Mealey's ERISA
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August 09, 2023
Insurer’s Motion To Stay Just Another Attempt At Delay, Providers Awarded Under NSA Say
AUSTIN, Texas — The No Surprises Act (NSA) cannot have left providers and courts powerless to enforce millions of dollars in independent dispute resolution (IDR) awards, and the court should deny a motion to stay discovery, which is just another attempt at delay by the insurer, air ambulance providers tell a federal judge in Texas in an Aug. 8 response.
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August 09, 2023
Termination Of LTD Benefits Not Arbitrary, Capricious, 6th Circuit Panel Says
CINCINNATI — A third-party disability claims administrator’s termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits was not arbitrary and capricious because the administrator engaged in a reasoned and principled process before terminating the benefits, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming a district court’s decision.
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August 09, 2023
Disability Claimant’s Suit Against Employer Is Barred By Doctrine Of Res Judicata
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s ruling that a disability claimant’s suit is barred by the doctrine of res judicata because the claimant’s suit is based on the same facts that were at issue in a previously dismissed lawsuit filed by the claimant.
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August 09, 2023
American Airlines Makes Dismissal Arguments In ERISA Row Over ESG Factors
FORT WORTH, Texas — Arguing in part that the plaintiff lacks standing because he never invested in any of the challenged funds or any options whose managers he challenged, American Airlines Inc. and its employee benefits committee moved in Texas federal court for dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over use of strategies and funds purportedly incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations.
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August 09, 2023
Plaintiffs Defend Incentive Award Request In ERISA Fees, Funds Lawsuit
LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over fees and funds have moved for final approval of a class settlement including a $13.05 million payment and nonmonetary relief and responded to the defendants’ criticism of a request for eight $25,000 incentive awards.
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August 09, 2023
Connecticut Federal Judge Denies Class Certification In ERISA Suit Against Cigna
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Denying certification of a nationwide class involving employer-sponsored health plans administered by Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. and its subsidiaries and the use of third-party vendor CareCentrix, a Connecticut federal judge concluded that the plaintiffs didn’t establish commonality.
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August 09, 2023
7th Circuit Won’t Stay Issuance Of Mandate Against Former ERISA Plan Trustee
CHICAGO — Saying in part that the question in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case “is not a likely candidate for one of the few score grants of certiorari each year,” the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a former retirement plan trustee’s motion to stay issuance of its mandate pending her planned petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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August 08, 2023
DOL Asks 2nd Circuit To Order Ruling On Subpoena Enforcement Bid
NEW YORK — Acting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Julie Su has asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to direct a New York federal court to rule on a petition pending for more than two years in which the DOL seeks enforcement of an administrative subpoena issued in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act investigation.
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August 08, 2023
8th Circuit Issues Reversal Over Factual Questions In ERISA Row Involving CBAs
ST. LOUIS — Avoiding a variety of other issues, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute involving a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on the grounds that “genuine issues of material fact remain.”
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August 07, 2023
Criticizing Sweda, 9th Circuit Issues Partial Reversal In ERISA Fees Row
SAN FRANCISCO — Mostly reversing and remanding summary judgment against a certified class of retirement plan participants, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 4 ruled that in assessing record-keeping fees, plan fiduciaries were required to consider compensation the record-keeper received from a brokerage account platform and a provider of individualized investment advice.
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August 07, 2023
$6M Class Settlement Of ERISA Fees, Funds Row Is Granted Final OK
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge has granted final approval to a $6 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over fees and funds in a 403(b) plan, with just under $2 million going to class counsel as attorney fees.
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August 04, 2023
Defenses Stated In Pilot’s ERISA Suit Over Purported Consideration Of ESG Factors
FORT WORTH, Texas — In an Aug. 3 filing in Texas federal court, American Airlines Inc. and its employee benefits committee outlined their defenses in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over use of strategies and funds purportedly incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations.
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August 04, 2023
$124.6M Global Settlement In Sprawling ERISA Litigation Gets Preliminary OK
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Aug. 3 granted preliminary approval to a $124,625,000 global settlement to resolve two Employee Retirement Income Security Act class actions and all of the numerous related proceedings and arbitrations stemming from litigation over heavy investments in a single stock that resulted in large losses.
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August 03, 2023
10th Circuit Won’t Rehear ERISA Residential Care Admission Opinion Case
DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declined rehearing and en banc rehearing, leaving in place a ruling finding that in denying coverage, an Employee Retirement Income Security Act health insurer failed to properly grapple with treating physicians’ opinions about a woman’s need for care at a long-term residential treatment facility.
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August 03, 2023
6th Circuit Partly Reverses Dismissal Of ERISA Suit Over Reimbursement Claim
CINCINNATI — Disagreeing with a lower court’s conclusion that the remedy sought was legal rather than equitable monetary relief, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partly reversed and remanded an order dismissing the complaint in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case involving breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions claims.
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August 02, 2023
Unspecified Settlement Reported In COBRA Notice Suit Against Amazon
MIAMI — Upon the parties’ notice of an unspecified settlement in principle in the putative class complaint over Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notices, a Florida federal judge denied all pending motions as moot and directed the parties to file any documents necessary to conclude the suit by Aug. 11.
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August 02, 2023
North Carolina Federal Judge Mostly Denies Dismissal Bid In ERISA Imprudence Case
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Mostly denying a dismissal bid in a putative class suit challenging a retirement plan’s record-keeping and administrative fees and share classes, a North Carolina federal judge rejected what she characterized as the argument that the plaintiff must allege that the plan in question and proposed comparators “all purchased exactly the same recordkeeping services.”
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August 02, 2023
Judge Won’t Reconsider ERISA Preemption Ruling In Medical Payment Case
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York denied a medical provider reconsideration, saying there is no evidence that the original ruling finding the case preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act overlooked any facts or law.
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August 01, 2023
High Court Seeks Response To Petition In ERISA ESOP Effective Vindication Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on July 31 requested a response to a certiorari petition in which fiduciaries argue that the challenged ruling declining to compel arbitration in the case concerning an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) based on application of the effective vindication exception “offends” two lines of high court decisions and deepens a circuit split.
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July 31, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Order Directing Restitution To Health Plan Contributors
PASADENA, Calif. — Ruling for the government in consolidated appeals involving whether certain fees were assets of a health care benefit program, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 28 issued an unpublished memorandum disposition that, among other things, upheld an order directing restitution to 706 victims who paid into the plan’s now-defunct trust.
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July 28, 2023
Health Plans Sue Longtime TPA, Claiming Fiduciary Breach Under ERISA
MARSHALL, Texas — Alleging that the third-party administrator (TPA) of medical and dental plans for The Kraft Heinz Co. violated its fiduciary duty by using the role to enrich itself to their detriment, the plans and the board that acts as their administrator filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit in Texas federal court.
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July 28, 2023
5th Circuit Affirms Ruling In ERISA Row Over AD&D Benefits, Flight Exclusion
NEW ORLEANS — Affirming summary judgment in an accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) dispute involving a flight exclusion, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a per curiam unpublished opinion that the exclusion is unambiguous and that the underwriter was vested with discretionary authority and did not abuse its discretion in interpreting the exclusion.
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July 28, 2023
Incentive Award Request Draws Opposition In ERISA Fees, Funds Lawsuit
LOS ANGELES — With an unresolved dispute over a request for eight $25,000 incentive awards put on the back burner, plaintiffs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over fees and funds on July 27 filed an ex parte application to shorten the time period for seeking final approval of a class settlement including a $13.05 million payment and nonmonetary relief.
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July 27, 2023
Proton Beam Cancer Treatment Class Receives Preliminary Class Settlement Approval
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania granted an unopposed motion for preliminary approval of a settlement in a case alleging that an insurer breached its fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by denying coverage for proton beam therapy (PBT).
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July 27, 2023
2nd Circuit Upholds Ruling For Multiemployer Plans In ERISA Benefits Row
NEW YORK — Agreeing that multiemployer pension and welfare plans’ definition of “retire” is ambiguous and plan trustees properly exercised their discretionary authority when interpreting it, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a ruling against a participant in the plans.