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Mealey's ERISA

  • April 30, 2025

    Citing Wit, Judge Adds Subclass In ERISA Suit Seeking Reprocessing

    SAN FRANCISCO — In an amended order repeatedly citing an August 2023 Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in a similar case, a California federal judge modified the class definition to add a subclass in a case seeking reprocessing of mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims, denying a competing motion for decertification.

  • April 30, 2025

    Multiemployer Fund Gets 2nd Circuit Win In Special Financial Assistance Row

    NEW YORK — Saying it does not “read the pertinent provision of the SFA [special financial assistance] statute to exclude plans based solely on a prior termination,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 29 reversed a ruling that upheld a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) decision that termination of a multiemployer fund made the fund ineligible for the SFA program under which it had sought $132 million.

  • April 28, 2025

    5th Circuit Gives DOL 30 Days To Reconsider Biden-Era ESG Rule

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 declined to “permit an open-ended abeyance” but gave the U.S. Department of Labor and its Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (together, the DOL) 30 days to reconsider a challenged 2022 investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

  • April 28, 2025

    U.S. High Court Skips 2nd ERISA Prohibited Transaction Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an April 28 orders list, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a ruling that the petitioners said pertained to whether “a routine, arm’s-length agreement for plan services” can be a prohibited transaction under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; the denial follows a unanimous April 17 reversal the high court issued in a different ERISA prohibited transaction case.

  • April 28, 2025

    Claimant Files Appeal In LTD Documents Case After Insurer Wins Summary Judgment

    ATLANTA — A long-term disability (LTD) claimant is taking his case to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a Florida federal judge sustained an insurer’s objections to a recommendation that competing summary judgment motions be resolved in the claimant’s favor in the dispute involving failure to submit income documents.

  • April 25, 2025

    Judge OKs Adding Some Claims, Including Forfeiture Ones, In Fiduciary Duty Suit

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Partly granting plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a second amended complaint in their putative class action over management of defined-contribution retirement plans, a Michigan federal judge cited McManus v. Clorox Co. in allowing them to add new claims concerning the common practice of using forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan sponsor’s required contributions.

  • April 25, 2025

    7th Circuit Issues First Impression Ruling Involving Withdrawal Liability

    CHICAGO — Noting that the interpretation dispute involved “presents a question of first impression for the courts of appeals,” the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 24 upheld a ruling against a multiemployer fund, rejecting the argument that part of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) “simply lays out some examples of contribution rate increases to be included in calculating an employer’s withdrawal liability, rather than establishing the only exceptions to the general prohibition against including contribution rate increases.”

  • April 24, 2025

    5th Circuit Upholds Ruling Against Decedent’s Sisters In ERISA Life Insurance Row

    NEW ORLEANS — Affirming judgment against a decedent’s sisters in a dispute over life insurance proceeds, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an unpublished seven-page opinion rejected the sisters’ arguments that the appellees lack standing under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and that the decedent “did not substantially comply with the change-of-beneficiary requirements.”

  • April 24, 2025

    Federal Jury Awards Class Nearly $39M In ERISA Fees Challenge

    NEW YORK — A rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial resulted in a unanimous April 23 verdict awarding $38,760,232 in damages to a class of retirement plan participants who challenged the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan (MEP), according to a text-only entry on the New York federal court docket.

  • April 24, 2025

    Defendants Prevail In Suit Over STD, LTD Benefits; Notice Ruled Insufficient

    HARRISONBURG, Va. — Resolving three motions in favor of the defendants, a Virginia federal judge upheld denial of short-term disability (STD) benefits on the basis that the plan administrator “engaged in principled and reasoned decision-making while considering sufficient evidence,” also ruling that the claimant didn’t exhaust administrative remedies as to long-term disability (LTD) benefits and is now time-barred from doing so.

  • April 23, 2025

    Settlement Of Over $20.5M Proposed In Retiree Medical Benefits Termination Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — A putative Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over termination of retiree medical benefits would be resolved for $20,545,000 under a settlement that the plaintiffs have asked a California federal court to grant preliminary approval.

  • April 23, 2025

    LTD Claimant Prevails In Interpretation Dispute Over What ‘Insured Earnings’ Means

    NEW YORK — Following a bench trial on the stipulated record in a dispute over termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits, a New York federal judge ruled for the claimant, saying in part on de novo review that “the term ‘insured earnings,’ as used in the Plan” does include earnings reported on a K-1 tax form.

  • April 22, 2025

    DOL Tells 5th Circuit It Wants To Reconsider Biden-Era ESG Rule

    NEW ORLEANS — Noting that appellant states, companies and individuals oppose the request, the U.S. Department of Labor and its Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (together, the DOL) on April 21 asked the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to hold an appeal in abeyance while the DOL reconsiders the challenged 2022 investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

  • April 22, 2025

    U.S. High Court Requests Respondents’ Input On ERISA Meaningful Benchmark Issue

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 21 asked respondents to weigh in on a petition for review of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ 2-1 revival of a putative class action challenging retention of a passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs) and choice of share classes.

  • April 21, 2025

    U.S. High Court’s Other ERISA Prohibited Transaction Petition Is Redistributed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Days after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling concerning the Employee Retirement Income Security Act pleading standard for prohibited transaction claims, a separate review petition concerning a different prohibited transaction dispute on April 21 was distributed for conference for a second time.

  • April 21, 2025

    President Calls For Proposed ‘Transparency’ Regs On PBM Fees In Executive Order

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are one focus of an executive order titled “Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First,” with President Donald J. Trump calling for the secretary of Labor to propose regulations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “to improve employer health plan fiduciary transparency into the direct and indirect compensation received by pharmacy benefit managers.”

  • April 21, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Government Input On ERISA Burden-Shifting Question

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its April 21 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the U.S. solicitor general to express the government’s views regarding a certiorari petition that asks whether “burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • April 18, 2025

    Tobacco Surcharge Suit That Is Part Of Recent Wave Survives Dismissal

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Saying in part that there is precedent under which the named plaintiffs “have adequately alleged that Defendant’s tobacco surcharge violated [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act] because it did not offer a retroactive reimbursement,” a Missouri federal judge declined to dismiss a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar suits.

  • April 17, 2025

    $5M Deal Gets Final OK, With Trimmed Awards, In ERISA Fees, Funds Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A $5 million class settlement including an agreement to conduct requests for proposals (RFPs) has been granted final approval in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging a multiemployer retirement plan’s fund choices, share classes and record-keeping, but a Pennsylvania federal judge awarded reduced incentive awards and attorney fees of $1,000 and $950,000, respectively, instead of the $8,000 and $1,666,500 requested.

  • April 17, 2025

    Defendant Seeks Immediate Appeal After PRT Challenge Survives Dismissal

    GREENBELT, Md. — Requesting that denial of its dismissal motion be certified for immediate interlocutory appeal in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), Lockheed Martin Corp. told a Maryland federal court that a sister court’s contradictory ruling highlights the need for review by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • April 17, 2025

    U.S. High Court Reverses 2nd Circuit On ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Issuing a unanimous reversal and accompanying concurrence in a dispute concerning what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibited transaction claim involving a service provider, the U.S. Supreme Court on April 17 ruled that a certain exemption is not a claim element that a plaintiff must negate but rather an affirmative defense for which the burden falls on the defendant.

  • April 16, 2025

    Federal Judge Finds ERISA Governs Group Disability Plan, Dismisses State Law Claims

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that an employee’s long-term disability (LTD) insurance plan administered by her religious institute-affiliated employer is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and not exempt as a church plan, resulting in the dismissal of the coordinator’s state law claims without prejudice.

  • April 15, 2025

    NFL Plan To 5th Circuit: Let Fee Award Appeal Proceed In Disability Benefits Row

    NEW ORLEANS — Telling the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the issues raised are not “grounds for dismissal” and that it “could not have forfeited an appeal of the new fee award and opinion before they existed, when the case was in the opposite posture,” the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan on April 14 asked to be allowed to proceed with its appeal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs to a former National Football League player.

  • April 15, 2025

    Engineer To 4th Circuit: Affirm Ruling In Long COVID Disability Benefits Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Contending in part that de novo review was correctly applied because of an “inexcusable failure to issue a timely decision,” a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claimant urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a judgment that she is owed past-due benefits because long COVID symptoms have disabled her from working as an engineer.

  • March 20, 2025

    Insurer To 4th Circuit: Overturn Ruling In Long COVID Disability Benefits Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Arguing that the lower court improperly applied de novo review and wrongly concluded that the claimant showed that she is disabled from working as an engineer because of long COVID symptoms, an insurer urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a judgment that the claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits.