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Mealey's ERISA

December 11, 2023
Yale Retirement Plan Participants Ask 2nd Circuit For New Trial In ERISA Row

NEW YORK — Citing a “seeming inconsistency” in the verdict and arguing that the jury instructions erroneously used a “could have” rather than a “would have” standard, participants in a Yale University 403(b) retirement plan asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for a new trial in their Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action.
December 11, 2023
Former Fiduciaries Lose Bid For High Court Review Of ERISA Ruling in DOL Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 denied a certiorari petition in which two former retirement plan fiduciaries argued that “[t]he liberal amendment standard was specifically designed to protect litigants like” them in challenging a ruling in the U.S. Labor secretary’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
December 11, 2023
Class Action Circuit Split Arguments Don’t Garner Review Grant In ERISA Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 denied a certiorari petition in which Hilton Hotels Retirement Plan and related entities (collectively, Hilton) argued that holdings in a suit over retirement plan vesting determinations “deepen two circuit splits on important, recurring questions of class action law.”
December 11, 2023
In Health Care Dispute, Michigan Federal Judge Denies Tribe’s Motion For Default

BAY CITY, Mich. — The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is not entitled to default judgment against a health insurance provider that allegedly violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by improperly administering two health insurance plans because the tribe failed to show that the providers’ failure to comply with discovery orders was due to willfulness, bad faith or fault, a Michigan federal judge found in denying the tribe’s renewed motion for default judgment.
December 08, 2023
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Association’s Suit Over Missouri’s New ESG Rules

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Arguing that it has both associational standing and a cause of action to challenge new Missouri rules requiring “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice,” a trade association urged a Missouri federal court to deny state officials’ dismissal motion.
December 08, 2023
Disability Insurer’s Amended Counterclaim Seeking Reimbursement To Proceed

ST. LOUIS — A disability insurer’s amended counterclaim seeking reimbursement from a claimant for an overpayment of disability benefits based on the claimant’s award of Social Security disability benefits can proceed because the insurer sufficiently pleaded a claim for equitable relief, a Missouri federal judge said in denying the claimant’s motion to dismiss the amended counterclaim.
December 08, 2023
Appellees Cite Cunningham In 2nd Appeal Over ERISA Imprudence Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two parts of Cunningham v. Cornell University support rulings against retirement plan participants in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act imprudence case, Georgetown University and related appellees tell the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a notice of supplemental authority.
December 08, 2023
Judge Dismisses Suit After Flight Attendant, Disability Insurer Settle LTD Claim

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a disability benefits suit after the parties settled the dispute over a flight attendant’s entitlement to long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
December 07, 2023
Magistrate Judge In ERISA Row Would Deny Summary Judgment, Certify Classes

GALVESTON, Texas — For reasons he said included numerous genuine issues of material fact, a Texas federal magistrate judge recommended denying motions for partial and full summary judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over alleged retirement plan mismanagement.
December 07, 2023
Disability Claimant’s Suit Administratively Closed Until Insurer Decides Appeal

DENVER — A Colorado federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to administratively close a disability claimant’s suit seeking a declaration that long-term disability (LTD) benefits are owed under a disability plan to allow the disability insurer to issue a decision on the claimant’s appeal.
December 07, 2023
Judgment Entered For Disability Claimant; Own-Occupation Benefits Owed

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge issued a judgment in favor of a disability claimant after determining that the claimant is owed long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the claimant met his burden that he remains disabled from performing the duties of his own occupation.
December 07, 2023
Termination Of LTD Benefits Was Not Abuse Of Discretion, Magistrate Judge Says

PITTSBURGH — A disability plan’s termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits was not an abuse of discretion because the evidence shows that the claimant was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation as required by the plan, a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge said in recommending that the plan’s motion for summary judgment be granted and the claimant’s motion for summary judgment be denied.
December 07, 2023
Acting Labor Secretary, Big TPA Spar Over Retrospective Claims In ERISA Case

MADISON, Wis. — Arguing that Congress left “retrospective benefits claims only to participants and beneficiaries,” the third-party administrator (TPA) of hundreds of self-funded employee welfare benefit plans urged a Wisconsin federal court to dismiss all backward-looking claims in Acting U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Julie A. Su’s suit over hospital emergency services and urinary drug screening claims.
December 07, 2023
Disability Claimant Files Notice Of Appeal In Dispute Over ‘Any Occupation’ Benefits

DENVER — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal after a Colorado federal judge ruled that the disability insurer’s termination of the claimant’s disability benefits was reasonable because the insurer fully investigated the claim before concluding that the claimant was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation.
December 07, 2023
Disability Claimant Seeks High Court Review On Claims Procedure Regulations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A disability claimant urges the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a petition for writ of certiorari to review 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.
December 07, 2023
Disability Plan Did Not Abuse Discretion In Terminating LTD Benefits, Judge Says

MINNEAPOLIS — A disability plan did not abuse its discretion in terminating a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits after four years of paying the claimant benefits because substantial evidence, including a statement from the claimant’s treating doctor that he was able to return to work, supports the plan’s decision, a federal judge in Minnesota said.
December 06, 2023
10th Circuit Reverses, Finds ERISA Arbitrary And Capricious Standard Viable

DENVER — The arbitrary and capricious review standard still applies in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases, but an insurer’s denial letter fails to meet the standard under recent precedent requiring that such documents provide a comprehensive and specific explanation of the reasons for denying coverage, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Dec. 5 in reversing summary judgment in favor of the insurer.
December 06, 2023
$1M Resolution Of COBRA Suit Gets Preliminary OK, Minus General Release Payments

TAMPA, Fla. — Ruling that $7,500 general release payments for two named plaintiffs “are disguised incentive awards,” a Florida federal judge on Dec. 5 ordered references to the payments struck but otherwise granted preliminary approval of a $1 million class settlement in a case over Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notices.
December 06, 2023
After Bench Trial, Judge Rules Against Class In ERISA Row Over Single-Stock Fund

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — After a bench trial, a Virginia federal judge on Dec. 5 ruled that the administrator of a 401(k) plan “acted with procedural prudence” regarding divestiture of a single-stock fund and so “did not breach its duty to diversify” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by not acting earlier.
December 05, 2023
Plaintiffs: Proposed Rule Undermines DOL’s Position In ERISA Fiduciary Test Row

DALLAS — A proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) “highlights the disingenuousness of the DOL’s denials” in a case concerning what had been called the DOL’s “new interpretation” of a test for whether financial professionals are acting as investment advice fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, plaintiffs tell a Texas federal court in a Dec. 4 brief.
December 04, 2023
2nd Circuit Nixes Bid For Interlocutory Appeal Of ERISA Class Certification

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for interlocutory appeal in which a life insurer and related entities argued that the certified class in the case over calculation of benefits was “deliberately gerrymandered” and that “there was a complete disconnect between the expert evidence and the legal basis for Plaintiffs’ claim.”
December 04, 2023
Petitioners Argue ‘New Burdens’ In Seeking Review Of 10th Circuit ERISA Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Challenging two aspects of a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling concerning long-term residential treatment facility coverage and arguing that the opinion improperly “imposes new burdens on health benefits plans,” one such plan and the insurer that administers it have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari.
December 04, 2023
Class Deal Of Nearly $4M Gets Preliminary OK In ERISA Fees, Funds Lawsuit

ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge on Dec. 1 granted preliminary approval of a $3,925,000 class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where the plaintiffs allege mismanagement of a 401(k) plan.
December 04, 2023
$250,000 ERISA Deal Would Let Plaintiff Appeal Dismissed Investment Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Under a preliminary approval motion in California federal court, a certified class would settle the remaining record-keeping claims in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case for $250,000 while reserving the right to appeal the June 2021 dismissal of investment claims.
December 01, 2023
$6M Class Settlement Proposed In ERISA Case Over Former ESOP Sponsored By Bank

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Dozens of individuals would receive an estimated average net settlement amount of “a little over $30,000” under a $6 million class deal concerning the Virginia Community Bankshares Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that a Virginia federal court has been asked to preliminarily approve.