Benefits

  • September 02, 2025

    2nd Circ. Backs X In Arb. Fees In Severance Case

    Courts can't sort out who pays arbitration fees, and employers' refusal to pay such fees isn't a failure to arbitrate, the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday, siding with X in a case accusing the social media platform of owing workers severance.

  • September 02, 2025

    Wells Fargo Employee Drug Cost Battle: What To Know

    A group of former Wells Fargo employees is back in federal court this week with allegations the company mismanaged their prescription drug benefits, leading to millions in overpayments. The banking giant says the case is a do-over of allegations already axed by the Minnesota court

  • September 02, 2025

    Colgate-Palmolive To Shell Out $332M In Pension Payout Fight

    Colgate-Palmolive retirees asked a New York federal judge to greenlight a $332 million class action deal in their suit claiming the household products company shorted them on lump-sum retirement payouts, signaling the end of a nearly decade-old case that reached the Second Circuit in 2023. 

  • August 29, 2025

    Federal Judge Blocks New Texas ESG Disclosure Law

    A Texas federal judge temporarily blocked the state attorney general from enforcing a new state law that requires proxy advisory firms to disclose when their advice stems from factors such as diversity and inclusion, siding with the companies that argued the law breaches the First Amendment.

  • August 29, 2025

    Kaiser Can't Ditch Bias Fight Over Hearing Aid Coverage

    A Washington federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action claiming Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. violated the Affordable Care Act's nondiscrimination provision by refusing to cover certain hearing aid prescriptions, rejecting the plan's arguments that the alleged injuries aren't fairly traceable to KFHP, among other defenses.

  • August 29, 2025

    Amazon Workers Get Class Nod In Military Leave Bias Suit

    A New York federal judge handed class certification to a group of workers alleging Amazon did not provide equal leave benefits to service members compared to those who took other forms of leave such as jury duty, although he found the class representative couldn't lead the case.

  • August 29, 2025

    GardaWorld Can't Avoid Tobacco, Vaccine Health Fee Suit

    A North Carolina federal judge trimmed — but refused to toss — a proposed class action challenging a security company's health plan surcharges to employees who refused COVID-19 vaccinations and who use tobacco, opening discovery on claims that the fees violated nondiscrimination provisions in federal benefits law.

  • August 29, 2025

    4 Appellate Arguments For Benefits Attys To Watch In Sept.

    Yellow Corp. seeks to revive a $137 million breach dispute against the Teamsters at the Tenth Circuit, married retirees will ask the Eleventh Circuit to restart a pension conversion fight, and the en banc Fifth Circuit reconsiders a challenge to a rule implementing a 2020 surprise health billing law.

  • August 28, 2025

    DOJ Seeks Kroger Patient Data In Opioid FCA Probe

    The U.S. Department of Justice urged an Ohio federal court to order The Kroger Co. to turn over patient names and other health information the supermarket chain has redacted in responses to the government throughout a False Claims Act investigation into its opioid dispensing practices.

  • August 28, 2025

    Judge Suggests Certifying Narrower US Bank Retiree Class

    A Minnesota federal magistrate judge has recommended granting certification to a narrowed class of U.S. Bank retirees who claim the bank unlawfully reduced their monthly pension payments upon early retirement, following the denial of a broader certification bid in April.

  • August 28, 2025

    6th Circ. Backs Calculation Redo On $11M Fund Exit Liability

    The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday backed a Michigan federal judge's determination that a pension fund's actuary must recalculate a paving company's withdrawal liability, citing recently clarified precedent and agreeing that an $11 million sum was erroneously calculated.

  • August 28, 2025

    Ex-Katten Partner's $67M Age Bias Suit Stayed For Arbitration

    A Manhattan federal judge stayed a $67 million discrimination lawsuit brought by a former Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP partner alleging the firm pushed him out of the aircraft-finance practice group, pressured him to resign and then fired him because of his age, saying there is an arbitration agreement at play.

  • August 28, 2025

    1st Circ. OKs Terminating Ex-Pharma VP's Disability Benefits

    The First Circuit said Synta Pharmaceuticals' benefits administrator may terminate the benefits of a former executive after deeming that his significant weight loss, six-day-a-week pickleball hobby, and travels to far-flung places like Africa showed he was no longer disabled.

  • August 28, 2025

    PBGC Must Reconsider Bakery Union's $132M Bailout Bid

    The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. must formally reexamine whether union bakery drivers can collect $132 million from a federal pension rescue program, a New York federal judge said Thursday after lifting a stay on the order following the Second Circuit's decision to reject the agency's rehearing bid.

  • August 28, 2025

    Healthcare Cos. Want Akerman's 'Indefensible' Fee Suit Nixed

    Rennova Health Inc. and others asked a Florida state judge to dismiss Akerman LLP's unpaid fees case against the company, calling it "facially time-barred, factually flawed and legally indefensible."

  • August 28, 2025

    Judge Asks If Pension Swap Without Pay Loss Triggers ERISA

    A Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge questioned Thursday whether retirees from ATI Inc. had standing to sue over an allegedly risky switch from a defined-benefit pension plan to an insurance-backed annuity, when all of their monthly payments remained the same.

  • August 27, 2025

    3rd Circ. Backs Special Master In NFL Concussion Fee Fight

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision that rejected awarding a law firm $3,000 in fees for representing a retired NFL player in his concussion injury litigation against the league, finding a special master properly applied Pennsylvania's lien law.

  • August 27, 2025

    Waste Management Gets Initial OK For $30M Settlement

    Waste Management Inc. and its note purchasers have received a New York federal court's initial approval of their $30 million deal ending the purchasers' claims that the company concealed information regarding the U.S. Department of Justice's approval timeline of its acquisition of Advanced Disposal Services.

  • August 27, 2025

    2nd Circ. Partially Revives Suit Over Peloton COVID-19 Sales

    A split Second Circuit panel Wednesday revived a shareholder suit accusing Peloton of intentionally misleading investors to believe that its pandemic-era spike in demand was sustainable, finding that three statements at issue in the complaint are actionable.

  • August 27, 2025

    Ex-Software Co. Execs' Win Upheld In Retirement Plan Fight

    The Eleventh Circuit has ruled software company NCR Corp.'s "top hat" retirement plans didn't allow the company to issue lump-sum payments to plan participants as alternatives to promised life annuities, affirming former company executives' win in the contract breach suit alleging they were shortchanged payouts from the plans.

  • August 27, 2025

    7th Circ. Denies Alcoa's Bid To Stay Health Benefits Injunction

    An aluminum manufacturer must comply with an injunction ordering it to reinstate union-represented retirees' healthcare benefits while it argues in court that it was allowed to transition them to health reimbursement accounts in 2021, the Seventh Circuit held, rejecting the company's request for the court to pause the injunction.

  • August 27, 2025

    Investors Push 4th Circ. To Revive Auto Parts Fraud Suit

    Investors who accused Advanced Auto Parts and its top brass of misleading them about the failure of a new pricing strategy and purposefully inflating the impact of price reductions have urged the Fourth Circuit to revive their suit, arguing that they can't downplay the allegedly false accounting as insignificant, among other things.

  • August 27, 2025

    CVS To Pay $12M To Settle Mass. Medicaid Overbilling Claims

    CVS Pharmacy Inc. will pay more than $12 million to settle allegations that it charged Massachusetts' Medicaid program higher prices than it offered to the public for the same drugs, the state attorney general announced Wednesday.

  • August 27, 2025

    JPMorgan Chase Wins Toss Of Stable Value 401(k) Fund Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed a proposed class action against JPMorgan Chase Bank NA alleging mismanagement of an employee 401(k) plan tied to the company's offering of an in-house "stable value" fund, finding an ex-worker leading the suit couldn't sue because he signed a claim release.

  • August 27, 2025

    Home Depot Avoids Ex-Worker's 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    A Georgia federal judge agreed to dismiss a proposed class action alleging Home Depot misspent forfeitures from an employee 401(k) plan by using the assets to reduce employer-side contribution obligations instead of lowering fees planwide, concluding allegations failed to state a claim for violating federal benefits law.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • FCA Working Group Reboot Signals EHR Compliance Risk

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    The revival of the False Claims Act working group is an aggressive expansion of enforcement efforts by the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services targeted toward technology-enabled fraud involving electronic health records and other data, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

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    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Arguing The 8th Amendment For Reduction In FCA Penalties

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    While False Claims Act decisions lack consistency in how high the judgment-to-damages ratio in such cases can be before it becomes unconstitutional, defense counsel should cite the Eighth Amendment's excessive fines clause in pre-trial settlement negotiations, and seek penalty decreases in post-judgment motions and on appeal, says Scott Grubman at Chilivis Grubman.

  • $95M Caremark Verdict Should Put PBMs On Notice

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    A Pennsylvania federal judge’s recent ruling that pharmacy benefits manager CVS Caremark owes the government $95 million for overbilling Medicare Part D-sponsored drugs highlights the effectiveness of the False Claims Act, as scrutiny of PBMs’ outsized role in setting drug prices continues to increase, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Series

    Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

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    Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

  • How Latest High Court Rulings Refine Employment Law

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    The 2024-2025 U.S. Supreme Court term did not radically rewrite employment law, but sharpened focus on textual fidelity, procedural rigor and the boundaries of statutory relief, say attorneys at Krevolin & Horst.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • What Employers Can Learn From Axed Mo. Sick Leave Law

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    Missouri's recent passage and brisk repeal of Proposition A, which would have created a paid sick time benefit for employees, serves as a case study for employers, highlighting the steps they can take to adapt as paid sick leave laws are increasingly debated across the country, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

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