Benefits

  • October 02, 2024

    Ex-PBM Worker Says He Bribed Co-Workers In $160M Fraud

    A former employee of a pharmacy benefit manager told a Texas federal jury on Wednesday that he accepted more than $180,000 in bribes over five years from a Houston man accused of running a multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud, testifying that he would often accept money to bribe his co-workers with.

  • October 02, 2024

    10th Circ. Affirms Microsoft, Premera Tab For ERISA Violations

    The Tenth Circuit upheld a six-figure award for a family that claimed Microsoft and Premera Blue Cross unlawfully refused to cover their son's stay at a residential treatment center, but struck down the family's trial court win on their mental health parity claim.

  • October 02, 2024

    Class Cert. In Bonus Suit Against X On The Verge Of Failure

    A California federal judge appeared inclined to deny a former X Corp. employee's class certification bid in his suit claiming the social media platform failed to pay promised bonuses after Elon Musk took over, urging the parties to tackle whether a renewed motion is necessary.

  • October 02, 2024

    Nvidia Inks Deal In 401(k) Mismanagement Suit

    Nvidia struck a deal with a group of former employees to end a proposed class action in California federal court alleging the technology company shirked federal benefits law by failing to decrease recordkeeping fees and investment costs in its $1 billion 401(k) plan.

  • October 01, 2024

    Convicted CEO Narrows Fee Bid Against Conn. Utility Co-Op

    A former Connecticut utility CEO has dropped some attorney fee claims against his onetime employer following a jury conviction for stealing public funds, telling a federal judge on Tuesday to focus on a bid for fees should prosecutors choose to litigate a second indictment.

  • October 01, 2024

    Peloton Beats Investor Suit Over COVID-19 Sales For Good

    Peloton has won the permanent dismissal of a shareholder suit accusing it of intentionally misleading investors to believe that its COVID-19 spike in demand was sustainable, with a New York federal judge saying the investors have not "articulated sufficient factual allegations to carry their assertions beyond the speculative level."

  • October 01, 2024

    Ga. County Urges Full 11th Circ. To Nix Trans Deputy's Win

    A Georgia county told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday that a health plan coverage exclusion for gender-affirming surgery is comparable to other exclusions in coverage and does not violate federal anti-discrimination laws.

  • October 01, 2024

    Tesla Dodges Investor Suit Over Self-Driving Tech Claims

    A California federal judge has released Tesla Inc. from litigation accusing it of deceiving investors about the capabilities and safety record of its self-driving technology, granting it at least a temporary reprieve from the class action litigation because suing shareholders hadn't shown that CEO Elon Musk knew his statements about the technology were false.

  • October 01, 2024

    Israeli Analytics Co. Beats 'Social Engineering' Suit, For Now

    A New York federal judge has dismissed a proposed investor class action against Israeli security analytics company Cognyte Software Ltd. over claims that its tools were used to surveil and "social-engineer" journalists and politicians, saying many of the alleged misstatements are inactionable as currently presented.

  • October 01, 2024

    Lighting Co., ESOP Manager Can't Toss Workers' ERISA Fight

    A California federal judge refused to toss an ex-worker's federal benefits lawsuit alleging a lighting company's employee stock ownership plan was mismanaged in a $25 million sale of company stock, finding allegations could proceed to discovery that individuals behind the deal breached their fiduciary duty to the ESOP.

  • October 01, 2024

    Military Contractor's Widow Can Continue Death Benefit Suit

    A widow's pursuit of $670,000 in benefits following her husband's death in Afghanistan while training the country's police force can continue, an Illinois federal judge ruled, trimming claims against the man's employers and benefits administrators but leaving her breach of contract claim against an insurer intact.

  • October 01, 2024

    Boeing Can't Escape Investors' 737 Max Fraud Suit

    An Illinois federal judge trimmed but refused to toss a proposed securities class action against Boeing over claims that it harmed investors by misrepresenting the 737 Max's safety, pushing back against defendants who wanted him to reach the same conclusion as the suit's previously assigned judge.

  • October 01, 2024

    Amgen Must Face Suit It Misled Investors On $10.7B Tax Bill

    Amgen lost an attempt to escape a potential class action claiming the pharmaceutical giant hid a $10.7 billion tax bill from investors after a New York federal court ruled there was sufficient evidence for the action to proceed.

  • October 01, 2024

    Colo. Must Face Bulk Of Airline Group's Sick Leave Challenge

    A Colorado federal judge refused to throw out a suit from an airline lobbying group alleging the state's sick leave law is unlawful, though he agreed to toss the group's Railway Labor Act claim because the act doesn't meaningfully disrupt current collective bargaining agreements.

  • September 30, 2024

    Google Investors' Attys Snag $66.5M In $350M Privacy Deal

    A California federal judge on Monday gave final approval to Alphabet's $350 million deal settling a Google data breach securities suit and awarded $66.5 million for attorney fees amid objections, calling the deal "an excellent result" and noting the 19% cut was below the benchmark for similar cases.

  • September 30, 2024

    Missouri Drops Appeal Intended To Save ESG Regulations

    Missouri has asked the Eighth Circuit to dismiss its appeal of a federal judge's decision finding that the state's anti-environmental, social and governance regulations for brokers and advisers violate the First Amendment and are preempted by federal laws.

  • September 30, 2024

    Military Reservist Not Owed Top-Up Pay, Feds Tell High Court

    A federal employee who was denied top-up pay while on active duty as a military reservist is not owed any wages because he wasn't called to serve in a national emergency despite serving at the same time as one, the U.S. Department of Transportation told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.

  • September 30, 2024

    Ex-Jersey Shore Mayor Admits To Benefits Theft, Tax Crimes

    The former mayor of Wildwood, New Jersey, has admitted to unlawfully obtaining state health benefits, failing to disclose his outside employment and neglecting to report income from that job on state tax returns, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability announced Monday.

  • September 30, 2024

    MetLife Can't Get Early Win In Pensioners' Mortality Table Suit

    MetLife lost its bid for an early win Monday in a federal benefits lawsuit from pensioners alleging the company lowballed their annuity payouts by using outdated mortality data when making conversions, with a New York federal judge concluding that disputes over actuarial assumptions should proceed to trial.

  • September 30, 2024

    Theater Nixed Older Workers' Health Benefits, EEOC Says

    A New Mexico movie theater refused to provide employees over 65 with health insurance benefits and forced a 72-year-old manager to retire amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told a federal court.

  • September 30, 2024

    Macy's Can't Dodge DOL's Tobacco Surcharge Program Suit

    An Ohio federal judge has denied Macy's Inc.'s bid to dismiss a health plan discrimination claim brought against it by the U.S. Department of Labor but gave the retailer a chance to try again, ruling that the parties' dispute has surely been affected by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to ax Chevron deference.

  • September 30, 2024

    Steward Health CEO Sues Senate Panel After Contempt Vote

    The outgoing CEO of embattled Steward Health Care on Monday sued members of Congress who voted earlier this month to hold him in contempt for defying their subpoena to testify at a hearing into the downfall of the bankrupt hospital chain he heads.

  • September 27, 2024

    Texas AG Wants Austin's Abortion Travel Fund Shut Down

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday accused the city of Austin of illegally using taxpayer funds to cover travel costs for people traveling out of the Lone Star State to get abortions, claiming that the city is misappropriating the funds in violation of the state constitution.

  • September 27, 2024

    Conn. Justice Can't Stomach Insurer's 'Omelet' Of Notices

    The Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday seemed skeptical of workers' compensation carrier Ace American Insurance Co.'s assertion that one of two allegedly contradictory letters to a roofing contractor functioned as a legally sufficient policy cancellation notice one month before a worker's injury.

  • September 27, 2024

    Disney Warns Investor Streaming Suit Could Chill Innovation

    Allowing securities litigation over The Walt Disney Co.'s underperforming streaming service to go forward would discourage companies from trying "new, risky business plans," counsel for the entertainment giant told a California federal judge in an attempt to toss the suit Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • 50 Years Later, ERISA Remains A Work In Progress

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    A look at the 50 years since the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s passage shows that while the law safeguards benefits through vesting rules, fiduciary responsibilities and anti-discrimination provisions, the act falls short in three key areas, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • 1st Gender Care Ban Provides Context For High Court Case

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    The history of Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming medical care — the first such legislation in the U.S. — provides important insight into the far-reaching ramifications that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti next term will have on transgender healthcare, says Tyler Saenz at Baker Donelson.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 36 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Opinion

    FIFA Maternity Policy Shows Need For Federal Paid Leave

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    While FIFA and other employers taking steps to provide paid parental leave should be applauded, the U.S. deserves a red card for being the only rich nation in the world that offers no such leave, says Dacey Romberg at Sanford Heisler.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

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