Mealey's ERISA
-
June 05, 2024
Judge Won’t Certify Interlocutory Appeal Over ERISA Record-Keeping Ruling
MINNEAPOLIS — A motion focused on allegations of commoditized, fungible record-keeping fees in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case was denied June 4, with a Minnesota federal judge refusing to certify a partial dismissal motion for interlocutory appeal.
-
June 05, 2024
Attorneys Get 27% Of $20M ERISA Settlement With 2 Groups Of Class Members
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on June 4 granted final approval of a $20 million settlement in a change in control (CIC) dispute over early retirement pension benefits and pension supplements; the settlement treats the 340 class members differently depending on whether they were terminated.
-
June 05, 2024
Disability Claimant Seeks De Novo Review, Says Additional STD Benefits Are Owed
TULSA, Okla. — A de novo standard of review should be applied to the review of the denial of a short-term disability (STD) claim because the disability plan administrator committed a number of procedural irregularities in handling the claimant’s second appeal of the denial of his claim, the claimant says in an opening brief filed in Oklahoma federal court.
-
June 05, 2024
9th Circuit: ERISA Preempts State Law Claims In Case Over Alleged Fee-Forgiving
SAN FRANCISCO — Issuing separate rulings regarding Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption and recovery of plan benefits, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld summary judgment for defendants in a health insurance dispute reportedly involving more than $8.6 million in unreimbursed claims from a substance abuse treatment center and alleged fee-forgiving.
-
June 05, 2024
Ex-NFL Player Granted Extension To Petition High Court In Disability Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The deadline for a former National Football League player to file a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court was extended by a month, giving the former player until July 13 to seek review of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that he failed to prove that he is entitled to additional disability benefits under the NFL’s benefits plan.
-
June 04, 2024
Nonfiduciary ERISA Claim Against TIAA, Subsidiary Survives In Cross-Selling Case
NEW YORK — A retooled putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over cross-selling of TIAA Portfolio Advisor accounts has survived dismissal, with a New York federal judge ruling that a claim for nonfiduciary receipt of ill-gotten profits is sufficiently stated against a third-party service provider for numerous retirement plans and its subsidiary.
-
June 04, 2024
Suit Over DOL’s New Investment Advice Fiduciary Rule Draws Proposed Amicus Briefs
TYLER, Texas — The Hispanic Leadership Fund (HLF) and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America have asked a Texas federal court for permission to file amicus curiae briefs in the first suit challenging a new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
-
June 04, 2024
5th Circuit Sets Argument In Appeal Over DOL’s ESG Investing Rule
NEW ORLEANS — In a case that has drawn numerous amicus curiae briefs, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set oral argument for July 9 regarding a ruling that left in place the 2022 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
-
June 04, 2024
Awarding 1/3 Of $975,000 ERISA Settlement In Attorney Fees, Judge Gives Final OK
NEW YORK — In orders that didn’t specifically address the lone objection to the class resolution of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over alleged breach of the duty of prudence, a New York federal judge granted final settlement approval and awarded attorney fees totaling 33-1/3% of the $975,000 payment.
-
May 29, 2024
COMMENTARY: U.S. Supreme Court Limits Appeals From Decisions Enforcing Arbitration Agreements
By David N. Cinotti
-
May 30, 2024
Retirees Urge Denial Of Dismissal Motion In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case
GREENBELT, Md. — Calling Thole v. U.S. Bank. N.A. “entirely distinguishable,” Lockheed Martin Corp. retirees urged a Maryland federal court to deny dismissal of their suit, which is one of a quartet of similar recent putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
-
May 30, 2024
Defendants Are Granted Taxable Costs In ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Row
DES MOINES, Iowa — Following summary judgment in their favor in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) record-keeping fees in Iowa federal court, grocery chain Hy-Vee Inc. and related defendants were granted taxable costs totaling $53,319.87, including $40,232.83 for discovery of electronically stored information (ESI), on May 29.
-
May 29, 2024
Dismissal Bid Fails In 1 ERISA Lawsuit Over Forfeiture Reallocation
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge has denied dismissal in one of the handful of recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases filed against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not putting forfeited nonvested matching contributions toward administrative expenses.
-
May 29, 2024
No Gender Dysphoria Standards Exist; Ruling Creates Uncertainty, Amici Say
PASADENA, Calif. — Amici curiae warned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that there was no consensus on the proper standard of care for gender dysphoria and that a ruling below holding a third-party administrator who denied coverage liable for violating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s discrimination provision threated to create a “problematic” situation full of uncertainty for self-insured Employee Retirement Income Security Act plans.
-
May 29, 2024
California Federal Judge Orders Individual Arbitration In ERISA Forfeiture Lawsuit
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has compelled individual arbitration in one of the handful of recent cases filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not putting forfeited funds toward administrative expenses.
-
May 28, 2024
$3.5M Settlement In ERISA Imprudence Suit Over TDFs, Another Fund Gets Initial OK
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on May 24 granted preliminary approval of a $3.5 million class settlement to resolve retirement plan participants’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging the use of target-date funds (TDFs) and another investment option.
-
May 28, 2024
DOL’s New Investment Advice Fiduciary Rule Draws 2nd Lawsuit In Federal Court
FORT WORTH, Texas — In a May 24 complaint in Texas federal court, several “associations that represent life insurance companies, insurance agents, brokers, and distributors” seek to have a new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act vacated.
-
May 28, 2024
Judge Certifies Class In ESG Row Focused On Proxy Voting, Shareholder Activism
FORT WORTH, Texas — Rejecting numerous arguments advanced by American Airlines Inc. and a related defendant in a suit over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of investment management firms, a Texas federal judge granted certification of a narrowed class that reflects the decision to drop one theory of liability.
-
May 24, 2024
$3.25M Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Imprudence Case Over Retirement Plans
BALTIMORE — Resolving an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over use of the GoalMaker asset allocation service and other aspects of a Maryland hospital system’s retirement plans, a Maryland federal judge on May 23 granted final approval to a $3.25 million class settlement and awarded a third of that as attorney fees.
-
May 24, 2024
Addressing Jurisdiction, 2nd Circuit Issues Mixed Ruling In ERISA Arbitration Case
NEW YORK — Rejecting an “eleventh-hour jurisdictional attack,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partly upheld confirmation of an arbitration award against a private investment manager — including more than $22 million in prejudgment interest — but vacated the challenged judgment as to disgorgement of profits and payment of certain attorney fees and costs.
-
May 22, 2024
Injunction Sought In Suit Over DOL’s New Rule On Investment Advice Fiduciaries
TYLER, Texas — In a suit challenging a new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, trade organization Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice Inc. (FACC) and the other plaintiffs moved in Texas federal court on May 21 to stay the effective date and obtain a preliminary injunction.
-
May 22, 2024
High Court Urged To Review Withdrawal Liability Ruling, Resolve Assumptions Split
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seeking U.S. Supreme Court review on a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) decision that created a circuit split on “a narrow but very important question,” employers use March Madness to criticize a “wildly impractical” that they say allows retroactive changes to “actuarial assumptions after the measurement date to increase a withdrawing employer’s withdrawal liability.”
-
May 22, 2024
Complete Administrative Record Needed To Review Denial Of LTD Claim, Judge Says
PORTLAND, Ore. — A disability claimant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings must be denied because the claimant submitted only portions of the administrative record, an Oregon federal judge said, noting that the complete administrative record, as reviewed by the plan administrator, is necessary to judicially review the plan administrator’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits decision.
-
May 22, 2024
Retirees Lose 2nd Circuit ERISA Bid For Retroactive Early Pension Benefits
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a summary order upholding two decisions against retirees who sought retroactive early pension benefits in a putative class action, including a decision under which submission of an election form resulted in only forward-looking benefits.
-
May 21, 2024
ERISA Residual Annuities Class Action Is Headed Back To 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — After a New York federal judge entered final judgment for the class on remand in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over residual annuities, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and related defendants filed a notice of appeal.