Mealey's ERISA
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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.
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February 14, 2024
Panel Doesn’t Follow Metz In Deciding MPPAA Withdrawal Liability Disputes
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saying the reasoning in a sister circuit’s decision is “counter to the text of” the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed rulings for the trustees of a multiemployer pension plan in withdrawal liability disputes involving actuarial assumptions.
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February 09, 2024
$3M Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Imprudence Row, But Judge Trims Fees
SAN FRANCISCO — Attorneys who initially sought $900,000 of a $3 million Employee Retirement Income Security Act class settlement will get just $373,715 under a final approval order in which a California federal judge ruled even their reduced fee request “not reasonable or appropriate in the circumstances of this case.”
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February 09, 2024
LTD Benefits Owed For Post-COVID-19 Syndrome, Claimant Says In Complaint
NEW YORK — A former regional sales manager filed suit in New York federal court, seeking a ruling that he is entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits for post-COVID-19 syndrome under a disability plan sponsored by his employer because the plan administrator’s denial of benefits was contrary to the weight of the medical and vocational evidence.
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February 08, 2024
Federal Judge: Ex-Employees Did Not Show Trustees’ Motive In Stock Plan Complaint
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Finding in part that a group of former employees had not established a breach of duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal judge in Tennessee granted in part a motion to dismiss the putative class complaint filed by their former employer’s fiduciary trustee, while denying in full a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by executives of the employer.
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October 03, 2023
$1.3 Million Class Settlement Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Investment Fees Lawsuit
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge on Oct. 2 granted preliminary approval to a $1.3 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over allegations that retirement plan participants “were subject to excessive investment fees in the form of high-cost share classes and poor investment performance.”
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February 08, 2024
Panel That Upheld Judgment For Insurers In Facility Fees Row Won’t Rehear Case
NEW YORK — Saying only that it “considered the request,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that issued a summary order affirming judgment for a health insurer and related entities in a class suit over reimbursement for facility fees in New York denied a petition for panel rehearing.
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February 08, 2024
$1.3M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Investment Fees Lawsuit
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge has granted final approval to a $1.3 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over allegations that retirement plan participants “were subject to excessive investment fees in the form of high-cost share classes and poor investment performance.”
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February 08, 2024
Limited Benefit Provision Properly Applied But Remand On Portion Of Claim Warranted
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability insurer reasonably applied a limited benefit provision in finding that a claimant’s migraine headaches entitled her to only 24 months of benefits; however, the insurer’s explanation for its denial of benefits for the claimant’s cervical radiculopathy was not consistent, a Virginia federal judge said in determining that remand of claimant’s cervical radiculopathy claim is warranted.
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February 07, 2024
Dismissal Of Ex-Union Member’s Case Over Expulsion, Lost Benefits Is Upheld
NEW YORK — Saying in part that evidence presented at a union trial “is sufficient under” the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a summary order upholding dismissal of a case involving Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims that a retiree filed after being expelled from a union and losing pension and health benefits.
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February 07, 2024
Cigna: ERISA Plans Bar Algorithm Health Care Claims; UCL Claims Lack Specificity
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insureds’ cannot demonstrate denial of claims based solely on review by an algorithm or that the use of such a tool would violate the provisions of their Employee Retirement Income Security Act plans, the insurer tells a federal judge in California in a motion to dismiss while arguing that the plaintiffs fail to plead their California unfair competition law (UCL) claims with requisite specificity.
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February 07, 2024
Agency Gets TRO Against Allegedly Embezzling TPA Of Many Retirement Plans
PITTSBURGH — Granting a motion in which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) urged it to stop two defendants “from continuing their embezzlement and misappropriation of plan assets,” a Pennsylvania federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) involving a company that was third-party administrator (TPA) for many retirement plans.
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February 07, 2024
Mandate Withheld In Appeal Over Big ERISA Class; Rehearing Bid Remains
NEW ORLEANS — Mandate issuance was withheld Feb. 6 in a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case where a panel upheld certification of a large multiplan class and a petition for rehearing en banc that drew an amicus curiae brief has been pending for months.
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February 07, 2024
Disability Claimant’s Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claims To Proceed, Judge Says
BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge on Feb. 6 denied a plan administrator’s motion to dismiss claims for breach of fiduciary duty after determining that a disability claimant sufficiently alleged facts in support of the claims pertaining to the long-term disability (LTD) and life insurance plans at issue.
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February 07, 2024
Disability Benefits Suit Settled; Parties File Stipulation Of Dismissal
DALLAS — Following a Texas federal judge’s ruling that a disability claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be reinstated, the parties reached a settlement of the LTD benefits dispute and filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice.
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February 06, 2024
Fiduciaries Want To Appeal 9th Circuit Ruling In ERISA Prohibited Transaction Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retirement plan fiduciaries were given a March 7 deadline to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of a ruling concerning the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s prohibited transaction provision after arguing that the ruling involves a circuit split, is not consistent with Lockheed Corp. v. Spink and “threatens serious practical consequences for plan administration.”
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February 06, 2024
Disability Insurer Breached Fiduciary Duty In Terminating Benefits, Claimant Says
DENVER — A disability insurer breached its fiduciary duty in terminating a claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer mischaracterized the claimant’s medical condition and failed to follow the plan’s guidelines and procedures in handling the claim, a disability claimant alleges in a complaint filed Feb. 5 in Colorado federal court.