Mealey's ERISA
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August 06, 2024
Denial Of STD Claim Reasonable Based On Lack Of Evidence, Federal Judge Says
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The denial of a short-term disability (STD) benefits claim following a treating physician’s failure to respond to the STD claims administrator’s repeated requests regarding the claimant’s medical condition and the claimant’s ability to return to work was reasonable and not wrong, an Alabama federal judge said in granting the disability plan defendants’ motion for summary judgment and in denying the claimant’s motion for summary judgment.
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August 05, 2024
Upholding ERISA Fees And Funds Ruling, 11th Circuit Declines To Shift Burden
ATLANTA — Declining to revive a class action over retirement plan fees and funds and rejecting a request to join circuits that have adopted a burden-shifting framework, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled on Aug. 2 that a 1992 decision is circuit precedent and “the burden of proving loss causation lies with the plaintiff” in such Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases.
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August 05, 2024
Association Urges U.S. High Court To Let 10th Circuit Ruling On PBM Law Stand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that the case is “glaringly unsuitable as a vehicle for resolving either of the questions presented,” a trade association urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny review of a ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D partially preempt an Oklahoma pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) law.
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August 05, 2024
3rd Circuit Appeal Filed Over Summary Judgment, Exclusion Ruling In ERISA Fees Row
PHILADELPHIA — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees is being taken to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, with the named plaintiff filing a notice of appeal regarding a denial of summary judgment ruling that involved excluding an expert whose testimony has had mixed fates under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals challenges in other courts.
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August 02, 2024
Wells Fargo, Execs Sued Under ERISA For Prescription Drug Prices, PBM Fees
MINNEAPOLIS — In a putative class action similar to one pending against Johnson and Johnson, former participants in a Wells Fargo & Co. health plan filed a suit in Minnesota federal court under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act over alleged mismanagement of prescription drug benefits, with a focus on the plan’s pharmacy benefits manager (PBM).
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August 02, 2024
STD, LTD Claims Remanded To Plan Administrator For Full, Fair Review
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The denial of claims for short-term disability (STD) and long-term disability (LTD) benefits was arbitrary and capricious because the denials were not the result of a deliberate and principled reasoning process, a Kentucky federal judge said in remanding the claims to the plan administrator for a full and fair review.
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August 01, 2024
District Court Properly Found Disability Claimant Is Totally Disabled, 8th Circuit Says
ST. LOUIS — A district court did not err in granting judgment in favor of a disability claimant because the claimant met her burden of showing that she is disabled from performing the duties of any occupation, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.
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July 29, 2024
Disability Claimant’s Suit Fails; Policy Rider Clearly Stated Terms, Judge Says
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted a disability insurer’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed a breach of contract and bad faith suit filed against a disability income insurer after determining that the insurer’s termination of cost-of-living benefits was proper pursuant to the terms of the policy rider and its termination provision.
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July 29, 2024
Mich. Panel: 401(k), Insurance Can Satisfy Estate Claim In Wrongful Death Shooting
DETROIT — In cases consolidated on appeal, a Michigan appellate court affirmed the portion of a probate court’s order allowing recovery of life insurance proceeds but reversed the portion of the probate court’s order not allowing recovery of the proceeds of a 401(k) account in a wrongful death judgment owed to a mother’s estate against the estate of her daughter implicated in a murder/suicide, finding that both the 401(k) and life insurance proceeds were available to satisfy the judgment.
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July 29, 2024
Ex-NFL Player Seeks High Court Review, Says Wrong Standard Of Review Applied
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former National Football League player filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that the high court should review the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that he failed to prove that he is entitled to additional disability benefits under the NFL’s benefits plan because a de novo standard of review should have been applied based on the plan’s procedural violations.
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July 29, 2024
NFL Disability Plan Says Former Player’s Appeal Should Not Be Reinstated
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should summarily deny a former National Football League player’s motion to reinstate his appeal in a dispute over additional disability benefits owed under the NFL’s disability plan because the motion is untimely and because the former player failed to show any good cause to excuse the untimeliness of the appeal, the NFL plan maintains in response to the former player’s motion.
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July 26, 2024
Parties Stipulate To Dismissal Of Long COVID Disability Benefits Suit After Settlement
MIAMI — Following a second order issued by a Florida federal judge, the parties in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits suit stemming from a claimant’s diagnosis with long COVID filed a joint stipulation of dismissal on July 25 after settling the LTD claim.
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July 26, 2024
Judge Stays Effective Date Of DOL’s New Investment Advice Fiduciary Rule
TYLER, Texas — A Texas federal judge has ordered a nationwide stay of the effective date of a new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, concluding in his July 25 ruling that the rule conflicts with ERISA by, among other things, “treating as fiduciaries those who engage in one-time recommendations to roll over assets from an ERISA plan to an IRA.”
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July 25, 2024
With ERISA Issue Pending, 3rd Circuit Lets Denial Stand In N.J. Temp Worker Row
PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld denial of a preliminary injunction request that sought to halt New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (TWBR), saying in a July 24 ruling that that staffing industry groups “failed to show they were likely to succeed” on the merits of their initial claims.
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July 25, 2024
Citing Mator, 3rd Circuit Revives ERISA Suit Over Record-Keeping Fees
PHILADELPHIA — Noting a recent decision that “reversed the opinion on which the trial court relied and clarified the pleading standards for excessive fee claims under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a nonprecedential July 24 opinion reviving a putative class action over record-keeping fees.
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July 24, 2024
New Injunction Bid Based On ERISA Preemption Disputed In N.J. Temp Worker Row
CAMDEN, N.J. — Seeking a preliminary injunction to halt part of New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (TWBR) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, staffing industry groups tell a New Jersey federal court that the case law regulators cite is distinguishable.
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July 23, 2024
High Court Told ERISA Prohibited-Transaction Differences Don’t Need Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a July 22 respondent brief filed at the request of the U.S. Supreme Court, Cornell University and related entities urge denial of a certiorari petition regarding an Employee Retirement Income Security Act ruling, arguing in part that “no court of appeals that has considered a prohibited-transaction claim challenging a contract for routine plan services has allowed the claim to proceed.”
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July 23, 2024
$19M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has granted final approval to a $19 million class settlement resolving claims over the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans and the use of a stable value fund as the default investment, also approving a 33% attorney fee and all awards as requested.
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July 23, 2024
2nd Circuit Sets Argument In Mortgage-Backed Securities Appeal Over ERISA Claims
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has set oral argument for Sept. 5 in a dispute involving whether a pension fund’s investment in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) made the underlying residential mortgages Employee Retirement Income Security Act plan assets and exposed the mortgage servicers to ERISA fiduciary liability.
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July 23, 2024
Trustees Stress Rarity, Oppose Review Of Withdrawal Liability Assumptions Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Taking a very different position than the employer petitioners and amicus the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, multiemployer pension plan trustees urge the U.S. Supreme Court to deny review of a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) withdrawal liability decision that created a circuit split.
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July 19, 2024
5th Circuit Orders Limited Remand In Challenge To ESG Investing Rule
NEW ORLEANS — Citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned a deference doctrine on which the lower court relied, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 18 vacated and remanded a decision upholding a 2022 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
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July 17, 2024
California Judge Dismisses LTD Plan From Suit, Leaving Insurer As Sole Defendant
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed a long-term disability (LTD) plan from a disability claimant’s suit, leaving the disability insurer as the sole defendant after the parties jointly agreed to dismiss the plan as a defendant.
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July 17, 2024
Panel Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Disability Claimant, Says Denial Was De Novo Wrong
ATLANTA — A disability insurer’s denial of a medical doctor’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was de novo wrong because the insurer construed the policy language referring to compensation from a medical partnership without considering the context of the policy language as a whole, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming a district court’s summary judgment ruling entered in favor of a disability claimant.
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July 16, 2024
3rd Circuit Lets Employer Dodge 12-Years-Later Withdrawal Liability Bill
PHILADELPHIA — Saying a statutory requirement of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) was not met, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed vacation of an arbitration award in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over withdrawal liability.
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July 16, 2024
In New 5th Circuit Panel Ruling, Big ERISA Multiplan Class Survives As Opt-Out
NEW ORLEANS — Withdrawing its August 2023 opinion upholding certification of a mandatory class of participants in thousands of retirement and health benefit plans, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 15 partly reversed and remanded, saying an opt-out class is appropriate but a mandatory class is not.