Benefits

  • March 29, 2024

    Hogan Lovells Vet's High Court Debut A Study In Contrasts

    Several weeks ago, when a Hogan Lovells lawyer finally delivered U.S. Supreme Court arguments after 20 years at the firm, she parsed arcane arbitration issues and her words weren't widely heard outside the courtroom. But weeks later and back at the high court podium, her words were heard nationwide when she pointedly spotlighted a judge's use of "anonymous blog posts" in a bombshell abortion ruling.

  • March 29, 2024

    BP Hid Negative Effects Of Pension Changes, Judge Says

    A Texas federal judge sided with a class of over 7,000 BP retirees who alleged that the oil giant meddled with their pension plans and underpaid their retirement benefits, finding that BP touted the changes to the plan as positive while unlawfully hiding more detrimental information.

  • March 29, 2024

    Home Depot Asks High Court To Block $2.67B BCBS Deal

    Home Depot has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its challenge of a $2.67 billion settlement in antitrust litigation targeting Blue Cross Blue Shield, saying the deal immunizes activity that hurts competition.

  • March 29, 2024

    Retirement Advisers Back Biden Admin's ESG Rule In 5th Circ.

    Supporters of a Biden administration rule allowing retirement advisers to consider environmental, social and governance issues when making decisions for clients rose to defend the policy in the Fifth Circuit, arguing the move aligns with fiduciary duties to minimize risks and maximize returns for clients.

  • March 29, 2024

    Sweeping Class Certified In Nationwide Pension Plan Suit

    More than 50,000 participants in a Nationwide pension plan can proceed as a class with claims that the company unlawfully transferred assets from the plan to a company subsidiary, as an Ohio federal judge ruled that questions about Nationwide's conduct outweigh differences among participants.

  • March 29, 2024

    5 Appellate Arguments Benefits Attys Should Watch In April

    A defense contractor will square off with the government over pension obligations, workers at an auto parts retailer and Georgetown University staffers will look to revive suits claiming their retirement savings were mismanaged, and a ban on gender-affirming care for minors will get an en banc review. Here are five argument sessions that should be on benefits attorneys' radar in April.

  • March 29, 2024

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service issued its weekly bulletin Friday, which included proposed regulations for claiming a tax credit for the production of qualified clean hydrogen.

  • March 28, 2024

    Fruit Grower Cleared To Leave Ch. 11 With $43M Exit Loan

    California stone fruit producer Prima Wawona is set to wind down its packing and distribution division, hand ownership of the reorganized company to creditors and leave bankruptcy after a Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed to approve its Chapter 11 plan Thursday.

  • March 28, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Let Cigna Patients Appeal Class Cert. Denial

    The Ninth Circuit won't let a group of Cigna plan participants immediately appeal a trial court's rejection of class status in their lawsuit accusing the insurance giant of unlawfully colluding with its billing contractor to underpay out-of-network claims for mental health treatments.

  • March 28, 2024

    Radiology Co. To Pay $19M To End ESOP Self-Dealing Suit

    A radiology company and its employee stock ownership plan trustee will pay $19 million to settle a proposed class action alleging that executives used shell companies to suck value out of the company and shorted workers when the business was sold for $215 million.

  • March 28, 2024

    Whataburger Accused Of Keeping Shoddy Funds In 401(k)

    Whataburger breached federal benefits law by stocking its employees' $215 million retirement plan with poorly performing funds and failing to replace them with better options, according to a proposed class action filed in Texas federal court.

  • March 28, 2024

    Ex-Paralegal's Jobless Pay Ruling Correct, Del. Justices Told

    Delaware opposes a former Morris James LLP paralegal's bid for the state's Supreme Court to revive his attempt to collect a year's worth of unemployment benefits, arguing a lower court correctly upheld denial of pay after he settled whistleblower claims against the firm.

  • March 28, 2024

    Feds Finalize Restraints On Short-Term Health Insurance

    President Joe Biden's administration finalized regulations Thursday that shrink the window for short-term, limited-duration health insurance from three years to no more than four months, but it backed off more sweeping changes from its July proposal that would have affected fixed indemnity insurance.

  • March 27, 2024

    Veterans Court Must Revisit Claim After Rejecting Evidence

    A veterans court must reconsider a request to backdate benefits for a veteran who survived a deadly plane crash while serving, after improperly rejecting evidence offered decades later potentially linking the experience to his PTSD, the Federal Circuit said Wednesday.

  • March 27, 2024

    Hospital Co. Can't Quash ERISA Suit Subpoenas, Judge Says

    A Buffalo, New York-area hospital network lost its bid to quash two subpoenas in a proposed Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action Wednesday, with a New York federal judge ruling that the network challenged the subpoenas to two of its advisers in the wrong court.

  • March 27, 2024

    ​​​​​​​CSX Can't End DOL's Improper Retirement Plan Fee Suit

    A Florida federal judge backed a magistrate judge's recommendation Wednesday that the court knock down CSX Transportation Inc.'s bid to dismiss a suit alleging it mismanaged its retirement plan fees, discarding the company's concerns that the report made improper legal conclusions.

  • March 27, 2024

    Yellow Corp. Pension Fund Liability To Be Decided In Ch. 11

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday denied the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s bid to take a dispute with Yellow Corp. over $7.8 billion in retirement fund withdrawal liability claims to arbitration, finding the dispute would be best resolved through the trucking firm's Chapter 11 claims allowance process.

  • March 27, 2024

    COVID Prompted Equity Plan Edit, Raytheon Tells Chancery

    Raytheon Technologies Corp. amended employee compensation plans in early 2020 to mitigate "head-spinning unprecedented volatility" from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a shareholder's allegations that directors acted in bad faith by failing to seek stockholder approval should be dismissed, the aerospace company told Delaware's Court of Chancery on Wednesday.

  • March 27, 2024

    House Subpoenas PBGC Over $127M Teamsters Overpayment

    A House committee subpoenaed the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. as part of its probe into a $127 million overpayment to Teamsters pensioners who had already died, distributed as part of a multibillion-dollar bailout of multiemployer funds Congress approved during the pandemic.

  • March 27, 2024

    BCBS Can't Escape Therapy Coverage Suit

    A North Carolina federal judge refused to throw out a proposed class action accusing Blue Cross Blue Shield of unlawfully refusing to cover proton beam therapy to treat prostate cancer, saying the case could remain in court if a state worker health plan is added as a defendant.

  • March 26, 2024

    Judge To Let McDermott Investors Seek 2-Subclass Cert.

    A Texas federal judge has declined to certify a proposed class of investors in energy industry engineering company McDermott International Inc., siding with a magistrate judge who recommended dismissing the class certification bid so the investors could refile and seek certification for two investor subclasses.

  • March 26, 2024

    Alcoa Retirees Score Partial Win In Life Insurance Fight

    Alcoa USA Corp. violated its collectively bargained obligations when it unilaterally cut off company-provided life insurance benefits, but was within its rights to pay retirees to waive their claims to benefits, an Indiana federal judge ruled.

  • March 26, 2024

    Turf Co. Secures Dismissal Of Funds' Contributions Row

    Benefits funds affiliated with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades can't move ahead with their claims that a turf installer didn't pay contributions, a California federal judge ruled, saying the funds didn't include the calculation for payment in their allegations.

  • March 26, 2024

    Ill. Judge Needs More Info To OK $57M Chicken Antitrust Fee

    An Illinois federal judge overseeing a sprawling antitrust litigation against broiler chicken producers said he couldn't rule on class counsel's renewed bid for a $57 million attorney fee award thrown out by the Seventh Circuit last year without more information on one of the firm's graduated fee arrangements in a similar 2015 antitrust case, which wasn't disclosed in the first go-around.

  • March 26, 2024

    Teamsters Duck Yellow's $137M Suit Over Restructuring Talks

    The Teamsters have defeated Yellow Corp.'s $137 million lawsuit accusing them of pushing the trucking company into bankruptcy through intransigence in negotiations over a corporate restructuring, with a Kansas federal judge finding the company didn't exhaust the grievance process under a union contract before suing.

Expert Analysis

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • AI Use May Trigger False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar

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    The likely use of publicly available artificial intelligence tools to detect government fraud by combing through large data sets will raise complex questions about a False Claims Act provision that prohibits the filing of claims based on previously disclosed information, say Nick Peterson and Spencer Brooks at Wiley Rein.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • The Self-Funded Plan's Guide To Gender-Affirming Coverage

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    Self-funded group health plans face complicated legal risks when determining whether to cover gender-affirming health benefits for their transgender participants, so plan sponsors should carefully weigh how federal nondiscrimination laws and state penalties for providing care for trans minors could affect their decision to offer coverage, say Tim Kennedy and Anne Tyler Hall at Hall Benefits Law.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • How Justices' Disclosure Ruling May Change Corp. Filings

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    In the upcoming Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners case, the U.S. Supreme Court will resolve a circuit split over whether a company may be sued for private securities fraud if they fail to disclose certain financial information in public filings, which may change the way management analyzes industry risks and trends for investors, says Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys

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    Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.

  • Series

    Playing In A Rock Cover Band Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing in a classic rock cover band has driven me to hone several skills — including focus, organization and networking — that have benefited my professional development, demonstrating that taking time to follow your muse outside of work can be a boon to your career, says Michael Gambro at Cadwalader.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'

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    The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.

  • What ESG Investing Ruling Means For Fiduciaries

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    A Texas federal court’s recent ruling — upholding a U.S. Department of Labor rule allowing retirement plan fiduciaries to consider ESG factors in certain investment decisions — provides welcome clarity for plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that have long been buffeted by partisan noise and misinformation, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Opinion

    Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform

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    The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.

  • How 2 Cases Could Undermine The Anti-ESG Movement

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    A decision from a federal court in Texas and another case currently making its way through Missouri federal court signal an emerging judicial recognition of the link between environmental, social and governance considerations and maximizing financial returns, say Amy Roy and Robert Skinner at Ropes & Gray.

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