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Mealey's ERISA

December 19, 2023
5th Circuit Won’t Revive ERISA Prohibited Transaction Case Over Surrender Fee

NEW ORLEANS — Upholding dismissal of a putative class suit over a 401(k) plan service provider’s imposition of a surrender fee, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected arguments that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) advanced in an amicus curiae brief regarding when an entity is a party in interest under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
December 15, 2023
Judge Won’t Reconsider $3.86M Fees Award In Deal Settling SAG-AFTRA ERISA Row

LOS ANGELES — Noting “the absence of any new facts or new law,” a California federal judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration of a $3,862,500 attorney fees award in a class settlement of a suit against the SAG-AFTRA Health Fund and related entities over benefit cuts and a merger.
December 14, 2023
10th Circuit Won’t Revisit Ruling That ERISA Partly Preempts Oklahoma PBM Law

DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Oklahoma regulators’ petition for rehearing of an appeal in which a panel ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts four parts of an Oklahoma law pertaining to pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) and Medicare Part D also preempts one of those parts.
December 14, 2023
$5M Class Deal Proposed To Settle ERISA Imprudence Suit Over Retirement Plans

DETROIT — Plaintiffs challenging numerous aspects of the management of two Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) retirement plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act have asked a Michigan federal court to preliminarily approve a $5 million class settlement agreement.
December 13, 2023
$1M Class Settlement In ERISA Case Over Hospital Plan Gets Preliminary OK

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act case against Yale-New Haven Hospital Inc. and related entities where imprudence allegations relating to record-keeping and administrative (RK&A) fees survived dismissal would be settled under a $1 million class agreement that was granted preliminary approval in a Connecticut federal court.
December 11, 2023
Yale Retirement Plan Participants Ask 2nd Circuit For New Trial In ERISA Row

NEW YORK — Citing a “seeming inconsistency” in the verdict and arguing that the jury instructions erroneously used a “could have” rather than a “would have” standard, participants in a Yale University 403(b) retirement plan asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for a new trial in their Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action.
December 11, 2023
Former Fiduciaries Lose Bid For High Court Review Of ERISA Ruling in DOL Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 denied a certiorari petition in which two former retirement plan fiduciaries argued that “[t]he liberal amendment standard was specifically designed to protect litigants like” them in challenging a ruling in the U.S. Labor secretary’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
December 11, 2023
Class Action Circuit Split Arguments Don’t Garner Review Grant In ERISA Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 denied a certiorari petition in which Hilton Hotels Retirement Plan and related entities (collectively, Hilton) argued that holdings in a suit over retirement plan vesting determinations “deepen two circuit splits on important, recurring questions of class action law.”
December 11, 2023
In Health Care Dispute, Michigan Federal Judge Denies Tribe’s Motion For Default

BAY CITY, Mich. — The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is not entitled to default judgment against a health insurance provider that allegedly violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by improperly administering two health insurance plans because the tribe failed to show that the providers’ failure to comply with discovery orders was due to willfulness, bad faith or fault, a Michigan federal judge found in denying the tribe’s renewed motion for default judgment.
December 08, 2023
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Association’s Suit Over Missouri’s New ESG Rules

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Arguing that it has both associational standing and a cause of action to challenge new Missouri rules requiring “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice,” a trade association urged a Missouri federal court to deny state officials’ dismissal motion.
December 08, 2023
Disability Insurer’s Amended Counterclaim Seeking Reimbursement To Proceed

ST. LOUIS — A disability insurer’s amended counterclaim seeking reimbursement from a claimant for an overpayment of disability benefits based on the claimant’s award of Social Security disability benefits can proceed because the insurer sufficiently pleaded a claim for equitable relief, a Missouri federal judge said in denying the claimant’s motion to dismiss the amended counterclaim.
December 08, 2023
Appellees Cite Cunningham In 2nd Appeal Over ERISA Imprudence Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two parts of Cunningham v. Cornell University support rulings against retirement plan participants in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act imprudence case, Georgetown University and related appellees tell the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a notice of supplemental authority.
December 08, 2023
Judge Dismisses Suit After Flight Attendant, Disability Insurer Settle LTD Claim

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a disability benefits suit after the parties settled the dispute over a flight attendant’s entitlement to long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
December 07, 2023
Magistrate Judge In ERISA Row Would Deny Summary Judgment, Certify Classes

GALVESTON, Texas — For reasons he said included numerous genuine issues of material fact, a Texas federal magistrate judge recommended denying motions for partial and full summary judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over alleged retirement plan mismanagement.
December 07, 2023
Disability Claimant’s Suit Administratively Closed Until Insurer Decides Appeal

DENVER — A Colorado federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to administratively close a disability claimant’s suit seeking a declaration that long-term disability (LTD) benefits are owed under a disability plan to allow the disability insurer to issue a decision on the claimant’s appeal.
December 07, 2023
Judgment Entered For Disability Claimant; Own-Occupation Benefits Owed

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge issued a judgment in favor of a disability claimant after determining that the claimant is owed long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the claimant met his burden that he remains disabled from performing the duties of his own occupation.
December 07, 2023
Termination Of LTD Benefits Was Not Abuse Of Discretion, Magistrate Judge Says

PITTSBURGH — A disability plan’s termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits was not an abuse of discretion because the evidence shows that the claimant was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation as required by the plan, a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge said in recommending that the plan’s motion for summary judgment be granted and the claimant’s motion for summary judgment be denied.
December 07, 2023
Acting Labor Secretary, Big TPA Spar Over Retrospective Claims In ERISA Case

MADISON, Wis. — Arguing that Congress left “retrospective benefits claims only to participants and beneficiaries,” the third-party administrator (TPA) of hundreds of self-funded employee welfare benefit plans urged a Wisconsin federal court to dismiss all backward-looking claims in Acting U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Julie A. Su’s suit over hospital emergency services and urinary drug screening claims.
December 07, 2023
Disability Claimant Files Notice Of Appeal In Dispute Over ‘Any Occupation’ Benefits

DENVER — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal after a Colorado federal judge ruled that the disability insurer’s termination of the claimant’s disability benefits was reasonable because the insurer fully investigated the claim before concluding that the claimant was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation.
December 07, 2023
Disability Claimant Seeks High Court Review On Claims Procedure Regulations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A disability claimant urges the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a petition for writ of certiorari to review whether the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly determined whether violations of claims procedure regulations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act can be excused if the disability plan claims administrator substantially complied with the regulations.
December 07, 2023
Disability Plan Did Not Abuse Discretion In Terminating LTD Benefits, Judge Says

MINNEAPOLIS — A disability plan did not abuse its discretion in terminating a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits after four years of paying the claimant benefits because substantial evidence, including a statement from the claimant’s treating doctor that he was able to return to work, supports the plan’s decision, a federal judge in Minnesota said.
December 06, 2023
10th Circuit Reverses, Finds ERISA Arbitrary And Capricious Standard Viable

DENVER — The arbitrary and capricious review standard still applies in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases, but an insurer’s denial letter fails to meet the standard under recent precedent requiring that such documents provide a comprehensive and specific explanation of the reasons for denying coverage, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Dec. 5 in reversing summary judgment in favor of the insurer.
December 06, 2023
$1M Resolution Of COBRA Suit Gets Preliminary OK, Minus General Release Payments

TAMPA, Fla. — Ruling that $7,500 general release payments for two named plaintiffs “are disguised incentive awards,” a Florida federal judge on Dec. 5 ordered references to the payments struck but otherwise granted preliminary approval of a $1 million class settlement in a case over Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notices.
December 06, 2023
After Bench Trial, Judge Rules Against Class In ERISA Row Over Single-Stock Fund

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — After a bench trial, a Virginia federal judge on Dec. 5 ruled that the administrator of a 401(k) plan “acted with procedural prudence” regarding divestiture of a single-stock fund and so “did not breach its duty to diversify” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by not acting earlier.
December 05, 2023
Plaintiffs: Proposed Rule Undermines DOL’s Position In ERISA Fiduciary Test Row

DALLAS — A proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) “highlights the disingenuousness of the DOL’s denials” in a case concerning what had been called the DOL’s “new interpretation” of a test for whether financial professionals are acting as investment advice fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, plaintiffs tell a Texas federal court in a Dec. 4 brief.