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Mealey's ERISA

  • June 11, 2025

    Judge Denies Transfer Bid LTD Insurer Didn’t Make With ‘Reasonable Promptness’

    MIAMI — Noting that recently produced medical records are generally not admissible in the original jurisdiction but would be where the defendant sought transfer, a Florida federal judge denied a long-term disability (LTD) insurer’s motion, saying it “plainly did not act with reasonable promptness to request transfer.”

  • June 11, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms That ERISA Preempts N.Y. Law Provision In Collection Row

    NEW YORK — Affirming that the anti-alienation provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts a New York law under which the appellant sought to restrain retirement accounts to satisfy a money judgment, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a June 10 per curiam opinion that “the plain language of ERISA and the precedent interpreting it make clear that pension plan funds are exempt from attachment to satisfy a money judgment.”

  • June 10, 2025

    Judge Won’t Stay Fees Bid Pending Appeal Of LTD Ruling For Claimant

    PITTSBURGH — A motion for more than $126,000 in attorney fees will proceed after a Pennsylvania magistrate judge denied an insurer’s request for a stay pending resolution of its appeal of a summary judgment ruling in favor of a physician who successfully challenged denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

  • June 10, 2025

    Class Definitions Are Focus Of Reconsideration Bid After Judgment In Benefits Row

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge who after a bench trial entered final judgment in favor of plaintiffs and awarded class counsel $9,149,204.25 in attorney fees has been asked to reconsider what the defendants argue was improper expansion of class definitions; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute centers on corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits.

  • June 09, 2025

    5th Circuit OKs Rehearing En Banc In Row Over Agencies’ No Surprises Act Regulations

    NEW ORLEANS — Vacating a mixed October 2024 panel ruling, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ordered en banc rehearing in an appeal concerning regulations implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that drew input from dozens of amicus curiae organizations; providers contended in their rehearing petition that “the decision will permanently skew the arbitration process Congress created for healthcare providers to obtain reimbursement for their out-of-network services,” and three U.S. agencies argued in response that “the panel correctly upheld the two challenged provisions, which were reasonable exercises of an express grant of rulemaking authority.”

  • June 09, 2025

    9th Circuit Institutes Test For ERISA Releases, Reverses As To Named Plaintiffs

    SAN FRANCISCO — Saying it is taking the same approach as two sister circuits, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals quoted Vizcaino v. Microsoft Corp. in holding “that releases and waivers under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “must ‘withstand special scrutiny designed to prevent potential employer or fiduciary abuse’”; it accordingly reversed and remanded summary judgment against the two named plaintiffs in a long-running class action concerning severance benefits.

  • June 06, 2025

    DOL Tells 5th Circuit It Plans New Rulemaking On ESG Investment Rule

    NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Department of Labor and its Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (together, the DOL) informed the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the agency “has determined that it will engage in a new rulemaking on the subject of” a challenged 2022 investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

  • June 06, 2025

    10th Circuit Affirms Interpretation Of Health Plan’s Limitations Provisions

    DENVER — Affirming that an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case challenging denial of a claim for residential mental health treatment is time-barred, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the argument that the plan is ambiguous as to which of its limitations periods applies.

  • June 06, 2025

    Former Company Leaders Are Out Of ESOP Dispute Under Joint Stipulation

    GREEN BAY, Wis. — A company’s directors and officers are out of a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit concerning an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and alleged price inflation pursuant to a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice that was filed and granted in Wisconsin federal court.

  • June 06, 2025

    Claimant Who Sought LTD Benefits After Termination Wins Reversal

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In minute findings of fact and conclusions of law reversing denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits for a claimant who has a genetic musculoskeletal disorder, received a kidney transplant and asserted that he “pushed himself to work far beyond his ability to effectively do so,” a California federal judge ruled in part that “[a] plaintiff could be disabled under the Plan without experiencing a loss of earnings and while still working continuously.”

  • June 05, 2025

    Judge Issues Mixed Ruling In LTD Row Involving Wrong Occupation Standard

    MINNEAPOLIS — Issuing a mixed ruling in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits dispute filed by a former box-stacker who was incarcerated for part of the period at issue, a Minnesota federal judge ruled that the claimant is due eight months of benefits because the insurer should have used an “own occupation” standard rather than the “any occupation” one but that the any-occupation standard applies from then on and he is not entitled to benefits under it.

  • June 05, 2025

    $7.9M Deal Gets Initial OK In ERISA Lawsuit Over Proprietary Funds In 401(k)

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A proposed $7.9 million class settlement in which the named plaintiff estimated that the average gross recovery would be “about $40,000” has won preliminary approval; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case in Connecticut federal court focuses on alleged underperformance that the plaintiff claims was caused by a hedge fund management company directing all the assets of its 401(k) plan into proprietary hedge and mutual funds using “alternative” strategies.

  • June 05, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Lab’s Suit Over COVID-19 Testing Reimbursement

    NEW YORK — Concluding in part that the appellant “fails to allege that it formed an agreement, express or implied, with any of the Defendants,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a summary order affirming dismissal of a suit over reimbursement for COVID-19 testing.

  • June 05, 2025

    $4.95M Deal Gets Final OK In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Suit That Preceded Wave

    SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge has granted final approval to the $4.95 million class settlement of a suit that was filed months before a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to health plans’ tobacco surcharges; the named plaintiff said the total represents “approximately 35% of the tobacco surcharges at issue in the full, six-year look-back window.”

  • June 03, 2025

    7th Circuit Won’t Revisit Mandamus Denial In ERISA Mortality Table Transfer Row

    CHICAGO — In a one-paragraph June 2 order, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declined to rehear an unsuccessful mandamus petition over refusal to transfer a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case that challenges the use of a 1984 mortality table in pension calculations; among other things, the petitioner argued that the order at issue “deviates from all eleven of its sister circuits and presents a question of exceptional importance that multiple circuits have decided en banc.”

  • June 03, 2025

    9th Circuit Fixes Ruling Mostly Affirming Claimant’s Victory In ERISA Row

    PASADENA, Calif. — Correcting what the appellant called “an apparent typographical error” in the original May 16 unpublished memorandum disposition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 2 issued an order and amended ruling mostly affirming judgment against a multiemployer health plan in a coverage denial case; the change did not affect the key holding that the appellee hadn’t been given sufficient notice that meeting the plan’s “definition of ‘medical necessity’ required attempting lower levels of care . . . before residential treatment.”

  • May 28, 2025

    DOL Rescinds Guidance That Advised ‘Extreme Care’ On Crypto In 401(k) Plans

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 2022 guidance that directed fiduciaries to use “extreme care before they consider adding a cryptocurrency option to a 401(k) plan's investment menu for plan participants” has been rescinded, federal regulators announced May 28. 

  • May 28, 2025

    U.S. Government Urges High Court To Skip PBM Law Preemption Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In contrast to entities that filed five amicus curiae briefs supporting review of a ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D partially preempt an Oklahoma pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) law, the federal government in a May 27 amicus brief argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should deny certiorari.

  • May 28, 2025

    Government To High Court: Clarify Withdrawal Liability By Rejecting Metz Rule

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government has responded to a U.S. Supreme Court request for its input on a petition for review of a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) withdrawal liability decision, arguing in a May 27 amicus curiae brief that review should be granted to consider a modified question and that the high court should “reject the timing rule of [Nat'l Ret. Fund v. Metz Culinary Mgmt.], which has no sound basis in” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • May 28, 2025

    High Court Gets More Feedback On Review Bid Concerning ERISA Benchmark Issue

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retirement plan participants and an amicus curiae underwriter offer divergent views in briefing an Employee Retirement Income Security Act review petition, with the participants telling the U.S. Supreme Court that “participant-led ERISA fiduciary breach litigation has reduced by nearly 50% the expenses of retirement plan investments” and the underwriter contending that “lower courts’ failure to strike the right balance in fiduciary breach cases has been hugely disruptive and wasteful.”

  • May 28, 2025

    Another ERISA Case Over A Health Plan Tobacco Surcharge Survives Dismissal

    RICHMOND, Va. — Calling Mehlberg v. Compass Grp. USA, Inc. “analogous and compelling persuasive authority,” a Virginia federal judge declined to dismiss a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over health plan tobacco surcharges.

  • May 23, 2025

    This Time, Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction In ERISA Illinois Temp Worker Row

    CHICAGO — Rejecting a motion supported by nine organizations that filed a combined amicus curiae brief, an Illinois federal judge who previously issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of an earlier version of an Illinois temporary worker law on May 22 declined to grant a preliminary injunction for the latest version, saying that the plaintiff trade associations and staffing agencies didn’t show that their Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption argument is likely to succeed on the merits.

  • May 23, 2025

    9th Circuit Agrees That Lack Of ‘Meaningful Benchmarks’ Dooms ERISA Funds Case

    HONOLULU — Saying that retirement plan participants “did not plausibly allege that [Intel Corp.]’s funds underperformed other funds with comparable aims,” the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 22 affirmed dismissal of a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenging retirement plan investments in hedge funds and private equity; the ruling was accompanied by a nine-page concurring opinion that aimed “to clarify the role of comparisons and circumstantial allegations in duty-of-prudence claims.”

  • May 23, 2025

    Recommendation For Individual Arbitration Flagged In Effective Vindication Row

    ATLANTA — A recent report and recommendation from a Florida federal court has been flagged as a supplemental authority in an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenge to use of the effective vindication doctrine in a putative class action filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; the appeal has drawn amicus curiae input from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and an advocacy organization.

  • May 23, 2025

    3rd Circuit Sets Argument In Withdrawal Liability Row Involving Yellow Corp.

    PHILADELPHIA — Following expedited briefing in a direct appeal of a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge’s ruling upholding two Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) regulations regarding federal special financial assistance (SFA) awarded to multiemployer pension plans in a multi-billion-dollar dispute, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for June 25.