Benefits

  • January 01, 2025

    5 Cases Benefits Attorneys Should Keep An Eye On In 2025

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Cornell University workers' bid to revive a retirement plan lawsuit, the Ninth Circuit will weigh whether a nicotine surcharge dispute belongs in arbitration, and the Second Circuit will hear Yale University defend a win in a fight over retirement plan fees and investments. Here are five cases benefits lawyers should have on their radar in the new year.

  • January 01, 2025

    5 Policy Changes Benefits Attys Should Watch For In 2025

    With President-elect Donald Trump poised to return to the White House, experts are bracing for potential changes including shifts from the U.S. Department of Labor on who qualifies as a regulated fiduciary under benefits law to whether retirement plans can consider environmental and social factors when picking investments. Here, Law360 looks at five employee benefits policy issues to keep an eye on in the new year.

  • January 01, 2025

    Key W&H Legislative Trends For 2025

    In 2025, states and cities will intensify their efforts to experiment with employment law in the shadow of a Republican-controlled federal government, be it by expanding overtime protections for workers or refining pay transparency obligations, attorneys say. Here, Law360 explores the legislative trends employment law practitioners should look out for in the new year.

  • December 20, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: Williams & Connolly's Sarah Harris

    Sarah M. Harris of Williams & Connolly LLP never planned on being a U.S. Supreme Court advocate, or even an appellate one. She stumbled upon that career path after realizing her initial goal of becoming a national security or government lawyer wasn't the right fit.

  • December 20, 2024

    A Look Back At 2024's Major Securities Litigation Moments

    The private securities litigation bar experienced a busy 2024, with meaningful and significant rulings in almost all of the nation's leading courts, and corporations, investors, government agencies and executives fighting over pay packages, disclosures, class certifications and mergers.

  • December 20, 2024

    6th Circ. To Group FedEx, Kellogg Pension Data Appeals

    The Sixth Circuit on Thursday rejected a request to stay a case alleging FedEx Corp. uses outdated actuarial assumptions in calculating certain retirees' annuities, pending a similar appeal from Kellogg Co. retirees, saying it would instead group the cases together.

  • December 20, 2024

    DOL Sues Over New York BBQ Co.'s $99M Stock Plan Deal

    The U.S. Department of Labor sued Argent Trust Co. and several New York City restaurant operators in federal court, alleging they violated federal benefits law by causing a barbecue company's employee stock ownership plan to pay $99 million for overvalued company stock in a leveraged transaction.

  • December 20, 2024

    Fla. Labs Appeal $7.3M Conn. Jury Verdict Favoring Cigna

    Three Florida substance abuse testing laboratories filed notice Thursday promising to appeal a $7.3 million loss to Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. over billings for recurring tests on drug treatment patients the insurer said were not medically necessary.

  • December 20, 2024

    Yellow Corp. Layoff Notices Had Too Little Info, Judge Says

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge has shot down some of trucking company Yellow Corp.'s defenses against claims it failed to give proper notice of more than 25,000 layoffs just before it entered Chapter 11, saying the notices it sent weren't informative enough.

  • December 20, 2024

    Prudential Freed From 401(k) Mismanagement Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed a class action claiming Prudential bogged down its retirement plan with underperforming funds while also funneling money into a proprietary investing tool that benefited the company over employees, ruling the case lacks proof that mismanagement occurred.

  • December 20, 2024

    Sutter Health Settles Retirement Plan Mismanagement Suit

    A health care company has agreed to settle a federal benefits class action from employee retirement plan participants alleging mismanagement, the parties told a California federal court Friday.

  • December 20, 2024

    Honeywell Escapes Ex-Employee's 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    Honeywell International defeated a proposed class action alleging it violated federal benefits law when it used ex-employees' forfeited 401(k) funds to offset its retirement plan contributions rather than cover administrative expenses, with a New Jersey federal judge finding the company's actions complied with the plan's terms.

  • December 19, 2024

    FTC Says PBMs Can't Get Preliminary Block In Insulin Case

    The Federal Trade Commission urged a Missouri federal judge Thursday not to temporarily block its in-house case accusing pharmacy benefits managers of artificially inflating insulin prices through unfair rebate schemes, arguing Congress clearly empowered such in-house adjudications and the officials who handle them.

  • December 19, 2024

    DuPont, Corteva Liable For Bad Benefits Info, Judge Says

    Chemical companies DuPont and Corteva Inc. violated federal benefits law when they cut hundreds of workers off from retirement benefits following a merger and subsequent spinoff, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, finding the companies didn't clearly explain how the transactions would impact employees' benefits.

  • December 19, 2024

    Chicago Hospital Network Strikes Deal In 401(k) Fee Suit

    A Chicago-area hospital system has agreed to settle a former worker's proposed class action claiming it failed to secure lower recordkeeping fees for its $1.8 billion retirement plan even when its peers were able to land better deals.

  • December 19, 2024

    Amazon Gets 'Wide Berth' Of Discovery In Drivers' Wage Suit

    A Washington federal judge largely granted Amazon's discovery request in an 8-year-old lawsuit brought by delivery drivers accusing the company of misclassifying them as independent contractors, saying the data it seeks is reasonable for its forthcoming challenge to the workers' class certification bid.

  • December 19, 2024

    X Workers Say Entire Severance Suit Should Survive

    Former X employees urged a Delaware federal court to set aside portions of a magistrate judge's recommendation that the court partially toss their unpaid severance benefits lawsuit, saying the judge incorrectly found that a merger agreement stripped them of standing.

  • December 18, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: McDermott's Paul Hughes

    Paul W. Hughes of McDermott Will & Emery LLP knows U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments are unpredictable — you can end up as the butt of a justice's joke or have the whole bench fully embrace your novel legal theory — so he focuses on what he can control: being overprepared for any version of the court he meets.

  • December 18, 2024

    Pilgrim's Pride Gets Chicken Exit OK Under Contested Deal

    Pilgrim's Pride is able to formally duck Sysco chicken price-fixing claims picked up by a Burford Capital LLC unit after an Illinois federal judge once again ruled that the companies are bound by a settlement between Pilgrim's Pride and Sysco that the litigation funding giant contested as too small.

  • December 18, 2024

    Defunct Media Co. Staffers Nab Class Status In WARN Act Suit

    Workers at former digital media startup The Messenger who allege they were unlawfully terminated without advance notice can proceed as a group with their lawsuit, a New York federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the company's arguments about the size of its workforce didn't hinder class certification.

  • December 18, 2024

    Benefits Orgs. Back AT&T In Suit Over Pension Risk Transfers

    A trio of retirement benefits organizations urged a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a suit claiming AT&T violated federal benefits law by offloading $8 billion in pension obligations into risky annuities, arguing that the case is a cash grab based on speculative claims.

  • December 18, 2024

    IRS Pushes Some Retirement Plan Min. Distributions To 2026

    The Internal Revenue Service updated the effective date to January 2026 — instead of next year — for when some must start to withdraw the required minimum amount of funds from several types of individual retirement accounts that were amended by a December 2022 retirement savings law. 

  • December 18, 2024

    Justices Will Decide If Medicaid Recipients Can Pick Providers

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday partially granted the state of South Carolina's petition to review a Fourth Circuit decision blocking its Medicaid program from ending its provider agreement with Planned Parenthood, agreeing to determine if the Medicaid Act allows a beneficiary to choose a specific provider. 

  • December 17, 2024

    Alcohol Co. Sued Over Biz Hangover After COVID Lockdowns

    Alcoholic beverage manufacturer MGP Ingredients Inc. has been hit with a proposed investor class action alleging the company misled the public about the continued success of its business following its exponential growth during the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns.

  • December 17, 2024

    Express Scripts, OptumRx Can't Ditch LA County Opioid Suit

    A California judge ruled Tuesday that Los Angeles County can keep pursuing a lawsuit claiming pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and OptumRx colluded with drugmakers to fuel the opioid epidemic, though the county must rework its complaint to specify how regulators were allegedly deceived.

Expert Analysis

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Insurance Industry Impacts If DOL Fiduciary Rule Is Revived

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    If implemented following an ongoing appeal at the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule expanding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's definition of "fiduciary" could chill insurance agents’ and brokers' ability to sell annuities, and lead to an increase in breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Nvidia Case's Potential Impact On Securities Class Actions

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    In Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder, the U.S. Supreme Court could strip lower courts of their long-standing ability and obligation to holistically weigh all relevant facts supporting plaintiffs' allegations of securities fraud, which would have a wide-ranging impact on securities fraud class actions in the U.S., say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Short-Seller Implications Of 10th Circ.'s Overstock Decision

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    The Tenth Circuit's Oct. 15 decision in Overstock Securities Litigation provides clarity on the pleading standard for a market manipulation claim under the Exchange Act, and suggests that short sellers might not be able to rely on the fraud-on-the-market presumption typically invoked by securities plaintiffs, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Employer Lessons From Mass. 'Bonus Not Wages' Ruling

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    In Nunez v. Syncsort, a Massachusetts state appeals court recently held that a terminated employee’s retention bonus did not count as wages under the state’s Wage Act, illustrating the nuanced ways “wages” are defined by state statutes and courts, say attorneys at Segal McCambridge.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Tobacco Surcharge Suits Spotlight Wellness Reg Compliance

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    A mounting wave of tobacco-user surcharge litigation against employee benefit plans highlights compliance challenges associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act wellness regulations, and reminds plan sponsors to ask existential questions about the utility of their wellness programs, say Finn Pressly and Lesley Wolf at Ballard Spahr.

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