Mealey's ERISA
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March 06, 2024
LTD Benefits Must Be Reinstated, Kentucky Federal Judge Says
OWENSBORO, Ky. — A disability claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be reinstated because the disability insurer’s termination of benefits is not supported by the medical evidence, a Kentucky federal judge said in granting the disability claimant’s motion for judgment.
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March 06, 2024
11th Circuit Again Rules Against Dermatologist In ERISA Assignment Row
ATLANTA — Saying in an unpublished per curiam opinion that a dermatologist’s “arguments are foreclosed by the prior panel precedent rule,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued the latest of many rulings against her over patients’ purported assignment of benefits.
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March 06, 2024
$19M Deal In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds Wins Preliminary Approval
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on March 5 granted preliminary approval of a $19 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans and use of a stable value fund as the default investment.
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March 06, 2024
Certiorari Filing Deadline Extended In ERISA Preemption Case Over Oklahoma PBM Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oklahoma regulators now have until April 10 to file a certiorari petition seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of an August opinion ruling an Oklahoma pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) law partially preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D.
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March 06, 2024
Disability Claimant Not Provided Full, Fair Review, Texas Federal Judge Says
DALLAS — A Texas federal judge remanded a claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits to the plan administrator after determining that the claimant was deprived of a full and fair review based on the disability insurer’s failure to consult with a different physician regarding the claimant’s appeal following the termination of her claim.
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March 06, 2024
Joint Pretrial Proposals Are Filed In ERISA Fees Row Heading Toward Jury Trial
NEW YORK — As parties in a class action over the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan (MEP) approach a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial, they outline competing positions in several filings in New York federal court.
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March 05, 2024
DOL Files Amicus Brief In 9th Circuit ERISA Case Involving Tobacco Surcharge
SAN FRANCISCO — For the third time in recent months — this time in a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case concerning a health plan’s tobacco surcharge — the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed an amicus curiae brief supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute involving what the DOL calls a representative action waiver.
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March 05, 2024
5th Circuit Lets DOL Participate In Arguing ESOP Effective Vindication Row
NEW ORLEANS — With the appellees’ consent, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is letting the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) participate as amicus curiae in March 11 oral argument concerning the “effective vindication” exception, which a federal court invoked in declining to compel arbitration in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
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March 05, 2024
ERISA Pleading Standard Disputed In 2nd Circuit Briefs In Record-Keeping Fees Case
NEW YORK — In a reply brief likening the facts at issue to those in a sister circuit’s 2023 Hughes v. Northwestern University (Hughes II) ruling, participants in two Deloitte retirement plans urge the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to revive an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over record-keeping fees.
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March 04, 2024
$9M Global Deal In ERISA Proprietary Funds Row Follows Ruling In Similar Case
CINCINNATI — Plaintiffs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary funds whose former motion concerned a $4.5 million deal with one defendant have now asked an Ohio federal court for preliminary approval of a global $9 million settlement with all defendants.
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March 04, 2024
Judge Denies Expert Preclusion Bids, Most Other Motions In ERISA Fees, Funds Case
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Ruling on requests to preclude testimony and exclude evidence in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over fees and funds, a California federal judge denied seven motions by the defendants and one by the plaintiffs, partly granting just one motion by the plaintiffs.
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March 04, 2024
Global $7.5M Class Deal Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Proprietary Trusts Row
FLORENCE, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a $7.5 million global class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s use of proprietary collective investment trusts (CITs).
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March 01, 2024
$19M Deal Proposed In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds, Default Investment
NEW YORK — Parties in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans — including use of a stable value fund as the default investment — have struck a $19 million class deal, plaintiffs told a New York federal court.
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March 01, 2024
Judge Won’t Reconsider Class Certification Denial In ERISA Suit Over MEP Fees
MADISON, Wis. — After plaintiffs in a suit over the record-keeping and administration costs of a multiple employer plan (MEP) 401(k) unsuccessfully sought permission to appeal denial of class certification, a Wisconsin federal judge denied their motion to reconsider the denial.
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February 26, 2024
Bench Trial Leads To Ruling Against Class In ERISA Row Over Proprietary TDFs
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Following a nine-day bench trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs), a California federal judge on Feb. 23 found for the plan sponsor and investment manager on all remaining claims.
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February 26, 2024
9th Circuit: Accepting Offer Of Judgment Waived Right To Appeal ERISA Claim
LAS VEGAS — Saying that a “plaintiff may not . . . accept a Rule 68 offer of judgment and then appeal interlocutory orders preceding the entry of judgment,” a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed an appeal concerning an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim.
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February 23, 2024
$20M Settlement Involving ‘Differential Treatment’ Gets Initial OK In ERISA Row
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on Feb. 22 granted preliminary approval of a proposed $20 million class settlement in a case where some plaintiffs allege that they are owed early retirement pension benefits and pension supplements due to a change in control (CIC); the proposal involves what the plaintiffs call “differential treatment” of two groups and would give estimated payments of $4,000 to $365,759 to 332 individuals.
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February 23, 2024
Airline’s Dismissal Bid Fails In Narrowed ESG Suit Focusing On Investment Managers
FORT WORTH, Texas — A narrowed Employee Retirement Income Security Act case focusing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported “proxy voting activism” of investment management firms such as BlackRock Inc. has survived dismissal, with a Texas federal judge saying in part that inference of a flawed process is plausible.
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February 23, 2024
$4M Deal With Cintas, Related Defendants Proposed In ERISA Imprudence Row
CINCINNATI — A class settlement involving a $4 million payment and non-monetary relief would resolve an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where Cintas Corp. and related defendants unsuccessfully sought U.S. Supreme Court review of the denial of their motion to compel arbitration, plaintiffs told an Ohio federal court.
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February 22, 2024
$20M Settlement Proposed In ERISA Case Involving Change In Control Benefits
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A proposed $20 million class settlement would give estimated payments of $4,000 to $365,759 to 332 individuals in a case where some allege that they are owed early retirement pension benefits and pension supplements due to a change in control (CIC), the plaintiffs told a Pennsylvania federal court on Feb. 21.
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February 20, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment Against Class In ERISA Proprietary Funds Row
NEW YORK — Agreeing with a lower court’s ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary mutual funds, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld a decision for defendants The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and related entities in a summary order.
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February 20, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Review ERISA Ruling On Long-Term Residential Coverage
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a certiorari petition in which a health benefits plan and insurer that administers it challenged two aspects of a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling concerning long-term residential treatment facility coverage and argued that the opinion improperly “imposes new burdens on” such plans.
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February 20, 2024
High Court Denies Review Of Petition On ERISA Claims Procedure Regulations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a disability claimant’s petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of 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.
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February 20, 2024
10th Circuit Reverses And Remands Judgment In ERISA Surcharge Case
DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded judgment for an employer in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over life insurance benefits where the lower court said the sought $663,000 surcharge wasn’t “‘appropriate equitable relief’.”
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February 15, 2024
1st Circuit Reverses Insurer’s Dismissal In ERISA Case Over LTC Premium Hikes
BOSTON — Saying in part that it “cannot resolve the meaning of the ‘subject to’ clause on the current record,” a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 14 reversed dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over long-term care (LTC) insurance premium increases as to one of two defendants and remanded for further proceedings.