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Benefits
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January 13, 2025
Justices Lean Toward Narrow Ruling In Retiree's ADA Fight
Several U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed wary Monday of issuing a sweeping decree in a disabled retiree's Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit, hinting at plans to issue a narrower decision tailored to the specifics of the case.
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January 13, 2025
IRS Eases Process Of Insurance Co. Alternate Tax Revocation
The Internal Revenue Service laid out a streamlined process Monday by which certain insurance companies that took an elective application of an alternative tax may obtain automatic consent to revoke that election.
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January 13, 2025
$13.4M Suit Against Insurer For Conn. Death Verdict Paused
A Connecticut state court judge has rejected Hanover Insurance Co.'s bid to dismiss a mother's lawsuit seeking to partially enforce a $13.4 million trial judgment over her son's death in a group home, but agreed to pause the matter while the group home appeals the verdict.
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January 13, 2025
Bechtel Escapes 401(k) Suit Alleging Shoddy Default Fund
A Virginia federal judge dismissed a retiree's suit claiming Bechtel Global Corp. tapped a pricey and underperforming fund for its retirement plan's default investment option, tossing the suit a second time for failing to show that a comparable fund was a better option.
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January 13, 2025
Feds Say NC Medical Biz Owner Overbilled For Nutrient Drinks
A North Carolina businessman who ran a durable medical equipment business under multiple names overbilled the state's Medicaid program $1.85 million for special enteral nutritional formulas used to treat inherited metabolic disorders when he was actually just providing people common nutritional shakes like Ensure, the federal government said.
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January 13, 2025
Justices Won't Hear Auto Parts Co.'s ERISA Arbitration Push
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review the Sixth Circuit's refusal to force arbitration of a suit accusing an auto parts company of packing its employee retirement plan with subpar investment options.
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January 10, 2025
Up Next At High Court: Porn ID Check & Retiree Discrimination
The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday for a full argument session, in which the justices will debate whether a Texas law requiring pornography websites to verify their visitors aren't minors violates the First Amendment and if retirees have the right to sue former employers for benefits discrimination.
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January 10, 2025
X Fights Finding Severance Row Contract Claims Can Survive
X Corp. and Elon Musk squared off with ex-Twitter workers in Delaware federal court, filing dueling briefs that took opposing stances over whether a district judge should adopt a recommendation to keep alive some breach-of-contract allegations in the workers' proposed class action claiming they were cheated out of severance benefits.
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January 10, 2025
Health Co. Wants To Quit Nicotine Surcharge Suit
Nonprofit health system Advocate Aurora Health is urging an Illinois federal judge to permanently toss former employees' lawsuit targeting an allegedly illegal tobacco-use surcharge in its health plan, arguing that after three tries they still have failed to bring a viable claim.
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January 10, 2025
9th Circ. Affirms Hearing Aid Co.'s Win Over Investor Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Friday handed a win to Eargo Inc. and affirmed the dismissal of a securities class action against the hearing aid company, which alleged that the company and its top brass acted with intent to commit insurance billing fraud.
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January 10, 2025
Justices To Review ACA Preventive Care Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to review a Fifth Circuit decision finding a task force setting coverage requirements on preventive care was unconstitutional, setting up a high-stakes battle over the Affordable Care Act that could affect individuals' insurance coverage for things like colon and breast cancer screenings.
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January 10, 2025
American Airlines Faulted For ESG Focus In 401(k) Plan
A Texas federal judge ruled Friday that American Airlines violated federal benefits law by emphasizing environmental, social and governance factors in its 401(k) plan decisions, but he put off deciding whether the retirees suffered losses and what remedy they should receive.
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January 10, 2025
Ex-Twitter Exec Can't Snag Docs In Bonus Suit
A former senior director of compensation for X Corp., previously known as Twitter, won't be able to recover communications from Twitter management or financial records in his suit alleging unpaid bonuses after Elon Musk took over the company, a California federal magistrate judge ruled.
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January 10, 2025
IRS Proposes Rules For Roth Catch-Up Contributions
The Internal Revenue Service floated rules Friday for catch-up contributions made possible by the 2022 retirement law known as Secure 2.0, including the requirement that contributions made by certain participants be designated Roth contributions.
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January 10, 2025
Holland & Knight Balks At 'Tactical' DQ Bid In Benefits Fight
Holland & Knight LLP urged a Georgia federal court to reject a "purely tactical move" seeking to disqualify the law firm from representing doctors accusing its former client, Polaris Spine and Neurosurgery PC, of botching the distribution of their retirement benefits, arguing its prior representation of Polaris isn't related to the suit.
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January 10, 2025
Cruise Contractors Drop $2.8M Union Fund Debt Row
Two cruise ship contractors and a union pension fund have wrapped up their dispute over the contractors' $2.8 million debt to fund, indicating to a Louisiana federal judge Friday that they've settled the last outstanding issue in the case and are ready for the litigation to be dismissed.
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January 10, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Davis Polk, Wachtell
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Constellation acquires Calpine, Cintas seeks a deal with UniFirst Corp., Stryker Corp. acquires Inari Medical Inc., and Paychex Inc. buys Paycor.
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January 10, 2025
X Asks 9th Circ. To Back Dismissal Of $500M Severance Suit
Social platform X urged the Ninth Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a suit claiming it owes workers $500 million in severance after Elon Musk bought the business and conducted mass layoffs, arguing the lower court correctly found that the ex-employees couldn't sue under federal benefits law.
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January 09, 2025
Sentara Health Workers Say Retirement Fund Is Mismanaged
Two Sentara Health employees have filed proposed class action in Virginia federal court accusing the company's retirement fund managers of failing to properly manage a $136 million plan, arguing it lost millions due to the committee's retention of an underperforming stable value fund in the face of better options.
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January 09, 2025
5 Things Executive Pay Attys Should Keep An Eye On In 2025
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk will be seeking a green light for a $56 billion pay package while a new administration in the White House may scuttle proposed incentive pay regulations and a ban on noncompete agreements. Here, Law360 looks at five things executive compensation lawyers will be following in the new year.
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January 09, 2025
Fired Exec's Suit Paused As 4th Circ. Mulls Arbitration Denial
A Virginia federal judge paused a former gas company executive's lawsuit alleging breach of contract and wrongful termination while the Fourth Circuit decides whether to hear the company's midsuit appeal.
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January 09, 2025
MoFo Taps Goodwin Duo To Grow Exec Comp, Benefits Team
Morrison Foerster announced Wednesday that it has tapped two former Goodwin Procter LLP partners to expand its executive compensation and benefits group.
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January 09, 2025
Musk Could Dodge Some Claims In X Severance Suit
Six former Twitter employees who alleged they weren't paid severance benefits after Elon Musk took over the company shouldn't be able to proceed with their claims under Texas law, a Delaware federal magistrate judge said, but he recommended that claims under California and New York law be given a second chance.
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January 09, 2025
Faegre Drinker Worker Says Unum Blocked Disability Benefits
A Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP employee sued Unum Life Insurance Company of America in Minnesota federal court, claiming it conducted a shoddy review of her medical conditions to illegally deny her claim for disability benefits when a health issue made it impossible for her to do her job.
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January 09, 2025
George Santos' Sentencing Delayed For Podcast Earnings
A Brooklyn federal judge granted former U.S. Rep. George Santos' request to delay his sentencing in order to earn money through his weekly gossip podcast "Pants On Fire" that can go toward paying the roughly $580,000 he owes in restitution and forfeiture.
Expert Analysis
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2 Rulings Show How Courts Assess Health Benefit Denials
Two recent decisions from federal appeals courts offer important insights into how courts are assessing denials of health benefit claims brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, including guidance on how plan administrators should evaluate claims and what documents must be disclosed, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Mental Health Parity Rules: Tips For Plans And Issuers
Following federal agencies' release of final mental health parity rules, plan sponsors and health insurance issuers should develop protocols for preparing compliant nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analyses, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Opinion
FTC's Report Criticizing Drug Middlemen Is Flawed
The Federal Trade Commission's July report, which claims that pharmacy benefit managers are inflating drug costs, does not offer a credible analysis of PBMs, and its methodology lacks rigor, says Jay Ezrielev at Elevecon.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Plan Sponsors Must Prep For New Mental Health, Drug Rules
To comply with newly published health insurance rules requiring parity between access to mental health and substance use services compared to medical and surgical services, employers with self-insured plans will need to update third-party administrator agreements and collect data, among other compliance steps, say attorneys at Kilpatrick.
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How Cos. Can Protect Supply Chains During The Port Strike
With dock workers at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts launching a strike that will likely cause severe supply chain disruptions, there are several steps exporters and importers can take to protect their businesses and mitigate increased costs, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out
Should Express Scripts' recent judicial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission succeed, any new targets could add litigation and choice of forum to their playbooks, and potential FTC court action on insulin could be forced to parallel venues as the issues between the commission and PBMs evolve, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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Opinion
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
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SEC Settlement Holds Important Pay-To-Play Lessons
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent fine of an investment adviser, whose new hire made a campaign contribution within a crucial lookback period, is a seasonable reminder for public fund managers to ensure their processes thoroughly screen all associates for even minor violations of the SEC’s strict pay-to-play rule, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.