Mealey's ERISA
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December 05, 2025
9th Circuit To Hear Argument In Appeal Class Filed Over Proprietary TDFs Suit
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear Dec. 9 oral argument in an appeal where retirement plan participants who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs) lost on all counts following a bench trial; among other things, the participants seek vacatur of an order taxing them with nearly $94,000 in costs.
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December 04, 2025
Judge Dismisses ERISA Stable Value Fund Suit With Leave To Amend
CHICAGO — Citing the plaintiff’s failure “to identify a uniform sample” among his proposed comparator stable value funds (SVFs), an Illinois federal judge on Dec. 3 dismissed a putative class complaint concerning an allegedly underperforming SVF with leave to amend.
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December 04, 2025
$7M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case
PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Dec. 3 granted final approval to a class settlement with a present value of $7 million that resolves a suit challenging the use of allegedly outdated mortality assumptions to calculate annuities for married pension plan participants; as requested, the judge also awarded a third of that total for attorney fees.
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December 04, 2025
5th Circuit Lets DOL Drop Appeals Concerning 2024 ERISA Fiduciary Rule
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has granted a request by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to dismiss consolidated appeals the agency filed under the Biden administration; the appeals challenged July 2024 rulings that imposed a nationwide stay of the effective date of a 2024 DOL Retirement Security Rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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December 03, 2025
6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Reimbursement Suit As Preempted By ERISA
CINCINNATI — Saying in part that each of the “alleged breaches of duty rests entirely upon what” a health insurance plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “does (or does not) say,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 2 affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit that featured state law claims it agreed were completely preempted.
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December 03, 2025
$48.5M Deal That Followed ERISA Jury Verdict Wins Final OK, With Incentives
NEW YORK — Granting three $25,000 case contribution awards over the defendants’ opposition, a New York federal judge on Dec. 2 gave final approval to a class settlement that was struck after a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial in a challenge to the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan; the deal includes a $48.5 million payment that with interest now totals $49,539,537, and class counsel were awarded a third of that total for attorney fees as requested.
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December 03, 2025
Expert Challenges In Suit Over NFL Disability Denials Draw Mixed Ruling
BALTIMORE — Addressing three expert challenges in a putative class action concerning NFL disability benefits, a Maryland federal magistrate judge excluded one expert in full and one in part and declined to exclude the third.
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December 01, 2025
Standing Issue Again Dooms Fiduciary Breach Claims In ERISA Drug Costs Lawsuit
CAMDEN, N.J. — Applying the reasoning of a Minnesota federal judge who was confronted with a similar putative class case and concluding that the plaintiffs lack standing, a New Jersey federal judge issued an unpublished opinion on Nov. 26 in which he again granted partial dismissal with leave to amend in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duty suit focused on a health plan’s pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) and prescription drug benefits.
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November 26, 2025
ERISA Forfeiture Case That Survived Dismissal Settles For Nearly $2M
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A $1,995,000 class settlement won final approval on Nov. 25 in a case that had challenged the use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan sponsor’s future matching contributions, with a California federal judge granting the requested $665,000 award for attorney fees and costs but directing that 10% of the fees be retained by the settlement administrator pending a determination “that the settlement distribution process has been completed.”
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November 26, 2025
DOL Moves To Drop 5th Circuit Appeals Concerning 2024 ERISA Fiduciary Rule
NEW ORLEANS — Days after a flurry of filings by other parties and amici curiae, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) moved to dismiss consolidated appeals challenging July 2024 rulings that imposed a nationwide stay of the effective date of a 2024 DOL Retirement Security Rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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November 25, 2025
9 Appeals Of ERISA Forfeiture Dismissals: Where Things Stand
As the wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions continues to swell, here’s a look at where things stand in nine appeals of rulings dismissing putative class cases; one highlight is that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is considering filing a second amicus curiae brief.
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November 25, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms That ERISA Preempts Out-Of-Network Provider’s Claims
PASADENA, Calif. — Affirming dismissal of a suit against a health insurer in a Nov. 24 unpublished memorandum disposition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that because the claims of the drug and alcohol treatment provider both reference “and have an impermissible connection with” a plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the claims “are therefore preempted by ERISA.”
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November 21, 2025
COMMENTARY: Testing The Boundaries Of Product Liability For AI Products: How To Hold An Insurance Company Liable For AI Errors
By Jamie O’Neill and Abigail Damsky
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November 24, 2025
2nd Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of ERISA Challenge To Plan’s High-Risk Strategy
NEW YORK — In a summary order saying that the complaint “fails plausibly to allege breach of fiduciary duty against any of the Defendants,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 21 affirmed dismissal of a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case in which a participant in a defined-benefit multiemployer pension plan challenged an allegedly high-risk investment strategy.
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November 24, 2025
Split 11th Circuit Reverses In LTD Case Over Preexisting Conditions Exclusion
ATLANTA — Reversing and remanding a ruling against a long-term disability (LTD) claimant, a split 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 21 ruled that it was unreasonable for the insurer to interpret a preexisting conditions exclusion in a way that the majority said means that “treatment for a headache during the lookback period converts any disease or condition that causes headaches into a preexisting condition.”
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November 24, 2025
ERISA Forfeiture Cases Are Dismissed In Texas, Mississippi And California
Aligning with the majority of rulings in the wave of putative Employee Retirement Income Security Act class suits challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions,federal judges in Texas, Mississippi and California granted defendants’ dismissal motions in cases filed against Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages LLC, Peco Foods Inc. and AT&T Services Inc.
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November 21, 2025
Class Members Will Recover Up To $48,000 Each In Proton Beam Settlement
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted final approval to a class settlement in which an insurer will pay up to $3,408,000 to resolve a suit challenging denials of coverage for proton beam therapy (PBT) that occurred over about nine years; the insurer will also separately pay $1,675,000 in fees and costs, a $15,000 individual general release payment and claim administration costs estimated at $12,000.
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November 21, 2025
11th Circuit Affirms Ruling Upholding Termination Of Litigator’s LTD Benefits
ATLANTA — Upholding termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits in a case that turned on a therapist’s notes, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in an unpublished Nov. 20 opinion that although some of the notes are “troubling” because they report passive suicidal ideation, as a whole they do not show that the claimant “was unable to perform her duties as a commercial litigator.”
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November 21, 2025
Magistrate Recommends Denying Dismissal In Putative Class Tobacco Surcharge Case
LAFAYETTE, La. — Repeatedly referencing rulings previously issued in the recent wave of similar cases, a Louisiana federal magistrate judge recommended denying dismissal of a putative class action challenging a health plan’s tobacco surcharge under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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November 20, 2025
Judge Opens Door For 2nd Circuit To Weigh In On PRT Standing Split
NEW YORK — The question of whether alleging that a pension risk transfer (PRT) increased the risk of not receiving full benefits gives retirees standing to challenge the transaction could be addressed by two U.S. circuit courts after a New York federal judge certified for interlocutory appeal her decision that the plaintiffs in one such putative class action have standing.
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November 19, 2025
Claimant Gets Judgment Exceeding $1M In LTD, Residual Disability Benefits Case
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Long-term disability (LTD) and residual disability insurers agreed to give up their right to appeal and pay a pediatric dermatologist more than $1 million in retroactive benefits, attorney fees and prejudgment interest under a stipulated final judgment that a Michigan federal judge approved.
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November 19, 2025
Judge Won’t Permit Discovery In LTD Dispute Where Claimant Declined Remand
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge declined to remand a dispute over terminated long-term disability (LTD) benefits to the insurer for review on the merits, explaining that any remedy would be “premature” because she had not yet reviewed the termination decision, then in a memorandum endorsement denied the claimant’s subsequent request for discovery and cautioned that any attempt to increase the insurer’s legal fees “is likely to backfire.”
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November 18, 2025
9th Circuit Vacates Ruling That TPA Discriminated By Enforcing Exclusions
PASADENA, Calif. — Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s split June 18 ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 17 vacated and remanded for reconsideration a class action ruling that the third-party administrator (TPA) of a self-funded health plan violated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s antidiscrimination provision by administering exclusions of gender-affirming care.
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November 17, 2025
Deponent Ordered To Pay More Than $60,000 For Fees, Costs In Health Plan Case
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal magistrate judge who previously determined that a deponent’s “obstructive and combative behavior and dilatory tactics” warranted three extra hours of deposition and monetary sanctions awarded more than half of the $105,875.20 requested for related attorney fees in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action that challenges the expenses and allocations by trustees of a nationwide multiemployer health plan.
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November 17, 2025
High Court Skips Review Of Ruling Regarding Released ERISA Claims
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a pro se certiorari petition regarding a ruling in which the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims a retiree sought to revive in a pension benefits dispute were included in a release that she signed knowingly and voluntarily.