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Mealey's ERISA

  • January 16, 2026

    U.S. High Court Grants Petition On Role Of Benchmarks In ERISA Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari by retirement plan participants who asked the justices to decide a question concerning fund underperformance claims and whether a “meaningful benchmark” must be alleged; the high court left pending a similar petition in Parker-Hannifin Corporation, et al. v. Michael D. Johnson, et al. that was scheduled to be considered at the same conference.

  • January 16, 2026

    Pa. Federal Judge Upholds Denial Of LTD Benefits For River Pilot With Long COVID

    PHILADELPHIA — Saying he is “constrained by” the arbitrary and capricious standard of review, a Pennsylvania federal judge on Jan. 15 upheld denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits for a river pilot who was diagnosed with long COVID.

  • January 16, 2026

    Judge Applies ‘Regular Care’ Provision In Upholding LTD Benefits Termination

    CHICAGO — Finding on de novo review that a former Whole Foods worker who briefly obtained long-term disability (LTD) benefits because of back pain didn’t show “that he was under the ‘regular care of a physician’ as is required under the Plan,” an Illinois federal judge upheld termination of the benefits.

  • January 15, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms Arbitrary And Capricious Standard In LTD Benefits Case

    NEW YORK — Briefly upholding the trial court’s decision to use the arbitrary and capricious review standard in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a Jan. 15 nonprecedential summary order that it affirmed the ruling for the reasons given in the lower court’s “detailed opinion and order.”

  • January 15, 2026

    LTD Claimant Takes Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion Fight To 9th Circuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Arguing that the trial court made errors on de novo review including “expansively applying a pre-existing condition exclusion to bar coverage for a disability caused by post-coverage traumatic injuries” and “disregarding uncontroverted medical evidence,” an appellant claimant filed a Jan. 14 brief urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse an order that upheld denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

  • January 15, 2026

    $332M Settlement Of ERISA Class Action Over Residual Annuities Wins Final OK

    NEW YORK — Saying a separate order would follow regarding the pending motion for attorney fees and costs in the long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over residual annuities (RAs), a New York federal judge on Jan. 14 granted final approval to a $332 million class settlement the plaintiffs said will “yield the 1,177 Class members an average net settlement benefit of almost $200,000” even if the fees and costs are awarded as requested.

  • January 15, 2026

    High Court Seeks Response On Arbitration Award Vacatur Concerning Severance

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 14 requested an employer’s response to a certiorari petition concerning a decision the petitioner says “encourages a cascade of litigation over the enforceability of arbitral awards”; the challenged 2-1 appeals court ruling affirmed vacatur of an award that resulted from pro se arbitration over severance pay and concerned an Employee Retirement Income Security Act discrimination claim that the majority concluded the claimant never raised.

  • January 14, 2026

    $9.6M Class Settlement Of ERISA Forfeiture Case Wins Initial OK

    NEW YORK — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act case squarely focused on using forfeited nonvested matching retirement funds to reduce company contributions would be resolved under a $9.6 million class settlement that won preliminary approval in a New York federal court on Jan. 13.

  • January 14, 2026

    Washington Federal Judge Trims Attorney Fees In Remanded ERISA Disability Case

    SEATTLE — Addressing an opposed request for attorney fees totaling $239,390 in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case involving long COVID that was remanded to the administrator for full consideration because of a “substantial” procedural error, a Washington federal judge on Jan. 13 reduced the hours and the blended hourly rate, concluding that the appropriate fee award in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case is $112,050.

  • January 14, 2026

    Termination Of Investment Portfolio Manager’s LTD Benefits Is Upheld

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Upholding termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits under a regular-occupation standard for an investment portfolio manager whom surveillance showed had played 20 rounds of golf in three months in late 2024 despite allegedly disabling back problems, a Virginia federal judge concluded that despite there being some support for his claim, the termination “was both the product of a deliberate, principled reasoning process, and supported by substantial evidence.”

  • January 13, 2026

    Defendants Win Dismissal Of Case Involving PRTs To Prudential And RGA

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a putative class pension risk transfer (PRT) case notable for focusing on transfers to nonparties Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA) and RGA Reinsurance Company (RGA), concluding that the Verizon Communications Inc. retirees who filed the suit lacked standing and failed to state their claims.

  • January 13, 2026

    3rd Circuit Affirms That Prudential Fiduciaries’ Process Was Prudent

    PHILADELPHIA — Issuing a nonprecedential disposition affirming summary judgment against a class of retirement plan participants, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court that the fund selection and monitoring process at issue were “adequate to satisfy the duty of prudence imposed on fiduciaries by” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 07, 2026

    COMMENTARY: The Year In ERISA Litigation: 2025 Trends And What We’re Watching In 2026

    By Amanda S. Amert, Kimberly Jones and Craig C. Martin

  • January 12, 2026

    High Court Won’t Review 5th Circuit No Surprises Act Ruling On IDR Awards

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 denied a certiorari petition in which air ambulance providers sought review of a ruling concerning enforcement of No Surprises Act (NSA) independent dispute resolution (IDR) awards; in wrapping up briefing the petition, the respondent had countered that neither of the questions presented warrants review and the providers had reiterated that the high court should address whether the NSA provides a private cause of action and resolve what they said were splits regarding Employee Retirement Income Security Act standing.

  • January 12, 2026

    U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review 9th Circuit ERISA Releases Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A certiorari petition that drew U.S. Supreme Court interest for a ruling concerning Employee Retirement Income Security Act releases in a long-running class action concerning severance benefits was denied in the court’s Jan. 12 order list.

  • January 12, 2026

    Fund Waives Response To Review Petition On Special Financial Assistance Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A terminated multiemployer pension plan on Jan. 9 waived its right to respond to a certiorari petition filed on behalf of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) in which the U.S. solicitor general argues that the decision at issue “will likely result in the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to terminated pension plans that Congress intentionally excluded from” a special financial assistance (SFA) program and urges the U.S. Supreme Court to “grant review without awaiting the development of a circuit conflict.”

  • January 12, 2026

    DOL Becomes Latest Amicus To Urge 4th Circuit Reversal On Standing In PRT Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Saying, “The magnitude of this case and these issues are hard to overstate,” the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Jan. 9 became the latest amicus curiae to urge the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse 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; 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.

  • January 09, 2026

    2nd Circuit Urged Not To Let DOL Withdraw 2023 Amicus Brief In ERISA Appeal

    NEW YORK — Pushing back on a recent request by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to withdraw a December 2023 amicus curiae brief in an appeal involving whether the “could have” standard used in damages instructions is grounds for overturning judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action that went before a jury, retirement plan participants on Jan. 8 urged the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny the request because “DOL fails to provide any logical basis, let alone reasoned analysis, for abandoning the persuasive argument in its amicus brief.”

  • January 09, 2026

    High Court OKs Dismissal Of Petition On ERISA Burden-Shifting Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 8 text-only docket entry, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a one-paragraph dismissal motion the parties filed the previous day regarding a certiorari petition for which the U.S. government filed an amicus curiae brief urging the high court to grant; the petition concerned an issue the high court has passed on several times and asked whether “burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 09, 2026

    DOL Again Sides With Retirement Plan Sponsor In ERISA Forfeiture Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — Almost exactly six months after the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) first filed an amicus curiae brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting a retirement plan against plan participants’ efforts to revive their putative class action challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions, the agency on Jan. 8 did the same in one of the three similar appeals also pending in the Ninth Circuit.

  • January 09, 2026

    Judge Orders Remand, Ruling Denial Of POTS-Based LTD Claim ‘Unreasonable’

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Denying cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record under an abuse of discretion standard, a Tennessee federal judge ruled that a long-term disability (LTD) benefits denial was “procedurally unreasonable” and remanded for reconsideration of the claim filed by the plaintiff, who has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and numerous other ailments.

  • January 08, 2026

    New Jersey Federal Judge Rebuffs Challenge To Discovery Ruling In LTD Case

    NEWARK, N.J. — Denying a long-term disability (LTD) claimant’s challenge to a discovery ruling, a New Jersey federal judge rejected his arguments that a magistrate judge erred in determining that his short-term disability (STD) “claim file was not part of the administrative record for his LTD claim” and “in denying extra-record discovery concerning Defendant’s alleged conflict of interest.”

  • January 07, 2026

    Right Before Conference, Parties Agree To Drop ERISA Burden-Shifting Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two days before a scheduled U.S. Supreme Court conference on a certiorari petition that the U.S. government recently filed a consequential amicus curiae brief urging the high court to grant, the parties on Jan. 7 filed a one-paragraph dismissal motion, saying they agreed to each bear their own costs; the petition concerns an issue the high court has passed on several times and asks whether “burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under” part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 07, 2026

    9th Circuit: Entertainment Withdrawal Liability Exception Lacks Minimum

    LAS VEGAS — Addressing “an issue of first impression” regarding the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 6 reversed and remanded a grant of summary judgment that was in favor of a multiemployer pension plan, holding in part “that there is no minimum amount of entertainment work required for an individual to be an ‘employee[] in the entertainment industry’ under the MPPAA.”

  • January 07, 2026

    Judge Nixes Fees And Costs Deal For More Than $7.5M In Pension Case, For Now

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Citing “the uncertainty of the appellate relief and operation of the agreement,” a Kansas federal judge on Jan. 6 denied without prejudice the parties’ joint stipulation that “upon affirmance of the District Court’s decision that does not reduce the amount of the judgment” the defendants would pay $7,108,254.82 in attorney fees and $449,437.86 in costs plus interest in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action where labor union members whose early retirement benefits were stopped or denied because of non-boilermaker work largely prevailed following a bench trial.