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Benefits
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July 30, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Union Carpenters' Retirement Fight
The Ninth Circuit revived a suit by carpenters alleging union pension trustees broke federal benefits law by investing retirement plan assets in dicey index funds that lost over $250 million in the 2020 market downturn, finding Tuesday that the workers' mismanagement claims should proceed to discovery.
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July 30, 2024
Financial Co. To Pay $20M To Resolve DOL Embezzlement Suit
A financial planner agreed to pay $20 million to 17 retirement plans it manages to resolve a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Labor accusing it of improperly shuffling money between accounts and embezzling at least $5 million in plan assets, a filing in Pennsylvania federal court said.
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July 29, 2024
9th Circ. Axes Limit On DOL Denying Calif. Agencies Grants
The U.S. Department of Labor can shut California transit agencies out of a federal grant because of a conflict between a state pension law and a federal transit law, with the Ninth Circuit lifting a ban Monday on the agency denying grant applications because of that conflict.
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July 29, 2024
4 Takeaways After Courts Block ERISA Advice Regs
Two Texas federal judges' takedowns of the U.S. Department of Labor's recently expanded definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act has limited the agency's authority to oversee certain kinds of retirement investment advice, attorneys say, including some rollover situations. Here, Law360 looks at four things benefits lawyers have taken away from the decisions.
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July 29, 2024
Magistrate Eyes Cuts To Norfolk Southern Investors' Suit
A New York federal magistrate judge has recommended tossing a portion of a securities suit filed against Norfolk Southern Corp. in the wake of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, reasoning that the retirement funds serving as lead plaintiffs fell short of pleading standards.
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July 29, 2024
Amazon Defeats Class Status Push In Military Leave Suit
A Washington federal judge refused Monday to greenlight a class action accusing Amazon of demoting or firing workers who took time off for military service, saying they hadn't shown the thousands of would-be class members had enough in common.
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July 29, 2024
Insurer Must Pay Defamation Defense Costs, Co. Says
An online health services company told a California federal court that a Hanover Insurance unit must help cover the "tens of millions of dollars" the company incurred while litigating an underlying defamation counterclaim and pursuing its own affirmative claims, calling the defense counsel the insurer installed "woefully inadequate."
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July 29, 2024
Boehringer Appeals HHS Win In Medicare Drug Price Suit
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. notified a Connecticut federal court Friday that it will appeal its loss in a lawsuit challenging a new Medicare drug price negotiation program on the grounds that it unlawfully compels the pharmaceutical giant to declare prices "fair," takes its property and imposes an excessive fine.
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July 29, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Litigation linked to Elon Musk sparked several filings in Delaware's Court of Chancery last week, including a call for sanctions and hand-wringing about a proposed multibillion-dollar attorney fee. Here, Law360 looks at this and other highlights from last week in Delaware's Chancery Court.
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July 29, 2024
Remainder Of DOL Fiduciary Regs Blocked In Texas
A Texas federal judge froze the remainder of a package of regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor expanding the definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, after a judge blocked most of the policy in an adjacent district the day before.
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July 26, 2024
Paramount Must Face CBS Manager's Bonus Pay Claim
A Maryland federal judge refused to toss a former CBS News station manager's claim alleging her former bosses at Paramount unlawfully withheld her bonus pay after she was terminated, but said the bosses themselves don't have to face the allegation because they weren't her employer.
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July 26, 2024
Kinder Morgan Shorted Early Retirement Benefits, Judge Says
A pension plan inherited by Kinder Morgan Inc. when it acquired El Paso Corp. was wrongly amended to prevent workers from accumulating early retirement benefits, a Texas federal judge ruled, siding with a class of retirees who claimed the changes violated federal benefits law.
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July 26, 2024
Boeing Sued In Del. For Docs On Safety, Quality Failures
Two Boeing Co. pension fund stockholders sued in Delaware's Court of Chancery late on Thursday seeking access to company documents on safety and quality issues involving the 737 MAX, 777 and 787 commercial passenger jets, alleging a "slow rolling" of responses by the industry giant.
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July 26, 2024
Gas Co. Can't Wheedle Out Of Jury's Decision, Trader Says
A former trading director has told a Colorado state judge that the natural gas marketing company he worked for has no grounds to escape a Denver jury's $3.3 million damages award over his unpaid bonus, arguing that the jurors clearly found in his favor.
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July 26, 2024
Health Worker Says Home Insurer Must Cover Privacy Row
A woman accused of unlawfully accessing confidential patient information and disseminating it to others while working for the Yale New Haven Health System told a Connecticut federal court that her homeowner insurer owes coverage for the lawsuit, noting her policies define "personal injury" to include "invasion of privacy."
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July 26, 2024
Texas Federal Judge Blocks DOL Investment Advice Rule
A Texas federal judge granted a bid from insurance industry groups to freeze U.S. Department of Labor regulations that expand who qualifies as a fiduciary under federal benefits law, saying the agency's new rule "suffers from many of the same problems" as a previous DOL rule the Fifth Circuit invalidated in 2018.
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July 25, 2024
New Tree Co. Owners Can't Lodge Suit Over Defunct ESOP
Alerus Financial NA defeated a lawsuit claiming it unlawfully let the former owners of a tree care company take a large portion of the business's $34 million sale price, with a California federal judge saying the new owners can't sue on behalf of a defunct employee stock ownership plan.
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July 25, 2024
6th Circ. Asks Union If Steel Co. Must Pay 'Double' Benefits
During oral arguments Thursday in a "messy, complex" union fringe benefits dispute, a Sixth Circuit panel questioned whether ruling for a union pension fund would require a steel contractor to pay benefits twice for out-of-state workers.
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July 25, 2024
Warren Slams Fed Chief For Inaction On Bank Exec Pay
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Federal Reserve's top official to support rulemaking that would restrict incentive-based pay for executives at big banks, a long-overdue policy change that Congress required in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.
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July 25, 2024
Vintage Wine Estates Can Tap Into $60.5M DIP Financing
Bankrupt wine producer and processor Vintage Wine Estates received permission Thursday from a Delaware bankruptcy judge to begin borrowing under a $60.5 million debtor-in-possession financing package being provided by its prepetition lenders.
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July 25, 2024
Vanguard Opposes Investors' Cert. Bid In Tax Liability Suit
A group of investors accusing Vanguard of violating its fiduciary duties by triggering a sell-off of assets that left smaller investors with massive tax bills shouldn't be granted class certification, the asset manager told a Pennsylvania federal court.
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July 25, 2024
Manufacturer Dodges Workers' 401(k) Fee Suit, For Now
An Illinois federal judge threw out two workers' lawsuit accusing a manufacturing company of saddling its $1.6 billion retirement plan with excessive recordkeeping and administrative fees, but left the door open for them to revise their complaint.
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July 25, 2024
Calif. Justices Rule Prop 22 Is Constitutional
The California Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Proposition 22 statewide ballot measure from 2020 that exempts certain app-based drivers from the state's independent contractor classification law, a ruling that could have widespread consequences for the gig economy and driver litigation.
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July 24, 2024
Ex-Arena Group CEO Says He's Owed Fees For Dueling Suits
The former CEO of digital publisher The Arena Group is demanding that the company make its contractual payments to him to cover his costs for dueling lawsuits against one another in separate state courts, according to a Wednesday suit in Delaware Chancery Court.
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July 24, 2024
Paramount Defaulted On Co. Sale Doc Demand, Chancery Told
Paramount Global has "completely defaulted" on obligations to provide documents sought by a shareholder investigating controller Shari Redstone's alleged self-interested "usurpation" of the media company's sale opportunities, a stockholder attorney told a Delaware Court of Chancery magistrate Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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The Future Of ERISA If High Court Ends Chevron Deference
The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decisions in two cases involving fishing company challenges to regulatory requirements could weaken or repeal Chevron deference, meaning U.S. Department of Labor regulations adopted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act may be heavily scrutinized, modified or vacated by federal courts, say Naina Kamath and Julie Stapel at Morgan Lewis.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Employers, Prep For Shorter Stock Awards Settlement Cycle
Companies that provide equity compensation in the form of publicly traded stock will soon have one less day to complete such transactions under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq rules — so employers should implement expedited equity compensation stock settlement and payroll tax deposit procedures now, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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Navigating ACA Reporting Nuances As Deadlines Loom
Stephanie Lowe at Liebert Cassidy walks employers through need-to-know elements of Affordable Care Act reporting, including two quickly approaching deadlines, the updated affordability threshold, strategies for choosing an affordability safe harbor, and common coding pitfalls.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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Del. Ruling Stands Out In Thorny Noncompete Landscape
In Cantor Fitzgerald v. Ainslie, the Delaware Supreme Court last month upheld the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions in limited partnership agreements, providing a noteworthy opinion amid a time of increasing disfavor toward noncompetes and following a string of Chancery Court rulings deeming them unreasonable, say Margaret Butler and Steven Goldberg at BakerHostetler.