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Mealey's ERISA

  • August 30, 2024

    ERISA Class Action Over BlackRock Index TDFs Survives Summary Judgment

    RICHMOND, Va. — Two weeks after certifying a class in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs), a Virginia federal judge on Aug. 29 issued separate rulings denying the defendants’ summary judgment motion and denying the plaintiffs’ motion to exclude experts Lorie L. Latham and Russell R. Wermers.

  • August 30, 2024

    Oral Argument Including DOL Set In 9th Circuit ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — With oral argument set for Sept. 12 in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving the effective vindication doctrine, a health plan participant who filed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over a tobacco surcharge has filed a notice of supplemental authorities including a recent Sixth Circuit ruling.

  • August 30, 2024

    After 16-Day Bench Trial, Judge Finds ESOP Price Too High, Rules Against Sellers

    PHOENIX — Ruling that leaders of a recreational vehicle company breached their duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in a $105 million employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal, an Arizona federal judge said the 16-day bench trial showed that the fair market value of the equity “was less than half” of what the ESOP paid.

  • August 29, 2024

    6th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Misclassification Suit Involving ERISA Benefits

    CINCINNATI — Reversing dismissal of a putative class action in which insurance agents assert Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims over alleged misclassification and denial of benefits, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the lower court erred by relying on documents regarding which “there are legitimate questions” of whether they “are a full set of the relevant, governing plan documents.”

  • August 29, 2024

    Dialysis Provider Apprises Court Of Potential AI Discovery Concerns

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — A dialysis center says a health plan may be employing artificial intelligence in discovery without consultation or permission, telling the federal judge in Ohio overseeing its Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) case in a joint status report that the plan’s production of hundreds of thousands of documents is moving along at a “glacial” pace without any apparent intent to meet obligations in a stipulation.  In their portion of the report, the health plan defendants say they disclosed their intent to use a “computer-assisted platform,” that even evidence identified by such tools requires validation and that perceived problems with production ignore those difficulties and the likelihood that deadlines will be met.

  • August 28, 2024

    8th Circuit Vacates Summary Judgment In Suit Involving Subrogation Lien

    ST. LOUIS — Ruling that there is no federal jurisdiction because “the plaintiffs could not have sued under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated judgment in a suit involving a health plan’s subrogation lien.

  • August 28, 2024

    Judge Denies Attorney Fees In First Impression Withdrawal Liability Case

    HAMMOND, Ind. — On remand following reversal of a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) ruling in a withdrawal liability dispute, an Indiana federal judge entered final judgment totaling $4,026,324.18 plus post-judgment interest for an employer but denied its opposed request for $217,249 in attorney fees.

  • August 28, 2024

    6th Circuit Doesn’t Decide Preemption Question In Slayer Statute Ruling

    CINCINNATI — Ruling around the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “preemption issue left open in” Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed summary judgment on the grounds that a man convicted of murdering his parents could not recover the proceeds of his mother’s insurance policies under either Tennessee or federal law.

  • August 27, 2024

    1st Circuit Affirms Attorney Fees, Summary Judgment For Multiemployer Plan

    BOSTON — Upholding judgment of more than $1.6 million against a Puerto Rican labor union affiliate “for substantially the same reasons” as the lower court, a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in an unpublished opinion rejected various arguments regarding liabilities following a merger and attorney fees.

  • August 26, 2024

    Bench Trial Yields Ruling For Defendants In ERISA Fees, Funds Challenge

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Noting in part that that she afforded “little to no weight” to the testimony of two of the class’s experts, a California federal judge ruled for the defendants on all claims after a bench trial, in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over 401(k) fees and funds.

  • August 23, 2024

    Excessive-Fee Claim Survives Dismissal In Multiemployer Health Plan ERISA Case

    CHICAGO — Denying dismissal of an excessive-fee claim in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case concerning a national multiemployer health plan, an Illinois federal judge said the lack of “direct guidance” regarding the pleading standard for such a claim means that “the court must reason by analogy” to retirement plan cases.

  • August 23, 2024

    Dismissal Bid Fails In ERISA Suit Against Health Plans’ TPA Over Tax Handling

    MINNEAPOLIS — Saying, “Many issues in this case present close calls,” a Minnesota federal judge on Aug. 22 denied dismissal of a suit over U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) allegations that a third-party administrator (TPA) collected at least $66.8 million from self-funded health benefit plans without authorization between 2016 and 2020 for a Minnesota provider tax.

  • August 22, 2024

    3rd Circuit Affirms Judgment For Insurer, Care Home In Medicare, Civil Rights Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed judgment for an insurer and a skilled nursing facility (SNF) in an estate representative’s suit stemming from the Medicare Advantage plan’s failure to cover continued skilled nursing care and the facility’s failure to document a wound that led to the amputation of the patient’s leg, agreeing with the lower court that the representative failed to exhaust all administrative remedies under Medicare and failed to show that the woman’s wound changed during her stay at the facility.

  • August 21, 2024

    6th Circuit Becomes Latest To Apply Effective Vindication Doctrine In An ERISA Case

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 20 became the fifth circuit court to rule an arbitration provision unenforceable on the grounds that it barred “effective vindication” of statutory Employee Retirement Income Security Act rights, reaching the result acting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Julie A. Su urged in an amicus brief.

  • August 21, 2024

    High Risk Of Developing Complications From COVID-19 Rendered Doctor Disabled

    SAN FRANCISCO — A disability insurer’s denial of a pediatrician’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was de novo wrong because the pediatrician’s high risk of exposure to COVID-19 and high risk of developing complications from the virus based on her underlying medical issues rendered her disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation, a California federal judge said in granting the pediatrician’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.

  • August 21, 2024

    8th Circuit Affirms Ruling For Multiemployer Funds In Miller Act Dispute

    ST. LOUIS — In an Aug. 20 opinion affirming judgment for multiemployer employee funds, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in part that the terms of a subcontractor’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) obligate a contractor to pay attorney fees and liquidated damages awarded in the Miller Act dispute.

  • August 20, 2024

    After Bench Trial, 9th Circuit Partly Revives Pension Benefits Class Action

    PASADENA, Calif. — Exercising its discretion to reach several issues in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension benefits class action, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued an Aug. 19 unpublished memorandum disposition reversing a partial grant of summary judgment and partly reversing judgment issued after a bench trial.

  • August 20, 2024

    Judge Certifies Class In Imprudence Case Over BlackRock Index TDFs

    RICHMOND, Va. — Certification of a modified class has been granted in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs), with a Virginia federal judge saying, “That a small portion of unnamed class members who invested in the BlackRock TDFs did not suffer losses in their individual accounts due to the timing of their investments or for other reasons does not create intra-class conflicts.”

  • August 16, 2024

    6th Circuit Issues Partial Reversal In Multiemployer Fund Contribution Row

    CINCINNATI — Citing a prior ruling that involved conflicting contracts and saying a genuine issue of material fact remains, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 15 partly reversed and remanded summary judgment for multiemployer funds in a fringe benefit contribution dispute.

  • August 15, 2024

    Judge Rules Missouri’s ESG Factor Rules Preempted, Grants Permanent Injunction

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Ruling against state officials on all claims, a Missouri federal judge on Aug. 14 granted summary judgment for a trade association and entered a statewide permanent injunction barring enforcement of two new Missouri rules the association said require “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice.”

  • August 15, 2024

    Plaintiff Prevails In 3rd Dismissal Ruling In ERISA Forfeiture Cases

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Plaintiffs have now prevailed in two of the three rulings on dismissal motions in recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases filed against retirement plan sponsors for allegedly not using forfeited nonvested matching contributions to pay administrative expenses, with the California federal judge that issued the third ruling differentiating the claims from those in a similar case that was dismissed with leave to amend.

  • August 14, 2024

    2nd Circuit Revives Part Of ERISA Disclosure Suit Involving Converted Plan

    NEW YORK — In an Aug. 13 ruling partly reversing dismissal of a putative class action over annual benefit statements provided after a traditional defined benefit retirement plan was converted to a cash balance plan, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires the statements to “unambiguously indicate a plan participant’s ‘total benefits accrued.’”

  • August 13, 2024

    3rd Circuit Appeal Filed Over Summary Judgment Against Class In ERISA Row

    PHILADELPHIA — Retirement plan participants have filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging summary judgment for Evonik Corp. and related entities in their Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action.

  • August 12, 2024

    3rd Circuit Won’t Rehear ERISA Case Over Belated Withdrawal Liability Bill

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied rehearing of a case where a panel affirmed vacation of an arbitration award in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over withdrawal liability because a statutory requirement of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) was not met.

  • August 12, 2024

    Putative Class Action Focuses On TIAA Tool That Allegedly Favored Proprietary Annuities

    NEW YORK — Alleging “an ongoing unlawful scheme to enhance corporate profits” based on a tool that they claim favored two proprietary annuities, plaintiffs who participate in university retirement plans filed a putative class action against Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) and Morningstar Inc. and related entities.