkansas

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — CVS Pharmacy Inc. and its subsidiaries urged an Arkansas federal court to put on hold an Arkansas law that “adopts an unprecedented prohibition on pharmacies that are affiliated with pharmacy benefit managers (commonly referred to as PBMs) continuing to operate in the State” while the companies challenge the law’s constitutionality.

  • June 18, 2025

    9th Circuit Won’t OK Interlocutory Appeal In Class Row Over Reprocessing

    SAN FRANCISCO — Without substantive explanation, two Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges denied permission to appeal the addition of a subclass in a case seeking reprocessing of mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims; disputes concerning the impact of certain rulings in the similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act case Wit v. United Behavioral Health figured largely in the petition and opposition.

  • June 18, 2025

    Judge Lets Class Definitions Stand In ERISA Case Over Retirement Benefits

    PHILADELPHIA — Denying what he construed as a motion to alter judgment in the class action where he recently entered final judgment for the plaintiffs after a bench trial, a Pennsylvania federal judge briefly rejected the defendants’ arguments that he had improperly expanded two class definitions; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute centered on corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits.

  • June 17, 2025

    COVID-19 Testing Lab Seeks Dismissal Of Insurer’s $30M Overpayment Counterclaim

    NEWARK, N.J. — In a lawsuit brought by a medical testing lab seeking reimbursement from health insurers for COVID-19 testing, the lab and its billing company moved to dismiss the insurers’ counterclaims and third-party counterclaims alleging that the lab and billing company caused the insurers to overpay the lab for basic testing services by at least $30 million.

  • June 17, 2025

    1st Circuit Affirms ERISA Preemption In Termination Row Involving Severance

    BOSTON — Affirming summary judgment against an appellant who had asserted wrongful termination and other claims under Rhode Island state law in a dispute involving severance benefits, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 16 ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts all her claims.

  • June 16, 2025

    4th Circuit Upholds LTD Benefits Ruling Involving ‘Objective Evidence’ Exception

    RICHMOND, Va. — Saying in part that “a patient’s self-reported symptoms of pain and fatigue are the exact sort of evidence that the objective-evidence bar is designed to eliminate,” the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished June 13 opinion affirming judgment for a long-term disability (LTD) insurer that terminated benefits under a maximum lifetime limitations provision for neuromuscular, musculoskeletal and soft tissue disorders.

  • June 16, 2025

    4th Circuit Rules 2-1 For LTD Claimant, Avoids Deciding Review Standard Question

    RICHMOND, Va. — In an unpublished opinion that drew a one-paragraph dissent, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 13 upheld summary judgment for a long-term disability (LTD) claimant, saying in part that it didn’t need to decide whether the lower court’s use of de novo review was improper because the insurer’s termination of benefits “does not withstand scrutiny even under the less-rigorous abuse of discretion standard.”

  • June 16, 2025

    Putative Class Lawsuit Challenges Revision To American Airlines LTD Plan

    FORT WORTH, Texas — In a putative class complaint filed in Texas federal court, a disabled pilot sued American Airlines Inc. (AA) and related defendants under the theory that a May 2024 revision of its long-term disability (LTD) plan improperly excluded “vacation, ratification bonuses, profit sharing, one-time supplemental payment, bereavement, grievance payouts, extended sick bank, and Special Assignment” from average monthly compensation, resulting in underpayment of LTD benefits.

  • June 13, 2025

    ERISA Suit Over Allegedly Underperforming Target Date Funds Settles For $69M

    MINNEAPOLIS — A $69 million deal that the class representative called “the largest-ever ERISA settlement alleging breach of fiduciary duty for failure to remove underperforming investment options” has been granted final approval, a text-only June 13 docket entry in Minnesota federal court shows.