Mealey's ERISA : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's ERISA

August 30, 2023
Class Urges High Court Not To Review ERISA Row Over Residual Annuities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Aug. 29 reply brief, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and related petitioners tell the U.S. Supreme Court that retirement plan participants’ opposition to their certiorari bid in the class action over residual annuities “underscores circuit splits with respect to two issues of [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] plan interpretation.”
August 30, 2023
ERISA Suit On Out-Of-Network Spinal Surgery Dismissed For Missing Link To Policy

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey dismissed without prejudice a medical center’s lawsuit and granted the center an extension to amend its claim that alleged that an employer and insurer underpaid for a patient’s emergency spinal surgery by approximately $117,547 and violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
August 29, 2023
Air Ambulance Plaintiffs Defend Venue In NSA Arbitration Award Suit

AUSTIN, Texas — Air ambulance plaintiffs told a federal judge in Texas on Aug. 28 that he should ignore attempts at maligning the industry and instead recognize that a Texas-regulated insurer’s operations in the state provide venue for a lawsuit alleging that the insurer fails to pay arbitration awards under the No Surprises Act (NSA).
August 29, 2023
Deal Including $9.75M Payment Reported In ERISA Imprudence Row Over Funds

BOSTON — Plaintiffs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over fiduciaries’ allegedly imprudent fund choices have asked a Massachusetts federal court to preliminarily approve a class settlement including a $9.75 million payment and a boost to monitoring processes for investments and service providers.
August 29, 2023
Judge OKs Class Settlement, Requested Incentive Awards In ERISA Funds, Fees Row

LOS ANGELES — Saying in part that “protracted litigation weighs in favor of a larger incentive award,” a California federal judge granted final approval of a class settlement and all requested awards in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over fees and funds — including eight $25,000 incentive awards the defendants had criticized.
August 28, 2023
Respondent To High Court: There’s No Conflict Or Split In ERISA ESOP Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that the petitioners present an “irrelevant” question and that three circuit courts of appeals have correctly applied the effective vindication doctrine, the respondent in a case concerning an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) on Aug. 25 urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny review of a ruling declining to compel arbitration; the petitioners subsequently filed a reply brief.
August 25, 2023
Petitioners Seek Resolution Of Circuit Splits On 2 Class Action Questions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hilton Hotels Retirement Plan and related entities in a suit over retirement plan vesting determinations have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling they say involves “two circuit splits on important, recurring questions of class action law.”
August 24, 2023
Trade Association Files Federal Suit Challenging Missouri’s New ESG Rules

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Asserting claims including preemption by the National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996 (NSMIA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, a trade association has asked a Missouri federal court for declaratory and injunctive relief over new Missouri rules requiring “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice.”
August 24, 2023
3rd Circuit Grants Summary Affirmance In ERISA Effective Vindication Row

PHILADELPHIA — Without explanation, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion for summary affirmance in an interlocutory appeal of a federal court’s refusal to compel arbitration in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
August 24, 2023
Unspecified Deal Reported In ERISA Suit Against Insurer Over Drug Prices

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Following the parties’ report of an unspecified settlement in a suit alleging that Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. “had no right under its prescription drug plans to charge ‘spread’ and then ‘claw back’ the member copayment or deductible ‘overpayments,’” a Connecticut federal judge ordered the case administratively closed.
August 23, 2023
9th Circuit: Insureds’ Fiduciary Claims Survive, But Not ERISA Benefits Class

SAN FRANCISCO — Allegations that an insurer interpreted plan guidelines in a self-interested way, thus putting Employee Retirement Income Security Act insureds’ contractual benefits at risk, demonstrate a traceable injury for fiduciary claims, but because a benefits-based class included individuals whose denials were only partly based on the challenged guidelines, it was improperly certified, and to the extent that the ruling mandated that plans cover all treatments within the generally accepted standards of care, the judge erred, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Aug. 22 after panel rehearing.
August 22, 2023
Judge Who Closed TIAA Portfolio Advisor Case Allows Nonfiduciary ERISA Claim

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge who previously closed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over TIAA Portfolio Advisor accounts after finding failure to allege that the defendants were functional fiduciaries on Aug. 21 allowed plaintiffs to file an amended complaint asserting a single claim for nonfiduciary receipt of ill-gotten profits.
August 21, 2023
Record-Keeping Fees, Options, Processes Ruled Objectively Prudent After Trial

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Finding that a fiduciary committee’s processes and “the ultimate investment options and recordkeeping fees were objectively prudent,” a Pennsylvania federal judge on Aug. 18 entered judgment against the plaintiffs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action after a three-day bench trial.
August 21, 2023
$7.5M Deal Proposed In Follow-Up ERISA Suit Over Proprietary Funds

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Plaintiffs who assert that the defendants “still maintain an all-proprietary lineup” despite a 2018 settlement over similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims on Aug. 18 asked a California federal court for preliminary approval of a class settlement including a $7.5 million payment.
August 21, 2023
Plaintiffs Object To Partial Vacatur Recommendation In DOL Fiduciary Status Row

DALLAS — Objecting to a Texas federal magistrate judge’s recommendation in a dispute over a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) test for whether financial professionals are acting as investment advice fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, plaintiffs argue that all, not just part, of what is referred to as the “new interpretation” should be vacated and a permanent injunction issued.
August 18, 2023
In Partial Reversal, Panel Orders Reprocessing Of Residential Treatment Claims

DENVER — Partly reversing and remanding an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over denial of claims for residential treatment for mental health and substance use, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a Utah federal court correctly found a violation of ERISA’s claims-processing requirements but applied “the wrong legal standard” in ordering a remedy.
August 18, 2023
10th Circuit Issues Reversal In Preemption Row Over Oklahoma PBM Law

DENVER — Reversing a lower court as to all provisions of an Oklahoma law pertaining to pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) that were at issue on appeal, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts four provisions and Medicare Part D preempts one provision.
August 15, 2023
5th Circuit Affirms Certification Of Class Including Thousands Of ERISA Plans

NEW ORLEANS — Saying in part that the commonality of a question of how a master trust agreement operates “unequivocally dominates any potential individualized inquiries,” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld class certification in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case involving participants in thousands of benefit plans.
August 14, 2023
Judge Applies Mandate Rule In Denying Remand To DOL In ERISA Status Dispute

FORT WORTH, Texas — Applying “the mandate rule” in a dispute involving whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act governs a health insurance plan for limited partnerships, a Texas federal judge on Aug. 11 denied the government’s motion for remand to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
August 11, 2023
Rehearing Bid Deadline Extended In 9th Circuit ERISA Ruling That Created Split

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has granted appellees until Sept. 1 to seek panel or en banc rehearing of a notable Employee Retirement Income Security Act ruling that the appellees said “explicitly created a circuit split” in mostly reversing and remanding summary judgment against a certified class of retirement plan participants.
August 11, 2023
Judge Won’t Reconsider Class Certification In Suit Over Alleged Cost-Shifting

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Saying a health insurer and its subcontractor “do not contend that any new evidence or change in the law supports their motion,” a North Carolina federal judge declined to reconsider his order granting class certification in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over an alleged cost-shifting scheme.
August 11, 2023
Claimant Says Disability Benefits Are Still Owed Under Company’s LTD Plan

BOSTON — A disability plan violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when he wrongfully terminated a claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the claimant remains disabled as a result of a chronic facial pain disorder, the claimant says in a complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court.
August 11, 2023
Disability Claimant’s Suit Reopened To Determine If Plan Rider Bars Benefits

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge granted a disability claimant’s motion to reopen a suit seeking any-occupation disability benefits to review whether a disability plan’s special conditions limitation rider applies as a bar to the claimant’s benefits.
August 11, 2023
Fiduciary Exception Applies In Disability Discovery Dispute, Magistrate Judge Says

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal magistrate judge determined that a disability claimant is entitled to communications between a disability insurer and its attorney because the communications are exempted from protection under the fiduciary exception in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act as the communications occurred before the development of an adversarial relationship between the clamant and the disability insurer.
August 09, 2023
Disability Claimant Permitted To File Appeal In Forma Pauperis, Circuit Judge Says

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge granted a disability claimant’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal because it does not appear that the claimant’s appeal of a district court’s ruling in favor of a disability pension plan on the issue of the claimant’s disability onset date is frivolous.