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Benefits
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September 11, 2024
Litigation Spending To Rise As Cases Grow More Aggressive
A substantial number of large companies are expecting to increase their litigation spending by double digits next year in the face of more complex and hard-fought cases — and they are more open to bringing in new legal talent to navigate the matters, according to a report released Thursday.
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September 11, 2024
Cedars-Sinai Workers Seek Class In Retirement Plan Case
A pair of former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Inc. workers asked a California federal judge to greenlight a 16,000-person class in a lawsuit claiming their retirement plan was burdened with excessive fees and subpar investment options.
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September 11, 2024
Wayfair Beats Fired Worker's Disability Bias Suit At 3rd Circ.
The Third Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a disability bias suit from a former Wayfair warehouse worker who said the furniture retailer violated New Jersey law when it fired him, backing a trial court's finding that he couldn't handle the essential functions of his job.
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September 11, 2024
Uber, Postmates Ask Justices To Address AB 5 Classifications
Postmates and Uber urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit's decision dismissing their constitutional challenge to California's worker classification law, arguing that A.B. 5 singles them out and strips them of equal protection under the law, according to their petition to the high court.
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September 11, 2024
Mass. Jury Weighs Raft Of Fraud Charges Against Ex-Pol
A Boston federal jury resumed deliberations Wednesday in a criminal case alleging a former Massachusetts state senator lied on his taxes and an application for pandemic unemployment aid, after the ex-politico testified in his own defense.
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September 11, 2024
UK Pension Funding Surplus Dips £500M After BoE Rate Cut
The funding surplus of U.K. pension plans fell by £500 million ($653 million), according to official figures, after the Bank of England cut interest rates in August.
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September 10, 2024
Natixis Worker Class Headed To Trial In 401(k) Suit
Natixis will have to go to trial over workers' claims that it mismanaged their investment funds, according to a Massachusetts federal judge's ruling Tuesday that rejected the French investment firm's objections to a magistrate judge's report and recommendations.
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September 10, 2024
Reynolds Wrap Co. Gets OK For $725K Retirement Fee Deal
An Illinois federal judge has granted final approval to a $725,000 settlement between a food packaging company that makes Reynolds brand products and participants in an employee 401(k) plan who alleged the company paid too much for recordkeeping fees.
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September 10, 2024
MedStar's $11.8M ERISA Deal Gets Final OK
A Maryland federal court gave final approval to an $11.8 million settlement between hospital chain MedStar Health and workers who said the company mismanaged their retirement plan.
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September 10, 2024
Research Outfit Strikes $3.4M Deal In Retirement Plan Fee Suit
Research and development nonprofit Mitre Corp. agreed to shell out $3.4 million to resolve a class action from workers who said their retirement plans were saddled with excessive fees, according to a Massachusetts federal court filing.
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September 10, 2024
Retention Bonus Not Wages Under Mass. Law, Court Finds
A retention bonus does not count as wages under Massachusetts' wage laws because it is a form of "contingent compensation," a state appellate division court ruled.
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September 10, 2024
State Pension Likely To Rise 4% Under Triple Lock
The U.K. government is likely to push through an inflation-busting increase to the state pension of approximately £460 ($600) a year from April, after official figures revealed on Tuesday a rise in average earnings.
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September 09, 2024
BAE Defeats ERISA Suit Over Abandoned Retirement Funds
A Virginia federal judge tossed a BAE Systems Inc. employee's suit claiming the company skirted federal benefits law by using forfeited funds in its retirement plan to pay off its contribution responsibilities, stating the plan's own documents required the company to use the funds this way.
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September 09, 2024
SeaWorld Strikes Deal To End 401(k) Class Action
SeaWorld told a California federal court it agreed to settle a class action accusing it of loading its $300 million employee retirement plan with high-cost funds and hiring expensive recordkeepers who charged more than double what similar plans were paying.
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September 09, 2024
Bradley Arant Adds Katten Partner In Dallas
Bradley Arant has hired a six-and-a-half-year veteran of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP who is joining the firm's corporate and securities practice in Dallas as a partner.
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September 09, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Delaware's Court of Chancery made some expensive decisions last week, ranging from a $130 million stockholder award and a freeze on $450 million in equity financing to a whopping $1 billion bill for fraud and breach of contract damages. New cases aimed at Virgin Galactic, settlements pulled in Hemisphere Media Group Inc. and court hearings involving Apollo Global Management heated up. In case you missed it, here's the roundup of news from Delaware's Court of Chancery.
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September 09, 2024
DOL Issues Updated Cybersecurity Guidance For ERISA Plans
The U.S. Department of Labor released new cybersecurity guidance applicable to the full gamut of retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, offering advice on topics including hiring service providers and best practices for keeping workers' information safe.
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September 09, 2024
2nd Circ. Upholds Regeneron's Win In Remote Work Suit
The Second Circuit rejected a former Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. employee's appeal seeking to revive claims it illegally denied her a remote work situation to care for her daughter while she underwent medical care, ruling Monday that there was no evidence the company had willfully broken the law.
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September 09, 2024
White House Final Rule On Mental Health Parity Unveiled
The White House released a final rule Monday meant to boost employer health plans' compliance with a federal law requiring coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatments that's at the same level as physical health care.
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September 06, 2024
ZoomInfo Sued By Investor Over Post-Lockdown Biz Pressure
Software company ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. has been hit with an investor proposed class action in Washington federal court alleging it hurt investors and its own reputation as it took desperate measures to maintain an early-pandemic customer boom and ultimately wrote down $33 million because of improperly recognized revenue.
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September 06, 2024
Calif. Has Underpaid State Court Judges For Years, Suit Says
A Sacramento County judge has filed a proposed class action on behalf of over 5,000 current and retired bench officers alleging they've been underpaid for the last several years over the state's failure to properly include special salary adjustments when calculating the average percentage salary increase for all state employees.
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September 06, 2024
VA Must Turn LA Campus Into Vets' Housing, Judge Says
A California federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of a class of disabled homeless military veterans alleging that they're facing disability discrimination due to the lack of permanent supportive housing on a West Los Angeles campus.
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September 06, 2024
X Corp. Shorted 3 Execs Millions In Severance, Suit Says
Three former executives of Twitter, now known as X, said in a California federal court suit that Elon Musk prevented them from collecting millions in severance benefits following his takeover of the social media company by falsely claiming they were fired for failing to cooperate in investigations.
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September 06, 2024
IHS Seeks Stay In $17M Suit In Wake Of High Court Ruling
The Indian Health Service is asking for a stay in a challenge by a Navajo Nation hospital board that seeks $17.4 million in unpaid contract support costs, saying the agency is working toward a methodology on how to address claims stemming from a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on the issue.
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September 06, 2024
Boeing Loses Bid To Toss Investor Suit Over Blowout
A Virginia federal judge gave the green light to Boeing investors to continue their securities fraud proposed class suit against the company over one of its planes' midair door blowout in January, rejecting the aerospace giant's motion to dismiss and telling Boeing it had a "real problem" on its hands.
Expert Analysis
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance
An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.
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Opinion
Congress Must Do More To Bolster ERISA Protections
As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act turns 50 this month, we applaud Congress for championing a statute that protects worker and retiree rights, but further action is needed to ban arbitration clauses in plan provisions and codify regulations imperiled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling, say Michelle Yau and Eleanor Frisch at Cohen Milstein.
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How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks
With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge
The Third Circuit recently gave the New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights a new lease on life by systematically dismantling multiple theories of the act's unconstitutionality brought by staffing agencies hoping to delay their new equal pay and benefits obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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6th Circ. Ruling Highlights Complexity Of ERISA Preemption
The Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Standard Insurance v. Guy — that the defendant couldn't collect his mother’s life insurance after being convicted of murdering his parents — illustrates how courts must engage in mental gymnastics to avoid the broad reach of Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond
As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.
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Series
Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer
My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.