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Mealey's ERISA

April 09, 2024
6th Circuit Affirms Rulings In Professional Liability Coverage Dispute

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 8 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment rulings in a professional liability coverage dispute arising from a financial adviser insured’s valuations for a bankrupt paper manufacturing company and its Employee Stock Ownership Plan, finding that the insurer had a duty to defend its insured until only claims falling under a policy exclusion remained and that the insured has to reimburse the insurer for defending it after the same exclusion applied.
April 09, 2024
Cornell Waives Response To Review Bid For ERISA Prohibited Transaction Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cornell University and related respondents have waived their right to respond to a certiorari petition in which retirement plan participants tell the U.S. Supreme Court that of two 2023 decisions that amplified a “preexisting circuit split” over Employee Retirement Income Security Act pleading standards for prohibited-transaction claims, the ruling against them “is the superior vehicle for review.”
April 09, 2024
Parties Dispute Summary Judgment Issues In ERISA Suit Over ESG Factors

FORT WORTH, Texas — In a reply brief supporting summary judgment in a putative class case concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms, American Airlines Inc. and a related defendant reiterate their contentions that the plaintiff’s theories fail for reasons including that he can’t prove any loss to the retirement plans at issue.
April 09, 2024
After Summary Judgment In ERISA Fees Case, Defendants File Bill Of Costs For ESI

DES MOINES, Iowa — After an Iowa federal judge granted summary judgment against a class of 401(k) participants in a dispute over record-keeping fees, grocery chain Hy-Vee Inc. and related defendants filed a bill of costs seeking $53,319.87 in taxable costs, including $40,232.83 for discovery of electronically stored information (ESI).
April 08, 2024
10th Circuit OKs Transfer Of Attorney Fee Request To Lower Court In ERISA Row

DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over life insurance benefits has granted a beneficiary’s amended motion to transfer consideration of attorney fees on appeal to the trial court.
April 08, 2024
High Court’s Review Sought For 5th Circuit ERISA Prohibited Transaction Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of a decision involving what constitutes a prohibited transaction, a dental office and the 401(k) plan it sponsors present the case as a good vehicle “for resolving multiple circuit splits and providing much needed clarity on important and often dispositive issues of law arising from service relationships between [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] plans and their providers.”
April 08, 2024
Amici Join DOL In Urging 5th Circuit To Let ESG Investing Rule Stand

NEW ORLEANS — Echoing various arguments made by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and its acting secretary, experts and entities including the American Retirement Association (ARA) have filed amicus curiae briefs urging the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a ruling that left in place the DOL’s 2022 investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
April 08, 2024
Another Set Of Retirees Challenges AT&T Pension Risk Transfer Under ERISA

BOSTON — A second set of retirees has filed a putative class case in Massachusetts federal court challenging a May 2023 AT&T pension risk transfer (PRT) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
April 05, 2024
8th Circuit Argument Set In ERISA Imprudence Dispute Over Pleading Standard

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set oral argument for April 9 in retirement plan participants’ bid to revive their dismissed Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, with the key issue being whether the pleading standard in Matousek v. MidAmerican Energy Co. was met.
April 05, 2024
Entities DOL Sued Over ESOP Deal Want To Appeal 9th Circuit Fee Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An engineering firm and the individuals who owned it before an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal were given a June 6 deadline to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of an Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) ruling declining to make the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) pay attorney fees and nontaxable costs for its unsuccessful case against them.
April 05, 2024
Bench Trial Results In Class Win In ERISA Suit Over Retirement Plan Conversion

HOUSTON — Following a bench trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over the 1989 conversion of a retirement plan, a Texas federal judge has found that the plaintiffs “are entitled to equitable relief” in an amount yet to be determined.
April 05, 2024
Defendants Win Dismissal Of ERISA Suit That Followed $30.9M Class Settlement

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A Massachusetts federal judge has granted dismissal of a follow-up Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over retirement plan fees and proprietary funds, ruling in part that the class settlement of the prior case limits the claims.
April 04, 2024
Termination Of LTD Benefits Was Not Abuse Of Discretion, Judge Says

ST. LOUIS — A disability plan’s termination of a claimant’s long-term disability benefits was not an abuse of discretion because the decision was reasonable based on the objective medical evidence, a Missouri federal judge said in partially granting the plan’s motion for summary judgment.
April 04, 2024
Disability Insurer Must Reinstate Claimant’s LTD Benefits, Judge Says

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge ordered a disability insurer to reinstate a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits after determining that the insurer failed to show that a lack of objective medical evidence supported its termination of benefits.
April 03, 2024
Panel: Court Properly Found Termination Of Benefits Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious

NEW YORK — A district court properly entered judgment in favor of a disability insurer because the insurer’s termination of a claimant’s benefits under the disability plan’s any occupation standard was not arbitrary and capricious, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said April 2.
April 03, 2024
Class Settlement Wins Final Approval In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case

MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin federal judge has granted final approval to a class action settlement with an estimated present value of $900,000 in a suit over claims that married retirees and beneficiaries were “shortchanged” by pension benefits calculated using allegedly outdated mortality and interest rate assumptions.
April 03, 2024
After Bench Trial, Final Judgment Entered Against Class In ERISA Imprudence Case

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Despite the plaintiffs’ objection to wording regarding costs, a California federal judge entered final judgment for the prevailing retirement plan sponsor, investment manager and investment adviser on all claims essentially as they proposed after a nine-day bench trial that resolved the remaining claims in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs).
April 03, 2024
Disability Claimant Owed LTD Benefits Under Own-Occupation Standard, Judge Says

NEW YORK — A disability claimant is entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits for the first 24 months of his disability because the evidence supports a finding that the claimant is disabled from the duties of his own occupation, a New York federal judge said in granting the claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.
April 02, 2024
Disability Claimant’s Suit Reopened To Determine If Plan Complied With Remand Order

TULSA, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal judge reopened a disability claimant’s suit to consider whether the disability plan administrator failed to follow the court’s remand order regarding clarification of the plan’s denial of the claimant’s short-term disability (STD) claim.
April 02, 2024
Denial Of STD Benefits Claim Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious, Judge Says

SALT LAKE CITY — A disability insurer’s denial of short-term disability (STD) benefits was not arbitrary and capricious because the disability claimant failed to submit sufficient evidence showing that he was entitled to benefits, a Utah federal judge concluded in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
April 02, 2024
Judge ‘Appalled’ At AI’s Use In Research, Affirms Denial Of AD&D Claim

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois said that despite an attorney’s clear violation of a court order prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence, she would assume that ChatGPT was not used to author the entire brief, while dismissing an Employee Retirement Income Security Act claim alleging that an insurer improperly denied an accidental death and dismemberment claim after a fatal car fire.
April 01, 2024
2nd Class Loses ERISA Case Over Proprietary TDFs After Bench Trial

LOS ANGELES — As a peer did in a similar case weeks earlier, a California federal judge has entered final judgment against a class of retirement plan participants in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs) following a bench trial.
March 29, 2024
Panel Enters Judgment For Disability Claimant; Opinion Temporarily Filed Under Seal

PITTSBURGH — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued judgment in favor of a disability claimant, vacating and remanding a district court’s ruling in favor of the disability plan; however, the panel filed the opinion under seal to allow the parties to submit proposed redactions.
March 29, 2024
6th Circuit Allows DOL To Argue As Amicus In ERISA Effective Vindication Row

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has granted acting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Julie A. Su’s motion to participate as amicus curiae in May 2 oral argument supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute involving what the DOL calls a representative action waiver.
March 29, 2024
$7.5M Deal Gets Final OK In ERISA Follow-Up Suit Over Proprietary Funds

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Reducing requested attorney fee and service awards slightly, a California federal judge granted final approval to a $7.5 million class settlement in a follow-up suit over a retirement plan whose fiduciaries allegedly maintained an all-proprietary fund lineup despite a 2018 settlement over similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.