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Mealey's ERISA

  • February 11, 2026

    Airline In ERISA Case Involving ESG Ordered To Pay Nearly $4.6M In Attorney Fees

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Feb. 10 awarded a class $4,596,287.50 of the $7,907,760.60 it requested for attorney fees following a bench trial in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of nonparty investment management firms; he also denied a request for a $15,000 service award and clarified aspects of the injunctive relief ordered in the Sept. 30 final judgment denying monetary damages.

  • February 10, 2026

    LTD Insurer Objects To Order Allowing Discovery On Fiduciary Breach Claim

    MINNEAPOLIS — A long-term disability (LTD) insurer that is trying to get a federal magistrate judge’s discovery order reversed argues in a Minnesota federal court filing that the claimant should not have been allowed “to parse out conduct from an ordinary denial of benefits claim and re-brand it as a separate claim for breach of fiduciary duty and thereby obtain discovery in contravention of Eighth Circuit authority prohibiting discovery on” benefits claims asserted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • February 09, 2026

    Wit, Related Case Get New Remedies Order On Mental Health, Substance Use Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — Superseding a November 2020 remedies order in related class actions over thousands of mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims, a California federal magistrate judge said in part that for five years, criteria that United Behavioral Health (UBH) adopts to implement a generally accepted standard of care (GASC) requirement in any plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “shall accurately reflect GASC” pursuant to a prior ruling in the case “and the requirements of any applicable state law.”

  • February 09, 2026

    5th Circuit Panel Lets Reversal Of Fee Award To NFL Disability Claimant Stand

    NEW ORLEANS — In a per curiam order denying panel rehearing issued without explanation, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals let stand its reversal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees to a former National Football League player who sued for a higher level of disability benefits than he was awarded, prevailed after a bench trial and then saw that favorable ruling reversed in a previous appeal.

  • February 09, 2026

    2nd Circuit Upholds Ruling For Health Plan In Suit Over Residential Treatment

    NEW YORK — In a summary order concerning a minor who had an eating disorder and mental health conditions, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of a health plan that stopped covering residential and partial hospitalization program (PHP) treatment following a claims administrator’s determination that such treatment was no longer needed under level of care (LOC) guidelines.

  • February 06, 2026

    Illinois Federal Judge: ERISA Forfeiture Case Mostly Survives Dismissal

    CHICAGO — Noting that the plan language “mandates the Plan Committee to utilize forfeitures to pay reasonable administrative expenses . . . before offsetting employer contributions,” an Illinois federal judge ruled that all claims except two prohibited transaction ones survive dismissal in a suit that is part of a wave of putative class cases challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions.

  • February 06, 2026

    2nd Circuit Addresses Standing For Representative ERISA Claims In Pension Case

    NEW YORK — Reversing a determination that the named plaintiff in the dispute over using a half-century-old mortality table to calculate joint and survivor annuities (JSAs) has standing “to seek monetary payments on behalf of the” pension plan, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 5 otherwise affirmed the lower court’s ruling in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case on interlocutory appeal.

  • February 06, 2026

    ERISA ‘Excessive Fee’ Settlements, Proposals Under $5M

    Class settlements below $5 million were proposed, granted preliminary approval or finalized in 17 “excessive fee” Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases between early November and late January.

  • February 06, 2026

    Suit Against Health Plan’s Third-Party Administrator Is Voluntarily Dismissed

    RICHMOND, Va. — Filing a joint stipulation in Virginia federal court, the parties in a case that an employer and its self-funded health plan filed against the plan’s third-party administrator (TPA) said they are dismissing with prejudice the case over allegations that the TPA violated Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary standards “by, among other things, (i) paying more for healthcare claims than was even billed, (ii) securing kickbacks from providers and affiliated intermediaries, (iii) double-paying claims, and (iv) pocketing rebates.”

  • February 05, 2026

    7th Circuit Finds No Substantial Compliance With Retirement Plan Requirements

    CHICAGO — Reversing because it concluded that a deceased retirement plan participant “did not substantially comply with the plan’s beneficiary-change requirements,” the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered entry of judgment in favor of the decedent’s ex-wife in the estate dispute involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • February 04, 2026

    Dismissing ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Case, Judge Gives Employer Outlier Win

    ST. LOUIS — Giving an employer an outlier victory in a putative class action that is similar to many other recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to tobacco surcharges, a Missouri federal judge on Feb. 3 dismissed the complaint with prejudice and said the statute at issue “does not impose a retroactive reimbursement requirement for tobacco cessation surcharges."

  • February 04, 2026

    Split Kentucky Panel Orders New Damages Trial In STD Benefits Case

    FRANKFORT, Ky. — In an unpublished opinion, a split Kentucky appeals panel reversed and remanded a ruling against the third-party administrator of a short-term disability (STD) plan in a long-running case where a jury awarded the claimant $7,125,000 in emotional distress and punitive damages

  • February 02, 2026

    Former DOL Officials, Other Amici Urge 4th Circuit Affirmance In PRT Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Three amicus curiae briefs filed Jan. 30 urge the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a ruling that retirees had standing to file a putative class lawsuit that is part of a much-watched string of pension risk transfer (PRT) challenges, with one of those briefs coming from former U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officials who argue that the Jan. 9 amicus brief the DOL filed here shows that “an effort is underway to limit the scope of” the private right of action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • February 02, 2026

    Agency Proposes Rule That Would Require PBMs To Make Some Fee Disclosures

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fiduciaries of self-insured group health plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act would receive compensation information from pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) “services and affiliated providers of brokerage and consulting services” under a proposed rule that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has unveiled.

  • January 30, 2026

    ERISA Suit Over Facial Feminization Surgery Is Dismissed Under Stipulation

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Just under two weeks after ruling that only a declaratory relief claim survived dismissal in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case in which a transgender woman diagnosed with gender dysphoria challenged a health plan’s refusal to cover a facial feminization surgery it deemed not medically necessary, a California federal judge dismissed the case with prejudice pursuant to the parties’ joint stipulation.

  • January 29, 2026

    Class Certification, Summary Judgment Denied In Suit Over NFL Disability Denials

    BALTIMORE — Finding that “the commonality and typicality prerequisites are not met here,” a Maryland federal judge on Jan. 28 declined to certify “a class spanning over five decades of NFL players” in a suit over NFL disability benefits; in separate rulings the same day, she denied three motions in which the defendants sought summary judgment and denied the plaintiffs’ motion to strike two declarations submitted in support of the summary judgment motions.

  • January 29, 2026

    Pension Benefits Statements Case Dismissed By Agreement Of Parties

    LOS ANGELES — A putative class pension benefit statements case on its second remand from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was dismissed with prejudice by a California federal judge on Jan. 28 pursuant to a joint stipulation.

  • January 29, 2026

    Judge: Former Surgeon Deserves Total Disability Benefits Due To ‘Injury’

    KALAMAZOO, Mich. — On de novo review, a Michigan federal judge concluded that insurers wrongly denied a total disability claim filed by a surgeon who had long received residual disability benefits because of back pain and that awarding him benefits outright is appropriate because the insurers “are not entitled to a ‘second bite at the apple.’”

  • January 28, 2026

    Judge OKs Subclasses As Long-Running Multiplan ERISA Suit Continues

    AUSTIN, Texas — On remand following the dispute’s second trip to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a Texas federal judge created four subclasses in the suit brought on behalf of participants in thousands of unrelated Employee Retirement Income Security Act retirement and health benefit plans.

  • January 28, 2026

    Split 9th Circuit Affirms Ruling For Insurer In Mental Health Treatment Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — In a 2-1 unpublished memorandum disposition issued Jan. 27, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed denial of a claim for a minor dependent’s stay at a residential mental health treatment center that a health insurer said was not medically necessary.

  • January 28, 2026

    Full 11th Circuit Will Consider Overruling Its ERISA Exhaustion Precedent

    ATLANTA — Agreeing to en banc rehearing concerning a 40-year-old circuit precedent that two panel members had said “imposed a judicially-created and atextual administrative exhaustion requirement for fiduciary-breach and statutory claims under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 27 vacated a ruling affirming dismissal of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) valuation case.

  • January 27, 2026

    9th Circuit Won’t Allow Interlocutory Appeal On Class Certification

    SAN FRANCISCO — A grant of class certification in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over alleged underpayment for out-of-network behavioral health treatment will stand after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 26 denied a petition for leave to file an interlocutory appeal that involves the question of whether underpayment of benefits for an ERISA plan is an injury sufficient for standing purposes.

  • January 27, 2026

    4th Circuit Addresses Bankruptcy Issue In Affirming Withdrawal Liability Ruling

    RICHMOND, Va. — Resolving “two important questions” that both “concern what happens when a multiemployer pension plan submits a proof of claim for withdrawal liability in the bankruptcy of a contributing employer,” the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 26 affirmed summary judgment against an employer that withdrew from the multiemployer fund and its control group.

  • January 27, 2026

    6 More ERISA Forfeiture Cases Have Been Dismissed By Federal Judges

    Aligning with the majority of rulings in the wave of putative Employee Retirement Income Security Act class suits challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions, federal judges have granted defendants’ dismissal motions in cases filed against RTX Corp., Amazon.com Services LLC, WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Meijer Inc., Alliance Coal LLC and Northrop Grumman Corp.

  • January 26, 2026

    6th Circuit Revives ERISA Mental Health Claim, Not Parity Act Count

    CINCINNATI — Concluding that the trial court’s ruling in favor of a health insurer was correct on a Parity Act claim but erroneous on an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim for mental health benefits, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated summary judgment on the latter claim, which it ordered sent back to the insurer for reprocessing.