Mealey's ERISA
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October 11, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Says Disability Claimant Failed To Show She Remains Disabled
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge denied a disability claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record after determining that the claimant failed to meet her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that she remained disabled from working in a sedentary occupation as a result of symptoms related to fibromyalgia.
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October 11, 2024
Disability Claimant Not Entitled To Supplement Claim Record, Magistrate Judge Says
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts federal magistrate judge on Oct. 10 denied a disability claimant’s motion to clarify and complete a claim record after determining that the disability insurer sufficiently attested that the claim record is the complete record.
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October 10, 2024
$2.72M In Fees And Costs Awarded In ERISA Row Involving Withdrawal Liability
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Making slight reductions and reproaching “the defendants’ contumacy and intractability,” a District of Columbia federal court judge awarded attorney fees of $2,533,576.52 and costs of $187,769.17, both subject to postjudgment interest, in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act withdrawal liability case.
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October 10, 2024
Disability Claimant, Insurer Settle Dispute; Judge Enters Order Of Dismissal
BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge dismissed a long-term disability (LTD) benefits suit after the parties reached a settlement and filed a stipulation of dismissal.
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October 10, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms ERISA Pension Ruling Against Plan Participant
NEW YORK — In a nonprecedential summary order, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims relating to pension benefits for a participant who didn’t claim the benefits for several years after reaching retirement age while he kept working.
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October 10, 2024
Disability Claimant Appeals Any Occupation Standard Ruling To 11th Circuit
ATLANTA — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals following a Georgia federal judge’s finding that a disability insurer’s termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits was not wrong because the claimant failed to meet her burden of proving that she is disabled under the plan’s any occupation standard.
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October 09, 2024
Termination Of LTD Benefits Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious, Federal Judge Says
BATON ROUGE, La. — A disability insurer did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in terminating a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer’s decision is supported by substantial medical evidence showing that the claimant was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation, a Louisiana federal judge said in denying the claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.
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October 09, 2024
Disability Claimant Failed To Prove Back Pain, Issues Are Disabling, Judge Says
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability claimant failed to present sufficient evidence to meet her burden of showing that she is disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation as a result of chronic back pain and disc degeneration, a Virginia federal judge said in granting a disability insurer’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.
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October 08, 2024
3rd Circuit Affirms Rulings For Former Exec In ERISA ‘Top Hat’ Benefits Row
PHILADELPHIA — Upholding rulings issued after a bench trial, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a nonprecedential disposition that the rate used to calculate a lump sum distribution was unreasonable under the terms of the “top hat” supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) at issue and that there was no clear error in the finding that the board “acted in bad faith.”
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October 08, 2024
Citing Thomas, 5th Circuit Upholds Denial Of AD&D Benefits In ERISA Case
NEW ORLEANS — In a per curiam unpublished opinion calling the reasoning of Thomas v. AIG Life Ins. Co. “persuasive,” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld denial of accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) benefits on the grounds that the beneficiary didn’t carry her burden.
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October 08, 2024
$500K Attorney Fee Deal Struck, Appeal Over ESG Factor Ruling Dropped
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge has adopted a stipulation in which Missouri state officials agreed to a $500,000 attorney fee award and dismissal with prejudice of their appeal of a ruling that imposed a statewide permanent injunction barring enforcement of parts of two new rules a trade association said would have required “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice.”
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October 07, 2024
Settlement With ‘Landmark’ $10M Recovery Gets Initial OK In Mortality Table Row
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal granted preliminary approval to a class settlement including what retirees said would be a “landmark recovery” of $10 million on Oct. 4; the proposal in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans also includes up to $4.75 million for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
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October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review ERISA Ruling In Life Insurance Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a certiorari petition regarding an Employee Retirement Income Security Act decision that a retiree said concerned information regarding group life insurance rates and the respondent contended didn’t answer the question presented in the petition.
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October 07, 2024
High Court Refuses To Review 5th Circuit’s Ruling In NFL Disability Benefits Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a former National Football League player’s petition for a writ of certiorari in its list of orders issued Oct. 7, refusing to review the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the former NFL player failed to prove that he is entitled to additional disability benefits under the NFL’s benefits plan.
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October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Government’s View On Withdrawal Liability Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court is seeking additional input on a petition for review of a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) withdrawal liability decision that created a circuit split, issuing an Oct. 7 invitation for the U.S. solicitor general to express the government’s views.
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October 07, 2024
High Court Seeks U.S. Input On Whether To Review PBM Law Preemption Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 invited the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on an opposed petition for review of a ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D partially preempt an Oklahoma pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) law.
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October 04, 2024
Panel Affirms No Coverage Owed For Class Actions Alleging Employees Were Underpaid
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 3 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling that an insurance policy’s “wage and hour violation” exclusion barred coverage for two underlying class lawsuits alleging that the insured conducted an unlawful scheme of underpaying some of its employees.
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October 04, 2024
High Court Will Review 2nd Circuit ERISA Prohibited Transaction Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 granted a certiorari petition regarding a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling involving what is necessary to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act prohibited transaction claim for a transaction between a plan fiduciary and a party in interest.
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October 04, 2024
4th Circuit Vacates Multiemployer Fund Contribution Ruling As To Damages
RICHMOND, Va. — A Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 3 upheld a liability ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over multiemployer benefit fund contributions but said while it “largely agree[s]” with the trial court on damages, it is “constrained to vacate that ruling and remand for further proceedings on certain damages-related issues.”
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October 03, 2024
Retirees: $10M Would Be ‘Landmark Recovery’ In Actuarial Equivalence Case
CHICAGO — Saying it would be a “landmark recovery,” retirees who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans on Oct. 2 asked an Illinois federal court for preliminary approval of a $10 million class settlement plus up to $4.75 million for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
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October 03, 2024
Discovery Ruling Issued In Insurance Fraud Suit Seeking Relief Under ERISA, UCL
LOS ANGELES — A California federal magistrate judge substantially granted a motion to compel discovery filed by a cheese manufacturing company in its suit against surgery centers for alleged fraudulent billing for health care plan benefits related to unnecessary or unperformed medical services, restitution under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and violations of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding in part that the defendants’ privacy concerns are outweighed by the need for the discovery information that will be reviewed under a stipulated protection order that will address those concerns.
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October 03, 2024
10th Circuit Addresses ERISA Disclosures In Coverage Dispute Ruling
DENVER — On review of several decisions in a case over residential treatment coverage, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated summary judgment for the insureds on a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity Act) claim for lack of standing and, in “an issue of first impression in this circuit,” ruled that an administrative services agreement (ASA) falls within an Employee Retirement Income Security Act disclosure requirement.
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October 03, 2024
Judge Strikes Renewed Jury Demand In ERISA Suit Over NYU Retirement Plans
NEW YORK — Striking a jury demand asserted in a second amended complaint filed in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over New York University (NYU) retirement plan fees and funds, a New York federal judge ruled in part that the amendments did not revive the plaintiffs’ right to a jury trial.
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October 01, 2024
Summary Judgment Bid Fails In ERISA Class Action Over Mortality Tables
NEW YORK — Denying a summary judgment motion filed by a life insurer and related defendants in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action challenging the use of allegedly outdated mortality tables in calculating qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA) benefits, a New York federal judge said he was reserving expert disputes and other issues for a bench trial.
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October 01, 2024
Adopting Groetzinger, 6th Circuit Partly Reverses Withdrawal Liability Ruling
CINCINNATI — Partly reversing a ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel adopted the test outlined in Commissioner v. Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23 (1987), saying that the trial court applied the wrong test but it made a difference for only the wife of the couple involved, who therefore is not personally liable for withdrawal liability.