Mealey's ERISA
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June 07, 2024
Judge Denies Dismissal Of Emergency Appendectomy ERISA Claims
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has denied dismissal of two core Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims by an insured who says United Healthcare Insurance Co. failed to pay for her emergency appendectomy at a network rate as provided in the summary plan description (SPD).
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June 07, 2024
Retirees Follow 9th Circuit ERISA Accuracy Ruling With Reassignment, Fees Requests
SAN FRANCISCO — After the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partly revived a putative class action over pension benefit statements for the second time, the parties are disputing a reassignment request in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, and the appellants have moved for $179,925 in attorney fees.
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June 07, 2024
Former NFL Player Files Notice Of Appeal After Dismissal Of Suit
ATLANTA — A former National Football League player who claims that he is owed additional disability benefits filed a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of the lower court’s dismissal of his second amended complaint based on a finding that he failed to exhaust all administrative remedies and failed to show that exhaustion would be futile.
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June 06, 2024
Reconsideration Of Latest Postjudgment Ruling Disputed In ERISA Conversion Case
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Continuing their long history of postjudgment wrangling, Cigna Corp. and its pension plan (together, Cigna) and the class that succeeded in some parts in a challenge to the plan’s 1998 conversion are disputing whether a Connecticut federal court should reconsider denying the class’s motions for an accounting or postjudgment discovery and to strike parts of a sur-reply and declaration.
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June 06, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms That ERISA Expressly Preempts Claims In Reimbursement Row
NEW YORK — Rejecting a medical provider’s argument that its causes of action arose from a legal duty based in presurgery phone calls with a claims administrator, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a summary order affirming dismissal of state law claims the panel ruled are “expressly preempted” by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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June 06, 2024
Mental Illness Limitation Does Not Apply, Disability Claimant Says In Complaint
PORTLAND, Maine — A disability plan participant filed suit in Maine federal court against a disability insurer, claiming that he is entitled to reinstatement of long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer wrongfully applied the plan’s mental illness limitation when it terminated his LTD benefits.
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June 06, 2024
In Amicus Brief, DOL Urges 11th Circuit To Ditch ERISA Exhaustion Precedent
ATLANTA — Urging initial hearing en banc in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed an amicus curiae brief supporting appellants who seek the overturn of longstanding circuit precedent concerning exhaustion of administrative remedies in Employee Retirement Income Security lawsuits.
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June 06, 2024
Disability Claimant, Insurer Stipulate To Dismissal After Reaching Settlement
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A disability insurer and a disability claimant filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in Tennessee federal court following the settlement of the claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits suit.
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June 06, 2024
Parties Settle Disability Benefits Suit Stemming From Long COVID Diagnosis
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge ordered the parties in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits suit stemming from a claimant’s diagnosis with long COVID to file a joint stipulation of dismissal and administratively closed the case after the parties notified the court that they reached a settlement.
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June 06, 2024
Pharmacy Benefit Managers Lose Motion To Dismiss Alaska’s Opioid Charges
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A group of pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) lost in large part a bid to dismiss charges that they helped fuel the opioid epidemic in Alaska when a federal judge there ruled that the public nuisance and violation of the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act (CPA) claims can continue.
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June 06, 2024
University Of The Arts Employees File WARN Act Class Suit Following Closure
PHILADELPHIA — Nine employees of a Philadelphia university that announced May 31 that it would be closing its doors one week later filed a class complaint in a federal court in Pennsylvania seeking 60 days of pay and Employee Retirement Income Security Act benefits, alleging that the school violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act).
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June 05, 2024
Judge Won’t Certify Interlocutory Appeal Over ERISA Record-Keeping Ruling
MINNEAPOLIS — A motion focused on allegations of commoditized, fungible record-keeping fees in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case was denied June 4, with a Minnesota federal judge refusing to certify a partial dismissal motion for interlocutory appeal.
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June 05, 2024
Attorneys Get 27% Of $20M ERISA Settlement With 2 Groups Of Class Members
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on June 4 granted final approval of a $20 million settlement in a change in control (CIC) dispute over early retirement pension benefits and pension supplements; the settlement treats the 340 class members differently depending on whether they were terminated.
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June 05, 2024
Disability Claimant Seeks De Novo Review, Says Additional STD Benefits Are Owed
TULSA, Okla. — A de novo standard of review should be applied to the review of the denial of a short-term disability (STD) claim because the disability plan administrator committed a number of procedural irregularities in handling the claimant’s second appeal of the denial of his claim, the claimant says in an opening brief filed in Oklahoma federal court.
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June 05, 2024
9th Circuit: ERISA Preempts State Law Claims In Case Over Alleged Fee-Forgiving
SAN FRANCISCO — Issuing separate rulings regarding Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption and recovery of plan benefits, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld summary judgment for defendants in a health insurance dispute reportedly involving more than $8.6 million in unreimbursed claims from a substance abuse treatment center and alleged fee-forgiving.
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June 05, 2024
Ex-NFL Player Granted Extension To Petition High Court In Disability Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The deadline for a former National Football League player to file a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court was extended by a month, giving the former player until July 13 to seek review of 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.
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June 04, 2024
Nonfiduciary ERISA Claim Against TIAA, Subsidiary Survives In Cross-Selling Case
NEW YORK — A retooled putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over cross-selling of TIAA Portfolio Advisor accounts has survived dismissal, with a New York federal judge ruling that a claim for nonfiduciary receipt of ill-gotten profits is sufficiently stated against a third-party service provider for numerous retirement plans and its subsidiary.
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June 04, 2024
Suit Over DOL’s New Investment Advice Fiduciary Rule Draws Proposed Amicus Briefs
TYLER, Texas — The Hispanic Leadership Fund (HLF) and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America have asked a Texas federal court for permission to file amicus curiae briefs in the first suit challenging 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.
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June 04, 2024
5th Circuit Sets Argument In Appeal Over DOL’s ESG Investing Rule
NEW ORLEANS — In a case that has drawn numerous amicus curiae briefs, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set oral argument for July 9 regarding a ruling that left in place the 2022 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
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June 04, 2024
Awarding 1/3 Of $975,000 ERISA Settlement In Attorney Fees, Judge Gives Final OK
NEW YORK — In orders that didn’t specifically address the lone objection to the class resolution of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over alleged breach of the duty of prudence, a New York federal judge granted final settlement approval and awarded attorney fees totaling 33-1/3% of the $975,000 payment.
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May 29, 2024
COMMENTARY: U.S. Supreme Court Limits Appeals From Decisions Enforcing Arbitration Agreements
By David N. Cinotti
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May 30, 2024
Retirees Urge Denial Of Dismissal Motion In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case
GREENBELT, Md. — Calling Thole v. U.S. Bank. N.A. “entirely distinguishable,” Lockheed Martin Corp. retirees urged a Maryland federal court to deny dismissal of their suit, which is one of a quartet of similar recent putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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May 30, 2024
Defendants Are Granted Taxable Costs In ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Row
DES MOINES, Iowa — Following summary judgment in their favor in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) record-keeping fees in Iowa federal court, grocery chain Hy-Vee Inc. and related defendants were granted taxable costs totaling $53,319.87, including $40,232.83 for discovery of electronically stored information (ESI), on May 29.
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May 29, 2024
Dismissal Bid Fails In 1 ERISA Lawsuit Over Forfeiture Reallocation
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge has denied dismissal in one of the handful of recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases filed against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not putting forfeited nonvested matching contributions toward administrative expenses.
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May 29, 2024
No Gender Dysphoria Standards Exist; Ruling Creates Uncertainty, Amici Say
PASADENA, Calif. — Amici curiae warned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that there was no consensus on the proper standard of care for gender dysphoria and that a ruling below holding a third-party administrator who denied coverage liable for violating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision threated to create a “problematic” situation full of uncertainty for self-insured Employee Retirement Income Security Act plans.