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Mealey's ERISA

  • December 09, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms That ERISA Preempts Claims Against Health Plan Administrator

    PASADENA, Calif. — Citing a May 2024 decision, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished memorandum disposition upholding dismissal of California state law claims against a health insurance administrator on the grounds that the claims were preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • December 09, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Ruling For Grocery In Suit Over Termination After Injury

    NEW ORLEANS — In an unpublished per curiam order, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment against a former grocery worker who alleged that her employment and benefits were improperly terminated to keep her from receiving benefits under a work injury plan and a return-to-work program that were governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • December 09, 2025

    $84M Deal To Resolve Wells Fargo ESOP Dividends Case Gets Initial OK

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on Dec. 8 granted preliminary approval of a settlement under which Wells Fargo & Co. would pay $84 million to resolve a class action against it and two other defendants; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenges how Wells Fargo used dividends of its preferred stock held in its 401(k)’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) fund.

  • December 08, 2025

    DOL Mulls Amicus Brief In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Appeal Over Standing

    RICHMOND, Va. — On the heels of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s appellant brief in its interlocutory appeal of a ruling that retirees had standing to file a putative class lawsuit that is part of a much-watched string of pension risk transfer (PRT) challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Dec. 5 asked the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for extra time to decide whether to file an amicus curiae brief; among other things, the retirees generally allege that the use of offshore captive reinsurers makes the insurers that are responsible to pay annuities because of the PRTs more likely to fall short of their obligations.

  • December 05, 2025

    1st Circuit Appeal Of LTD Benefits Termination Is Dropped Per Stipulation

    BOSTON — A claimant who unsuccessfully challenged a determination that she wasn’t entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits under an any-occupation standard despite being approved for Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) has dropped her appeal in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • December 05, 2025

    11th Circuit Cites Social Media As Factor In Affirming Ruling For LTD Insurer

    ATLANTA — Saying in an unpublished per curiam opinion that the multiple physician reviews that a long-term disability (LTD) insurer obtained and the claimant’s “social media activity” and medical records constituted substantial evidence for terminating benefits under a group insurance policy’s any-occupation definition of disability, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the insurer.

  • December 05, 2025

    9th Circuit To Hear Argument In Appeal Class Filed Over Proprietary TDFs Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear Dec. 9 oral argument in an appeal where retirement plan participants who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary target date funds (TDFs) lost on all counts following a bench trial; among other things, the participants seek vacatur of an order taxing them with nearly $94,000 in costs.

  • December 04, 2025

    Judge Dismisses ERISA Stable Value Fund Suit With Leave To Amend

    CHICAGO — Citing the plaintiff’s failure “to identify a uniform sample” among his proposed comparator stable value funds (SVFs), an Illinois federal judge on Dec. 3 dismissed a putative class complaint concerning an allegedly underperforming SVF with leave to amend.

  • December 04, 2025

    $7M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Dec. 3 granted final approval to a class settlement with a present value of $7 million that resolves a suit challenging the use of allegedly outdated mortality assumptions to calculate annuities for married pension plan participants; as requested, the judge also awarded a third of that total for attorney fees.

  • December 04, 2025

    5th Circuit Lets DOL Drop Appeals Concerning 2024 ERISA Fiduciary Rule

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has granted a request by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to dismiss consolidated appeals the agency filed under the Biden administration; the appeals challenged July 2024 rulings that imposed a nationwide stay of the effective date of a 2024 DOL Retirement Security Rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • December 03, 2025

    6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Reimbursement Suit As Preempted By ERISA

    CINCINNATI — Saying in part that each of the “alleged breaches of duty rests entirely upon what” a health insurance plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “does (or does not) say,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 2 affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit that featured state law claims it agreed were completely preempted.

  • December 03, 2025

    $48.5M Deal That Followed ERISA Jury Verdict Wins Final OK, With Incentives

    NEW YORK — Granting three $25,000 case contribution awards over the defendants’ opposition, a New York federal judge on Dec. 2 gave final approval to a class settlement that was struck after a rare Employee Retirement Income Security Act jury trial in a challenge to the record-keeping and administration fees of a multiple employer retirement plan; the deal includes a $48.5 million payment that with interest now totals $49,539,537, and class counsel were awarded a third of that total for attorney fees as requested.

  • December 03, 2025

    Expert Challenges In Suit Over NFL Disability Denials Draw Mixed Ruling

    BALTIMORE — Addressing three expert challenges in a putative class action concerning NFL disability benefits, a Maryland federal magistrate judge excluded one expert in full and one in part and declined to exclude the third.

  • December 01, 2025

    Standing Issue Again Dooms Fiduciary Breach Claims In ERISA Drug Costs Lawsuit

    CAMDEN, N.J. — Applying the reasoning of a Minnesota federal judge who was confronted with a similar putative class case and concluding that the plaintiffs lack standing, a New Jersey federal judge issued an unpublished opinion on Nov. 26 in which he again granted partial dismissal with leave to amend in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duty suit focused on a health plan’s pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) and prescription drug benefits.

  • November 26, 2025

    ERISA Forfeiture Case That Survived Dismissal Settles For Nearly $2M

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A $1,995,000 class settlement won final approval on Nov. 25 in a case that had challenged the use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan sponsor’s future matching contributions, with a California federal judge granting the requested $665,000 award for attorney fees and costs but directing that 10% of the fees be retained by the settlement administrator pending a determination “that the settlement distribution process has been completed.”

  • November 26, 2025

    DOL Moves To Drop 5th Circuit Appeals Concerning 2024 ERISA Fiduciary Rule

    NEW ORLEANS — Days after a flurry of filings by other parties and amici curiae, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) moved to dismiss consolidated appeals challenging July 2024 rulings that imposed a nationwide stay of the effective date of a 2024 DOL Retirement Security Rule that redefines and broadens who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • November 25, 2025

    9 Appeals Of ERISA Forfeiture Dismissals: Where Things Stand

    As the wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions continues to swell, here’s a look at where things stand in nine appeals of rulings dismissing putative class cases; one highlight is that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is considering filing a second amicus curiae brief.

  • November 25, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms That ERISA Preempts Out-Of-Network Provider’s Claims

    PASADENA, Calif. — Affirming dismissal of a suit against a health insurer in a Nov. 24 unpublished memorandum disposition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that because the claims of the drug and alcohol treatment provider both reference “and have an impermissible connection with” a plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the claims “are therefore preempted by ERISA.”

  • November 21, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Testing The Boundaries Of Product Liability For AI Products: How To Hold An Insurance Company Liable For AI Errors

    By Jamie O’Neill and Abigail Damsky

  • November 24, 2025

    2nd Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of ERISA Challenge To Plan’s High-Risk Strategy

    NEW YORK — In a summary order saying that the complaint “fails plausibly to allege breach of fiduciary duty against any of the Defendants,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 21 affirmed dismissal of a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case in which a participant in a defined-benefit multiemployer pension plan challenged an allegedly high-risk investment strategy.

  • November 24, 2025

    Split 11th Circuit Reverses In LTD Case Over Preexisting Conditions Exclusion

    ATLANTA — Reversing and remanding a ruling against a long-term disability (LTD) claimant, a split 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 21 ruled that it was unreasonable for the insurer to interpret a preexisting conditions exclusion in a way that the majority said means that “treatment for a headache during the lookback period converts any disease or condition that causes headaches into a preexisting condition.”

  • November 24, 2025

    ERISA Forfeiture Cases Are Dismissed In Texas, Mississippi And California

    Aligning with the majority of rulings in the wave of putative Employee Retirement Income Security Act class suits challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions,federal judges in Texas, Mississippi and California granted defendants’ dismissal motions in cases filed against Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages LLC, Peco Foods Inc. and AT&T Services Inc.

  • November 21, 2025

    Class Members Will Recover Up To $48,000 Each In Proton Beam Settlement

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted final approval to a class settlement in which an insurer will pay up to $3,408,000 to resolve a suit challenging denials of coverage for proton beam therapy (PBT) that occurred over about nine years; the insurer will also separately pay $1,675,000 in fees and costs, a $15,000 individual general release payment and claim administration costs estimated at $12,000.

  • November 21, 2025

    11th Circuit Affirms Ruling Upholding Termination Of Litigator’s LTD Benefits

    ATLANTA — Upholding termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits in a case that turned on a therapist’s notes, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in an unpublished Nov. 20 opinion that although some of the notes are “troubling” because they report passive suicidal ideation, as a whole they do not show that the claimant “was unable to perform her duties as a commercial litigator.”

  • November 21, 2025

    Magistrate Recommends Denying Dismissal In Putative Class Tobacco Surcharge Case

    LAFAYETTE, La. — Repeatedly referencing rulings previously issued in the recent wave of similar cases, a Louisiana federal magistrate judge recommended denying dismissal of a putative class action challenging a health plan’s tobacco surcharge under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.