Mealey's ERISA
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November 09, 2023
Judge Dismisses Hospital’s ACA Cost-Sharing Case, Grants Leave To Amend
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not appear to preclude a health plan from not contracting with any hospitals and thus the cap on in-network out-of-pocket costs does not apply to a hospital’s attempt to recover $400,000 in uncompensated care, a federal judge in California said while granting leave to amend.
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November 09, 2023
Trustees And Others Urge Reversal Of Liability Finding In ERISA Underfunding Row
PHILADELPHIA — In consolidated challenges to decisions in a case where they were ruled liable under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act for millions in underfunding of a pension trust established in 1947, trustees and grandchildren of the trust settlor tell the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the federal statute does not apply and the lower court made numerous errors.
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November 08, 2023
Parties In Disability Suit Allowed To File Administrative Record Under Seal
CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal judge granted a joint motion to seal the administrative record in a disability benefits suit after determining that the protection of the disability claimant’s private health information outweighs the public’s interest in having access to the records and documents in the administrative record.
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November 08, 2023
$900,000 Class Settlement Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case
MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin federal judge on Nov. 7 granted preliminary approval to a class action settlement with an estimated present value of $900,000 in a suit claiming that married retirees and beneficiaries were “shortchanged” by pension benefits calculated using allegedly outdated mortality and interest rate assumptions.
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November 08, 2023
Magistrate Judge Recommends Disability Insurer’s Motion For Judgment Be Granted
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A disability insurer’s termination of a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits was not arbitrary and capricious because the medical evidence supported the insurer’s termination of benefits and the insurer “provided a reasoned basis” for its termination, a Tennessee federal magistrate judge said in recommending that the insurer’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) be granted and the claimant’s motion for JMOL be denied.
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November 07, 2023
Respondents To High Court: Fail-Safe Class Question ‘Is Not Presented Here’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that the question of whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 allows certification of a fail-safe class “is not presented here,” respondents on Nov. 6 urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a certiorari petition in a suit over retirement plan vesting determinations.
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November 07, 2023
Arizona Federal Judge Gives Preliminary OK To $2M Deal In ERISA Funds, Fees Row
PHOENIX — A $2 million class settlement has been granted preliminary approval in Arizona federal court in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where the plaintiffs allege mismanagement of their retirement plan and challenge certain funds and fees.
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November 07, 2023
9th Circuit Hears Meaningful Benchmark Arguments In ERISA Imprudence Row
HONOLULU — Whether “meaningful benchmarks” are required at the dismissal stage of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit was the focus of oral argument in a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case over retirement plan investments in hedge funds and private equity investments, with participants arguing that the trial court improperly used a heightened pleading standard and plan fiduciaries contending that dismissal was correct.
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November 07, 2023
Judge Gives Final OK To $100,000 Class Settlement With Last Defendant In ESOP Row
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California federal judge who previously approved two class settlements totaling $9 million in a suit challenging a 2015 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal has approved a third class settlement of $100,000 with a defendant that obtained a summary judgment ruling.
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November 06, 2023
Other Defendants Oppose Aon’s $4.5M Settlement Deal In ERISA Proprietary CIT Row
FLORENCE, S.C. — In a Nov. 3 brief opposing preliminary approval of a proposed $4.5 million class settlement of claims against Aon Investments USA Inc. in a suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs), Centerra Group LLC and related defendants criticize a bar order and other aspects of the deal.
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November 06, 2023
4th Similar ERISA Suit Alleges Forfeiture Allocation Harmed Retirement Plan
OAKLAND, Calif. — In the fourth similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit filed in California federal court in recent months, a plaintiff challenges “reallocation of the forfeitures in the [retirement plan’s] trust fund to reduce [the company’s] contributions.”
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November 06, 2023
Former Fiduciaries Of ERISA Plan Ask U.S. High Court To Review Ruling In DOL Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that “[t]he liberal amendment standard was specifically designed to protect litigants like” them, two former retirement plan fiduciaries petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case against them brought by the U.S. Labor secretary.
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November 03, 2023
New DOL Proposal Spurs Supplemental Briefing In ERISA Fiduciary Test Row
DALLAS — Under a Nov. 2 order, supplemental briefing in Texas federal court will address a newly proposed rule and amendments from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in an existing suit over 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.
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November 03, 2023
Final Settlement OK Sought Amid Attorney Fee Fight In ERISA Surgery Coverage Row
SAN FRANCISCO — With a separate and opposed attorney fee request pending, the plaintiff who sued a health plan and related entities over denial of coverage for a specialized form of liposuction to treat lipedema asked a California federal court for final approval of a class settlement that had a long road to preliminary approval.
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November 02, 2023
$900,000 Class Settlement Proposed In ERISA Case Over Annuity Calculations
MILWAUKEE — A plaintiff who argues that married retirees and beneficiaries were “shortchanged” by pension benefits calculated using allegedly outdated mortality and interest rate assumptions on Nov. 1 asked a Wisconsin federal court to approve a class action settlement with an estimated present value of $900,000.
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November 01, 2023
11th Circuit Upholds $2.67B Settlement In Antitrust Row Over Varied Challenges
ATLANTA — Rejecting all of the various challenges filed by objectors — including one that took up an Employee Retirement Income Security Act concern originally raised by the U.S. Department of Labor — an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed approval of a settlement including a $2.67 billion common fund that resolved one wing of “a multi-district antitrust class action against the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and its member plans.”
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November 01, 2023
DOL’s Proposed Rule Would Expand Who Is An Investment Advice Fiduciary Under ERISA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A proposed rule that would update and expand the regulatory definition of an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act became public on Oct. 31 when the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department of Labor submitted it to the Office of the Federal Register.
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October 30, 2023
Ruling For DOL In ESG Investing Rule Case Is Appealed To 5th Circuit
AMARILLO, Texas — Twenty-six states and other plaintiffs that sued the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in Texas federal court over its 2022 investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) all filed a notice that they are taking summary judgment for the DOL to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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October 30, 2023
Attorneys Split A Third Of $124.6M Global Settlement In ERISA Imprudence Row
NEW YORK — Noting that no objections were reported and that the independent fiduciary also assented, a New York federal judge granted final approval to a $124,625,000 global settlement for two Employee Retirement Income Security Act class actions and all of the voluminous related litigation over heavy investments in a single stock that resulted in large losses.
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October 26, 2023
Split 9th Circuit Panel Upholds Fee Denial Under EAJA In ERISA Valuation Row
HONOLULU — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 25 upheld denial of attorney fees and nontaxable costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) in a lawsuit over the valuation of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), with the majority holding “that the government was substantially justified in its position” and the dissenter opining that the majority used “a gross dilution of the EAJA’s standard.”
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October 25, 2023
Fee Award Denied In Dismissed ‘Impossible To Adjudicate’ COVID-19 Testing Row
NEWARK, N.J. — Following dismissal with prejudice of a medical practice’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over payment for COVID-19 tests, a New Jersey federal magistrate judge on Oct. 24 denied an insurer’s request for attorney fees and costs.
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October 24, 2023
$3.86M Fee Awarded In Final OK Of ERISA Settlement In SAG-AFTRA Plan Row
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge gave final approval to a class settlement of a suit against the SAG-AFTRA Health Fund and related entities over benefit cuts and a merger but awarded only $3,862,500 of the $6,866,667 in attorney fees that the plaintiffs requested.
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October 23, 2023
Attorney Fee Of $125,800 Awarded In ERISA Row Over Life Insurance Benefits
TRENTON, N.J. — After the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that a widow was entitled to life insurance benefits totaling $188,000 and awarded her $79,050 in attorney fees for the appeal, a New Jersey federal judge awarded her $125,800 in district court attorney fees in the “particularly adversarial” Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
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October 20, 2023
ERISA Settlement With $7.2M Fund, Medical And Dental Coverage Wins Final Approval
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A New York federal judge on Oct. 19 granted final approval to a class settlement of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case against Xerox Corp. and related entities that includes a $7,225,000 settlement fund, premium-free medical coverage for some class members and reduced-premium dental coverage, with class counsel getting $1,300,500.
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October 20, 2023
$61M Settlement In ERISA Proprietary Funds Case Gets Preliminary OK
BOSTON — Preliminary approval has been granted to a $61 million class settlement with General Electric Co. (GE) and related defendants that plaintiffs said would be “the largest ever in an [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] case alleging that a retirement plan improperly offered proprietary funds,” the Massachusetts federal case docket shows.