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Mealey's ERISA

July 12, 2024
Parties In ERISA Suit Over Fund Managers’ ESG Efforts File Posttrial Briefs

FORT WORTH, Texas — Following a four-day bench trial in Texas federal court, parties in a class action over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms filed posttrial briefs on July 11.
July 12, 2024
6th Circuit Won’t Rehear Case Over Multiemployer Funds’ Attempt To Force Audit

CINCINNATI — Following an unpublished panel decision with partial dissent that affirmed a ruling against multiemployer fringe benefit trust funds seeking an audit under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc.
July 12, 2024
Judge OKs $2M Class Settlement In ERISA Row But Denies Incentive Award Requests

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Approving a $2 million class settlement in a case involving the investment decisions and administrative costs of a terminated retirement plan, a Georgia federal judge granted attorney fees and expenses as requested but cited Johnson v. NPAS Sols., LLC in denying requests for $5,000 and $10,000 incentive awards.
June 13, 2024
COMMENTARY: Health Plan Fee Litigation: The Next Wave Of ERISA Litigation?

By Neil R. Morrison, Lars Golumbic and Kara Petteway Wheatley
July 11, 2024
Judge Dismisses Former Twitter Employees’ ERISA Suit For Severance Benefits

SAN FRANCISCO — Ruling that the plaintiffs didn’t prove that a severance plan is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a California federal judge granted dismissal of a putative class complaint in which former Twitter employees sought more than $500 million in benefits.
July 10, 2024
2nd Circuit Won’t Rehear ERISA Effective Vindication Case After 2-1 Ruling

NEW YORK — Denying without explanation a petition for panel or en banc rehearing in a case involving a high-profile Employee Retirement Income Security Act issue, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 9 declined to revisit a 2-1 ruling that applied the effective vindication exception and upheld denial of a motion for individual arbitration concerning an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal.
July 10, 2024
Parties Argue ESG Investing Rule’s Tiebreaker Provision Before 5th Circuit Panel

NEW ORLEANS — In July 9 oral argument before a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel regarding a 2022 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, the parties acknowledged but did not primarily focus on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning a deference doctrine that was relied on in the challenged opinion upholding the rule.
July 10, 2024
October Argument Set On Dismissal Motion In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case

GREENBELT, Md. — A Maryland federal judge on July 9 scheduled Oct. 10 oral argument on the only fully briefed dismissal motion in the handful of similar recent putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
July 10, 2024
Excluding Expert, Judge Grants Summary Judgment Against Class In ERISA Fees Suit

PITTSBURGH — Excluding an expert whose testimony has had mixed fates under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals challenges in other courts, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled against a large class in granting summary judgment for PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and related defendants in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly excessive record-keeping fees.
July 10, 2024
Class Counsel Get 25% Of $1M Settlement In ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Granting final approval to a $1 million class settlement with Yale-New Haven Hospital Inc. and related entities to resolve allegations of imprudent record-keeping and administrative (RK&A) retirement plan fees, a Connecticut federal judge awarded class counsel $250,000 of that amount for attorney fees and expenses.
July 10, 2024
$5M Class Settlement Wraps ERISA Suit Over Health System Retirement Plans

DETROIT — Granting final approval to a $5 million class settlement in a suit challenging numerous aspects of the management of two Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) retirement plans, a Michigan federal judge awarded a third of that amount as attorney fees and $7,500 to each of the four named plaintiffs as an incentive.
July 09, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Bids For Attorney Fees, Reassignment On Remand In ERISA Row

SAN FRANCISCO — In a July 8 order without explanation, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that partly overturned dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over benefit statements denied pension plan participants’ opposed motions to reassign the case on remand and for $179,925 in attorney fees for the appeal.
July 09, 2024
8th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Cross-Plan Offsetting Suit For Lack Of Standing

ST. LOUIS — Distinguishing two decisions on which health plan participants relied, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 8 upheld dismissal of a putative class suit over the practice known as “cross-plan offsetting,” saying that the participants “have not shown a concrete injury.”
July 09, 2024
J&J Moves To Dismiss Amended Complaint In Fiduciary Breach Row Over Drug Benefits

CAMDEN, N.J. — Johnson and Johnson and the committee that administers the health plans the company sponsors have moved in New Jersey federal court to dismiss the amended complaint in a high-profile putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duty suit focused on the plan’s pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) and prescription drug benefits.
July 09, 2024
2nd Circuit Denies Rehearing Bid On Jurisdictional Ruling In ERISA Arbitration Row

NEW YORK — Without explanation, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for en banc rehearing in which a private investment manager argued that holding that part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “provides a cause of action to confirm an arbitral award in federal court” conflicts with precedent including Badgerow v. Walters.
July 08, 2024
Dismissal Bids Fail In Suit Over ESOP’s Allegedly Imprudent Releveraging Deal

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In a July 5 ruling denying motions to dismiss an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit concerning an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), an Arkansas federal judge said in part that ESOP participants “plausibly allege[] that the terms of the releveraging deal were imprudent.”
July 08, 2024
LTD Claim Remanded To Allow Claimant To Respond To Independent Peer Reviews

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge remanded a long-term disability (LTD) claim to allow a disability claimant to respond to independent peer reviews conducted by the disability insurer and to submit additional evidence in response to the peer reviews.
July 08, 2024
6th Circuit Panel Set In ERISA Fees Row Involving Effective Vindication Doctrine

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has named the panel set to hear July 18 oral argument in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act arbitration case involving an issue central to a number of high-profile rulings in the past few years — the effective vindication doctrine.
July 05, 2024
11th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment In AD&D Row Over Vanished Mountain Climber

ATLANTA — Concluding in part “that a reasonable mountain climber would have recognized a high likelihood of injury or death,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded summary judgment for an insured’s sons in a dispute over accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) benefits.
July 05, 2024
Amicus Certifiers Call Former DOL Rule ‘Dinosaur,’ Argue Against Reviving It

FORT WORTH, Texas — Saying in a July 3 amicus curiae brief that a lawsuit seeks “to resuscitate a dinosaur,” affiliated nonprofits that operate a financial planner certification program urge a Texas federal court not to grant a preliminary injunction or stay 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.
July 05, 2024
Pro Se Litigant’s Disability Suit Was Properly Dismissed, 6th Circuit Affirms

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 3 affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a pro se disability claimant’s suit after determining that the claimant was afforded the opportunity to allege claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act but failed to do so in accordance with the district court’s directives.
July 05, 2024
Failure To Consider Cognitive Issues Was Abuse Of Discretion, Federal Judge Says

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge determined that a disability insurer abused its discretion in terminating a disability claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer failed to consider how the claimant’s cognitive issues affect her ability to work in her regular occupation.
July 03, 2024
Termination Of LTD Benefits Not Arbitrary, Capricious, Ohio Federal Judge Says

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A disability insurer’s termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits after paying benefits for 19 years was not arbitrary and capricious because substantial evidence supports the finding that the claimant was no longer disabled from performing the duties of any occupation and the claimant failed to identify any evidence showing that the termination was arbitrary and capricious, an Ohio federal judge said in granting the disability insurer’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.
July 03, 2024
Intervention Allowed In 1 Challenge To DOL Investment Advice Fiduciary Rule

FORT WORTH, Texas — With a Texas federal judge’s permission, two trade associations filed an intervenor complaint in one of two similar suits seeking to have 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 vacated.
July 03, 2024
After Evidence Of Insurability Probes, DOL Reports Settlements With Life Insurers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saying in a news release that “[i]nvestigations into other life insurance companies’ practices surrounding evidence of insurability [EOI] are ongoing,” the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced two settlements in which its investigations were resolved by life insurers’ agreements to follow certain procedures.