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Benefits
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March 06, 2024
Univar Will Appeal $190K Teamsters Pension Suit Loss
Univar Solutions is challenging an Illinois federal court's holding that the company owes over $190,000 to a Teamsters pension fund due to an automatic extension of contract language, saying Wednesday that it is appealing the decision to the Seventh Circuit.
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March 06, 2024
Financial Tech Co. Wants Escape From 401(k) Fee Suit
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. has urged a Missouri federal court to toss a worker's proposed class action alleging the financial technology company saddled its employee 401(k) plan with excessive recordkeeping and administrative service fees, arguing his claims weren't backed up with enough comparisons to better-managed, similar plans.
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March 06, 2024
Insurer Says Mountaineer's Death Not 'Accidental'
Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. asked the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reverse a decision saying it has to pay out an accidental death benefit to the family of a Harvard medical professor who died trying to summit a mountain in Pakistan, arguing that there isn't enough evidence to show that his death was an accident.
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March 06, 2024
Republicans Advance Bicameral Effort To Halt Contractor Rule
Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House introduced legislation Wednesday that aims to pump the brakes on the U.S. Department of Labor's independent contractor rule a few days before it goes into effect.
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March 06, 2024
Epic Tesla Fee Bid May Blaze Extraordinary Chancery Path
An unprecedented $5 billion-plus stock-based fee award sought by class attorneys who recently short-circuited Tesla CEO Elon Musk's 12-step, $51 billion compensation package has set up an equally unprecedented test for Delaware Court of Chancery fee guidelines and a potential award one law expert described as "dynastic wealth."
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March 06, 2024
Divided SEC Adopts Scaled-Back Climate Reporting Regs
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday adopted climate reporting standards that will require some of the nation's largest companies to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, and it was met almost immediately with a lawsuit despite the final rule scrapping a controversial proposal to mandate so-called Scope 3 disclosures.
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March 05, 2024
Amazon Workers Push For Class Status In Military Leave Suit
Current and former Amazon employees urged a Washington federal court to grant them class status in their lawsuit accusing the company of demoting or firing workers who took time off for military leave, saying the 15,000 members of the proposed class have plenty in common.
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March 05, 2024
FTC Chair Decries PE's Healthcare Impacts As Probe Starts
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan on Tuesday lamented what she deemed the "financialization" of healthcare resulting from private equity buyouts, in remarks coinciding with the launch of a multijurisdictional request for public comment on PE and other companies' growing control over the healthcare system.
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March 05, 2024
Express Scripts Gets Pharmacy's Contract Breach Suit Cut
A Missouri federal judge tossed out two claims in a five-count suit accusing Express Scripts of conducting a faulty audit on a New York pharmacy and then wrongfully terminating their contract, saying the pharmacy can't sue under two laws it cited.
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March 05, 2024
KPMG Workers' $650K ERISA Fee Suit Deal Gets Initial OK
KPMG and 44,000 of its workers have agreed to a $650,000 settlement in a class action alleging that the Big Four accounting firm weighed down the employees' $6 billion retirement fund with excessive fees and costly investments, according to court documents.
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March 05, 2024
4th Circ. Won't Let SC Medicaid Drop Planned Parenthood
The Fourth Circuit rejected on Tuesday South Carolina's attempt to terminate its Medicaid provider agreement with Planned Parenthood, unpersuaded by the state's argument that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision compelled a different outcome.
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March 05, 2024
Meta Tells Chancery It Didn't 'Utterly Fail' To Stop Exploitation
Shareholders accusing Meta's leaders of "utterly failing" to eliminate pedophilia, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms didn't ask enough about the company's efforts and haven't shown any "corporate trauma," an attorney for Meta's board told Delaware's Court of Chancery on Tuesday.
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March 05, 2024
Splunk Investors Get Final OK For $30M Deal, $7.5M Atty Fees
A California federal judge has granted final approval to a $30 million settlement, including $7.5 million in fees for class counsel, to resolve a securities class action accusing software company Splunk of lying about strategies it used to meet cash flow goals.
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March 05, 2024
Aetna Accused Of 'Reprehensible' ER Services Underpayment
Multiple Aetna health insurance entities were hit with a lawsuit in Ohio accusing them of "reprehensible systemic underpayments" to healthcare workers who provide emergency services, underpayments that the complaint said were damaging to the medical system.
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March 04, 2024
Puerto Rico Fiscal Board Argues For Utility Reorg Plan
Puerto Rico's fiscal oversight board told a federal judge on Monday that it had the only plan to save the island's troubled electric utility, while bondholders claimed the board had created the plan specifically to shortchange them.
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March 04, 2024
5th Circ. May Uphold National Block On ACA Preventive Care
The Fifth Circuit appeared open Monday to striking down Affordable Care Act requirements forcing insurers to cover a range of preventive treatments such as mammograms and HIV prevention medication, homing in on constitutional problems with how members of a task force setting coverage mandates were appointed.
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March 04, 2024
Teamsters Request Discovery Stay In $137M Fight With Yellow
A Kansas federal judge should decide whether Yellow Corp.'s $137 million lawsuit against the Teamsters can survive the union's dismissal bid before making the union produce more documents, the Teamsters said, looking to pause the discovery process in litigation accusing the union of holding up a corporate restructuring.
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March 04, 2024
Vax Refusal Doesn't Negate Benefits, Mass. Top Court Says
Massachusetts' highest court ruled Monday that an employee's refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons can be grounds for dismissal, but not for stripping them of unemployment benefits.
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March 04, 2024
Musk Fired Twitter Execs To Avoid $200M Bill, Suit Says
Elon Musk fired four top Twitter executives just minutes after he closed on his deal to buy the company, now called X Corp., to avoid paying them $200 million in severance benefits, they told a California federal court Monday.
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March 04, 2024
Carvana, Execs Beat 'Puzzle Pleading' Investor Suit, For Now
An Arizona federal judge dismissed for now a consolidated investor class action alleging Carvana's promised "limitless growth machine" business model was a lemon that artificially inflated its share prices long enough for its executives to sell $3.9 billion of their own stock, saying the investors need to rework their "puzzle pleading."
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March 04, 2024
Christian Group Nabs Injunction In EEOC Trans Care Suit
A North Dakota federal judge said Monday a Christian business group's members no longer have to provide coverage for gender transition care because it violates their religious beliefs, granting the group a key win in its suit challenging the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's take on federal anti-discrimination law.
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March 04, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
A Swedish music producer's takeover, a proposed award payable in Tesla shares, Truth Social stock squabbles, and an unusually blunt slap-down from the bench added up to an especially colorful week in Delaware's famous court of equity. On top of that came new cases about alleged power struggles, board entrenchment, consumer schemes and merger disputes.
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March 04, 2024
Sodexo Nicotine Surcharge Suit Gets Backing From DOL
The U.S. Department of Labor backed a proposed class action accusing food provider Sodexo of unlawfully charging employees who use nicotine $1,200 more per year for health insurance, telling the Ninth Circuit that the arbitration agreement the company wants to use to sink the case conflicts with federal benefits law.
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March 04, 2024
L3Harris Agrees To Pay $650K To Wrap 401(k) Class Action
Defense contractor L3Harris will pay $650,000 to end a class action accusing it of running afoul of federal benefits law by saddling retirement plan participants with high fees and expensive investment options, according to a Florida federal court filing.
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March 01, 2024
McDermott Investors' Cert. Bid Should Be Denied, Judge Says
Investors in energy industry engineering company McDermott International Inc. shouldn't be granted class certification in their suit over the company's $6 billion all-stock acquisition of Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., a federal magistrate judge has determined.
Expert Analysis
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3 Abortion Enforcement Takeaways 1 Year After Dobbs
A year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, confusion continues to abound amid the quagmire of state-level enforcement risks, federal efforts to protect reproductive health care, and fights over geolocation data, say Elena Quattrone and Sarah Hall at Epstein Becker.
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Rethinking In-Office Attendance For Associate Retention
The hybrid office attendance model doesn't work for all employees, but it does for many — and balancing these two groups is important for associate retention and maintaining a BigLaw firm culture that supports all attorneys, says Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.
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Weighing The Risks Of AI For Employee Benefits Admin
Although artificial intelligence has the potential to transform employers' administration of benefits, with these opportunities come great risks related to Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duties and preemption considerations, making the evolving state law landscape even more critical, say attorneys at Michael Best.
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Murdaugh Trials Offer Law Firms Fraud Prevention Reminders
As the fraud case against Alex Murdaugh continues to play out, the evidence and narrative presented at his murder trial earlier this year may provide lessons for law firms on implementing robust internal controls that can detect and prevent similar kinds of fraud, say Travis Casner and Helga Zauner at Weaver and Tidwell.
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What Courts Say About Workers' Comp And Medical Marijuana
Whether employers and insurance carriers are required or allowed to reimburse employees for out-of-pocket costs for treating work-related injuries with medical marijuana has spawned a debate, and the state courts that have addressed this matter are split on a number of issues, say Alexandra Hassell and Anthony Califano at Seyfarth.
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What's Next For 5th Circ.'s ACA Preventive Care Suit
The Fifth Circuit's high-profile Braidwood v. Becerra case has significant ramifications for Affordable Care Act coverage requirements, and there is precedent to suggest that it could be ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, says Nicholas DiCarlo at Zuckerman Spaeder.
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Firm Tips For Helping New Lawyers Succeed Post-Pandemic
Ten steps can help firms significantly enhance the experience of attorneys who started their careers in the coronavirus pandemic era, including facilitating opportunities for cross-firm connection, which can ultimately help build momentum for business development, says Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners.
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Opinion
6th Circ. Judge Correctly ID'd ERISA Civil Procedure Conflict
While the Sixth Circuit in Tranbarger v. Lincoln Life & Annuity recently affirmed a ruling that denied the plaintiff's disability benefits, one judge's concurrence should be commended for arguing that adjudication of such Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases fundamentally contradicts the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Key Takeaways From Del. Chancery's Oracle Toss
The Delaware Chancery Court's recent finding that Oracle founder Larry Ellison didn't try to influence the company to overpay for its NetSuite acquisition offers important lessons on the determination of issues of control, including the importance of establishing an independent special committee, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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How REITs Can Prep For SEC's Repurchase Disclosure Rules
With real estate investment trusts' share repurchase activity on the rise, REITs should beware the potential enforcement risks that may arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rules requiring additional disclosures regarding such repurchases, says Zach Swartz at Vinson & Elkins.
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Tackling Judge-Shopping Concerns While Honoring Localism
As the debate continues over judge-shopping and case assignments in federal court, policymakers should look to a hybrid model that preserves the benefits of localism for those cases that warrant it, while preventing the appearance of judge-shopping for cases of a more national or widespread character, says Joshua Sohn at the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Peeling Back The Layers Of Rep. George Santos' Indictment
Federal prosecutors' recent 13-count criminal indictment of Rep. George Santos reflects a focused, even simplified approach, showing the kind of careful scrutiny that charges against sitting members of Congress always merit, and leaving open questions about potential charges other enforcers could bring, say Rob Walker and Caleb Burns at Wiley.
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Perspectives
How Attorneys Can Help Combat Anti-Asian Hate
Amid an exponential increase in violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, unique obstacles stand in the way of accountability and justice — but lawyers can effect powerful change by raising awareness, offering legal representation, advocating for victims’ rights and more, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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Opinion
Congress Needs To Enact A Federal Anti-SLAPP Statute
Although many states have passed statutes meant to prevent individuals or entities from filing strategic lawsuits against public participation, other states have not, so it's time for Congress to enact a federal statute to ensure that free speech and petitioning rights are uniformly protected nationwide in federal court, say attorneys at Skadden.
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ERISA Ruling Shows Why Insurers Must Justify Claim Denials
The Tenth Circuit's recent decision in D.K. v. United Behavioral Health imposed a long-overdue measure of accountability on health insurers by holding that Employee Retirement Income Security Act compliance requires responding to the medical opinions of the beneficiary's treating doctors before denying claims, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.