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Benefits
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February 14, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs Goldman's Victory In 401(k) Self-Dealing Suit
The Second Circuit upheld Goldman Sachs' win in a class action from 29,000 employee 401(k) plan participants who said the banking giant violated federal benefits law by including underperforming proprietary investment funds in their investment roster, citing evidence Wednesday of a "robust process" to manage potential conflicts.
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February 14, 2024
Honeywell Misused Forfeited 401(k) Contributions, Suit Says
Honeywell International has been unlawfully using ex-employees' forfeited 401(k) funds to offset its retirement plan contributions rather than covering plan expenses, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.
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February 13, 2024
Fed. Circ. Kicks Back Veterans' Combat Compensation Win
The Federal Circuit has reversed a lower court's ruling granting a class of veterans represented by a late-filing former U.S. Marine retroactive special compensation, finding that his compensation is limited by a six-year statute of limitations.
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February 13, 2024
SAS Ex-Cabin Crew Defends Bid For Pension Pay In Ch. 11
More than 40 pensioners of bankrupt Scandinavian airline SAS have told a New York bankruptcy court that their claims should not be thrown out, saying SAS cannot brush off its obligations by pointing the finger at the pension fund when the fund acts as its proxy.
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February 13, 2024
Biden Admin Drops Appeal Over Trump 'Conscience Rule'
The Biden administration will not pursue a Ninth Circuit appeal of two lower court decisions that struck down Trump-era regulations addressing the conscientious objection rights of healthcare providers, citing new rules that moot the case.
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February 13, 2024
Wells Fargo Can't Beat Inflated Stock Option Suit
A Minnesota federal judge on Tuesday rejected Wells Fargo & Co.'s request to toss a proposed class action claiming the banking giant used its $40 billion employee retirement plan to buy company stock options at an inflated value to shoulder the company's 401(k) matching burden.
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February 13, 2024
Hess Loaded 401(k) Plan With Costly Investments, Suit Says
Energy company Hess Corp. allowed its $903 million employee retirement plan to be filled with expensive and poorly performing investment options, costing workers millions of dollars in retirement savings, according to a proposed class action filed in Texas federal court.
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February 13, 2024
Colo.'s Bid To Keep Sick Leave Law Can't Fly, Airline Org Says
The State of Colorado can't land arguments that its sick leave law should stay in place because it relied on "obsolete" precedent while overlooking other rulings axing similar laws, an airline trade group told a Colorado federal court.
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February 13, 2024
Restaurants Trying To Derail Chicken Deals, 7th Circ. Told
Direct broiler chicken purchasers who've inked nearly $285 million in price-fixing settlements blasted Boston Market and other restaurants' attempts to stop an $8 million deal from Simmons Foods, telling the Seventh Circuit the companies are trying to illegally unwind a strategic mistake.
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February 13, 2024
Biden Administration Beats Big Pharma Texas Medicare Suit
A Texas federal judge said he could not entertain Big Pharma's challenge to the Biden administration's prescription drug pricing program since the only Texas-based trade group fighting the lawsuit failed to first bring its constitutional complaint to U.S. healthcare authorities.
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February 13, 2024
Insurance Co. Stock Fight Belongs In Del., NC Judge Rules
A former partner in an insurance brokerage who alleges the company gave him a lowball offer to buy back his shares after he was fired should have brought his complaint in Delaware, a North Carolina Business Court judge has ruled in granting the brokerage's motion to dismiss.
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February 13, 2024
Convicted NC Doctor Can't Get Recordings From Prosecutors
A North Carolina federal judge on Tuesday rejected a doctor's attempt to force prosecutors to turn over recorded phone calls with a telemedicine provider, finding that the requested materials weren't relevant and that she was trying to "manufacture" a way to have her fraud conviction overturned.
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February 13, 2024
ConocoPhillips Wins Transfer Of Retirees' 401(k) Suit To Texas
An Oklahoma federal judge transferred to Texas a proposed class action from ConocoPhillips retirees alleging they lost more than $260 million when the company sunk their investment savings into the stock of a company ConocoPhillips spun off in 2012, given a forum selection clause in the 401(k) plan documents.
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February 13, 2024
Cigna Patients Can't Get Class Cert. In Underpayment Suit
A California federal judge refused to grant class status to Cigna insurance plan participants who accused it of violating federal anti-corruption and benefits laws by colluding with its billing contractor to underpay their out-of-network claims for substance use disorder treatments.
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February 13, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
A pizza chain, an energy company, a medical-device maker and a Manila casino were all hit with book-and-record demands last week in Delaware's Court of Chancery. A shoe company also walked away from a shareholder suit, two cryptocurrency companies tallied the costs of a broken merger, and three cigarette giants argued over Florida settlement payments.
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February 13, 2024
Ex-Wilson Elser Atty Can't Get Benefits For Chronic Fatigue
A former Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP partner is not entitled to long-term disability benefits, as he did not prove that his chronic fatigue syndrome kept him from doing his job, a Nevada federal judge has ruled.
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February 13, 2024
Ex-Twitter Workers Say Severance Plan Existed In $500M Suit
The company formerly known as Twitter had a severance plan, workers laid off in the wake of ex-CEO Elon Musk's takeover told a California federal judge, fighting Musk and X's argument that the $500 million lawsuit should be tossed because no such plan existed.
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February 13, 2024
DOL's Benefits Arm Reports $1.4B In Recoveries In 2023
The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration announced Tuesday that it recovered more than $1.4 billion in payments to plans, beneficiaries and participants in fiscal year 2023, an amount that is essentially level with the agency's total recoveries from the previous year.
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February 12, 2024
State Street Inks $4.3M Deal To Resolve ERISA Claims
State Street Corp. has agreed to pay $4.3 million to resolve proposed class claims that the bank managed its 401(k) plan for its own benefit rather than for workers in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, plan participants told a Massachusetts federal court on Monday.
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February 12, 2024
Ex-Paralegal Asks Del. Justices To Undo Jobless Pay Ruling
A former Morris James LLP paralegal on Monday urged Delaware's highest court to let him collect a year's worth of unemployment benefits, arguing a lower court erred in finding that a payment he received when leaving the firm was severance pay rather than compensation for a whistleblower claim.
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February 12, 2024
Man Who Laundered $30M Gets 18 Years After Fiery Hearing
An Atlanta man was sentenced to 18 years in prison Monday for his role in a $30 million money-laundering scheme following a heated two-day hearing in which he became so argumentative that the overseeing judge reminded him he'd been a lawyer longer than the man had been alive.
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February 12, 2024
Judge Orders Arbitration In Fla. Doctor's New Contract Claim
A doctor who says he faced retaliation from companies he had contracted with after objecting to violations of the False Claims Act must take his newest allegations to arbitration, a Florida federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting the physician's argument that one of the defendants had waived its arbitration rights.
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February 12, 2024
US Chamber Asks 2nd Circ. To Back Deloitte's ERISA Win
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the Second Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a proposed class action alleging excessive recordkeeping fees in a Deloitte retirement plan, arguing that if the barebones allegations are allowed to stand it could negatively impact many businesses.
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February 12, 2024
Cigna Patients Say Underpayment Claims Ripe For Class Cert.
Cigna insurance plan participants urged a California federal court to greenlight an 8,000-member class in their lawsuit accusing the company of colluding with its billing contractor to underpay their out-of-network claims for substance use disorder treatments, saying they were all harmed by the same methodology.
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February 12, 2024
Railroad Asks 8th Circ. To Undo Fired Worker's Back Pay Win
Kansas City Southern Railway Co. is fighting a court order requiring it to fully reimburse a wrongfully fired employee for five years of lost pay and benefits, telling the Eighth Circuit on Monday that its question about whether the payout should account for lost vacation time belongs before an arbitrator.
Expert Analysis
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Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.
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Opinion
Courts Should Follow 8th Circ. On ERISA Procedure Rules
Other courts should take note of the Eighth Circuit's refusal to view Yates v. Symetra Life Insurance as an administrative law claim and join the growing effort to restore regular civil procedure to Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Opinion
SAFE Banking Should Include Cannabis Co. Retirement Plans
Though states are increasingly requiring companies to offer employee retirement plans, state-regulated cannabis businesses will not be able to comply unless the proposed federal SAFE Banking Act is expanded to allow them legal access to the nondepository financial institutions that administer these benefits, say Jeremy Koepf and William McNichol at Rutgers Law.
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Steps Lawyers Can Take Following Involuntary Terminations
Though lawyers can struggle to recover from involuntary terminations, it's critical that they be able to step back, review any feedback given and look for opportunities for growth, say Jessica Hernandez at JLH Coaching & Consulting and Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub.
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High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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3 Job Satisfaction Questions For Partners Considering Moves
The post-pandemic rise in legal turnover may cause partners to ask themselves what they really want from their workplace, how they plan to grow their practice and when it's time to make a move, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.
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4 Exercises To Quickly Build Trust On Legal Teams
High-performance legal teams can intentionally build trust through a rigorous approach, including open-ended conversations and personality assessments, to help attorneys bond fast, even if they are new to the firm or group, says Ben Sachs at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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How Partial Invalidation Of ERISA Guidance Affects Advisers
A Florida federal court's recent invalidation of the U.S. Department of Labor's policy on rollovers from Employee Retirement Income Security Act plans to individual retirement accounts significantly narrows the agency's attempt to regulate this area, but there are still situations where an adviser may need to rely on the partially vacated guidance, say Robert Daily and Sterling Perkinson at Kilpatrick.
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8 Steps To Improve The Perception Of In-House Legal Counsel
With the pandemic paving the way for a reputational shift in favor of in-house corporate legal teams, there are proactive steps that legal departments can take to fully rebrand themselves as strong allies and generators of value, says Allison Rosner at Major Lindsey.
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Procedure Rule 7.1 Can Simplify Litigators' Diversity Analysis
A recent amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 will help trial courts determine whether the parties to a case are diverse, and may also allow litigators to more quickly determine whether they can remove certain cases to federal court, says Steve Shapiro at Schnader Harrison.
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Reviewing Exec Separation Filings After McDonald's SEC Deal
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged McDonald's and its former CEO Stephen Easterbrook with disclosure violations related to his separation from the company in 2019, offering a cautionary tale for public issuers making disclosures regarding internal investigations and executive separations, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Atty Conflict Discussions In Idaho Murder Case And Beyond
A public defender's representation of the accused University of Idaho murderer after prior representation of a victim's parent doesn't constitute a violation of conflict of interest rules, but the case prompts ethical questions about navigating client conflicts in small-town criminal defense and big-city corporate law alike, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Charles Loeser at HWG.
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Why The Original 'Rocket Docket' Will Likely Resume Its Pace
Though the Eastern District of Virginia, for decades the fastest federal trial court in the country, experienced significant pandemic-related slowdowns, several factors unique to the district suggest that it will soon return to its speedy pace, say Dabney Carr and Robert Angle at Troutman Pepper.
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What To Expect This Proxy Season With New Exec Pay Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's newly mandated measures over performance-based pay disclosures will give shareholders and their advocates new data to better align executive compensation with long-term performance goals, including for environmental, social and governance priorities, say Michael Dark and Nicole Lavallee at Berman Tabacco.
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The Discipline George Santos Would Face If He Were A Lawyer
Rep. George Santos, who has become a national punchline for his alleged lies, hasn't faced many consequences yet, but if he were a lawyer, even his nonwork behavior would be regulated by the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and violations in the past have led to sanctions and even disbarment, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.