Benefits

  • March 11, 2024

    Prudential Investors' $35M Settlement Gets Initial OK

    Prudential Financial Inc. shareholders have gotten an initial nod from a New Jersey federal judge for their $35 million deal to settle claims that the insurer hurt investors by allegedly misrepresenting certain trends affecting its life insurance reserves.

  • March 11, 2024

    Ga. Panel Finds $43M Trust Not On Hook For Legal Fees

    The Georgia Court of Appeals rejected a request from beneficiaries of a $43 million furniture fortune, finding on Monday that the trust's ex-trustees should not be saddled with attorney fees and litigation costs while the trust's beneficiaries sued them for allegedly mishandling the trust and overpaying themselves.

  • March 11, 2024

    US Chamber Backs Dismissal Of Citigroup 401(k) Suit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed Citigroup's efforts to shut down a suit in which workers claimed mismanagement of their 401(k) plan, telling a Connecticut federal court that these types of suits cherry-pick data and should not stand in court.

  • March 11, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware's Court of Chancery became a hot topic in New Orleans last week as litigators and judges at an annual convention acknowledged the First State's corporate law preeminence is under scrutiny. Back home, the court moved ahead on disputes involving Meta Platforms, Abercrombie & Fitch and Donald Trump.

  • March 11, 2024

    Insurance Worker Wants Full 11th Circ. Rethink In ADA Suit

    A former insurance worker urged the full Eleventh Circuit to rethink the company's win in her lawsuit accusing the business of abruptly firing her to sidestep healthcare costs related to her multiple sclerosis, saying there's evidence her disability played a role in her termination.

  • March 11, 2024

    DOL Sends Fiduciary Rule Rewrite To White House

    The U.S. Department of Labor transmitted its retirement security proposal that would broaden the definition of who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to a White House office for final review over the weekend.

  • March 08, 2024

    2 Calif. Union Dues Cases Echo Janus Ruling, 9th Circ. Told

    An attorney for an anti-union think tank urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to revive a pair of lawsuits alleging his public sector employee clients' constitutional rights were violated by union dues being collected against their will, likening the cases to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2018 Janus ruling.

  • March 08, 2024

    Gerdau Steel Denied Fathers Parental Leave, Ex-Workers Say

    Male steel mill workers for Gerdau were not allowed to take parental leave when their children were born unlike their female co-workers who were granted maternity leave, in violation of federal equal pay law, according to a proposed collective action filed in Texas federal court.

  • March 08, 2024

    4 Severance Cases Stemming From Musk's X Corp. Takeover

    A recently filed suit from four executives alleging Elon Musk cheated them out of severance pay adds to the legal fallout that Musk and X Corp. are facing in the aftermath of the tech billionaire's $44 billion acquisition of the company formerly known as Twitter.

  • March 08, 2024

    7th Circ. Wants 'Roadmap' For Ill. Workplace Disease Law

    The Seventh Circuit has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to weigh in on the state's Workers' Occupational Diseases Act, saying it needs a "roadmap" to handle claims for asbestos and other diseases that manifest belatedly as it considers a widow's suit alleging her husband's exposure to a toxic chemical while working for Goodrich Corp. led to his death.

  • March 08, 2024

    DOL Says Ousting Union Fund Trustees Is Right Move

    The Seventh Circuit should allow an injunction ousting two trustees from a fraud-plagued union benefit fund to take effect, the U.S. Department of Labor told the court, urging it to deny the trustees' bid to stay the injunction.

  • March 08, 2024

    Calif. Union Pension Plan Strikes Deal In Early Retirement Suit

    A California metalworkers' pension plan and its fund manager agreed to end a proposed class action alleging over two dozen retirees had their pension payments slashed even though they were promised full benefits when they retired early, according to an order issued Friday in federal court.

  • March 08, 2024

    Yale Urges 2nd Circ. To Back Zero-Damages ERISA Jury Win

    Yale University told the Second Circuit there's no need to scrap a jury verdict denying damages for a group of employees who claimed their $5.5 billion retirement plan was burdened with high recordkeeping fees, arguing that no error was made on jury instructions to warrant a redo.

  • March 07, 2024

    Skechers Fined $1.25M Over Execs' Family Member Payments

    Skechers will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $1.25 million to resolve claims it failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments made to its directors and their immediate family members who were hired by the sneaker giant as contractors or nonexecutive employees.

  • March 07, 2024

    NC Decision Supports Nix Of Sodexo Arbitration, 9th Circ. Told

    A Sodexo employee alleging that the company overcharged smokers for health insurance told the Ninth Circuit that a North Carolina federal court decision supports his efforts to keep his suit in court, saying it backs up his assertion that arbitration agreements can't be added to plans without participants' consent.

  • March 07, 2024

    Hy-Vee Beats Ex-Workers' 401(k) Fee Suit

    An Iowa federal judge granted a win Thursday to Hy-Vee Inc. in a class action accusing it of failing to sufficiently lower its retirement plan's recordkeeping fees, saying the supermarket chain showed it did its due diligence to make sure it didn't run afoul of federal benefits law.

  • March 07, 2024

    $61M Deal Gets Final OK In GE In-House 401(k) Fund Suit

    A Massachusetts federal judge granted final approval Thursday to a $61 million settlement ending a lawsuit from current and former workers accusing General Electric of mismanaging their retirement savings, signing off on a deal that comes after six years of litigation and includes $21.5 million in attorney fees and expenses.

  • March 07, 2024

    Chicken Buyers Bail On Remaining Claims Against Producers

    A class of direct purchasers effectively threw in the towel Wednesday on continuing with class price-fixing claims against Perdue Farms, Claxton Poultry and others, cutting deals that abandon attempts to revive the allegations and allow the buyers to avoid up to $1 million in legal costs they might have owed the major chicken producers.

  • March 06, 2024

    Yellow Corp. Faces Pension Funds' Arbitration Bid In $6B Spat

    Eleven retirement funds urged a Delaware bankruptcy judge Wednesday to order Yellow Corp. to arbitrate their claims worth over $6 billion, arguing it would be efficient to take the dispute before a benefits plan expert, while the trucking firm insisted that arbitration would delay its ongoing Chapter 11 proceedings.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • How Attorneys Can Be More Efficient This Holiday Season

    Author Photo

    Attorneys should consider a few key tips to speed up their work during the holidays so they can join the festivities — from streamlining the document review process to creating similar folder structures, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.

  • A Review Of 2023's Most Notable Securities Litigation

    Author Photo

    There is much to be learned from the most prominent private securities cases of 2023, specifically the Tesla trial, the U.S. Supreme Court's Slack decision and the resolution of Goldman Sachs litigation, but one lesson running through all of them is that there can be rewards at the end of the line for defendants willing to go the distance, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • FDA's Recent Litigation Records Are Strong, But Imperfect

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has notched its share of litigation wins in recent years thanks to a number of key advantages, but the FDA has been less successful in certain highly visible arenas, Jonathan Berman and Colleen Heisey at Jones Day.

  • ESG Investing Caught In Culture War Crosshairs In 2023

    Author Photo

    As 2023 draws to a close, ESG investing remains a raging battleground in the U.S. culture wars, as illustrated by the array of legislative efforts across the country aimed variously at restricting or promoting the use of ESG investing — but it remains to be seen what practical impact, if any, these laws will have, say Amy Roy and Robert Skinner at Ropes & Gray.

  • Benefits Limitations Period Ruling Carries ERISA Implications

    Author Photo

    The First Circuit's recent decision in Smith v. Prudential — over enforcing a benefits claim limitations period that expires before the claim accrued — has ramifications for Employee Income Security Act cases, where limitations issues can arise in the termination of ongoing benefit payments rather than an initial application for benefits, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
    Author Photo

    Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly enable clients to monitor and evaluate their counsel’s activities, so attorneys must clearly define the terms of engagement and likewise take advantage of the efficiencies offered by AI, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • When Patients Have Standing For Hospital Antitrust Suits

    Author Photo

    Brown v. Hartford Healthcare Corp., recently decided by a Connecticut state court, provides a useful examination of how antitrust standing issues may be analyzed when patients directly sue a healthcare system for anti-competitive conduct, says Charles Honart at Stevens & Lee.

  • What 3rd Circ. Gets Wrong About Arbitration Enforcement

    Author Photo

    The Third Circuit and other courts should correct their current law, exemplified by the Third Circuit's recent decision in Henry v. Wilmington Trust, requiring a motion to dismiss based on an arbitration clause because it conflicts with the Federal Arbitration Act, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and — with regard to the improper-venue approach — U.S. Supreme Court precedent, says David Cinotti at Pashman Stein.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape

    Author Photo

    The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.

  • Series

    Performing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    The discipline of performing live music has directly and positively influenced my effectiveness as a litigator — serving as a reminder that practice, intuition and team building are all important elements of a successful law practice, says Jeff Wakolbinger at Bryan Cave.

  • The SEC's Cooled Down But Still Spicy Private Fund Rules

    Author Photo

    Timothy Spangler and Lindsay Trapp at Dechert consider recently finalized U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, which significantly alter the scope of obligations private fund advisers must meet under the Investment Advisers Act, noting the absence of several contentious proposals and litigation that could result in implementation delays.

  • Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.

  • Opinion

    Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave

    Author Photo

    To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.

  • Pa. City Ch. 9 Ruling Raises Municipal Financing Concerns

    Author Photo

    A Pennsylvania district court’s recent ruling in a Chapter 9 case filed by the city of Chester, Pennsylvania, strengthens the foundations of the municipal bond market, but also demonstrates that bankruptcy courts continue to struggle with some of the features of municipal revenue bonds and issue rulings that contradict market expectations, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Benefits archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!