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Mealey's ERISA

  • January 06, 2026

    California Law Concerning PBM Fiduciary Duty Is Target Of Preemption Lawsuit

    LOS ANGELES — A California pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) law that went into effect at the start of 2026 is the target of a lawsuit in California federal court, where a trade association seeks declaratory and injunctive relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • January 06, 2026

    9th Circuit: Asbestos Abatement Gets Withdrawal Liability Exception

    LAS VEGAS — In what it said was an issue of first impression, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 5 adopted a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) interpretation, concluding that “asbestos abatement qualifies as work in the ‘building and construction industry’” and therefore affirming summary judgment against a multiemployer pension trust and its board in a withdrawal liability case.

  • January 05, 2026

    Judge Takes Cunningham Suggestion Regarding ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claim

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Taking a suggestion the U.S. Supreme Court made in an April ruling, a California federal judge ordered a reply to an answer in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case challenging a 2019 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal; the reply will concern a prohibited transaction claim to which a defendant raised an affirmative defense.

  • January 05, 2026

    4th Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment In Retirement Plan Case Involving QDRO

    RICHMOND, Va. — Saying in part that the trial court correctly upheld a retirement plan administrator’s interpretation of a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) “under North Carolina law,” the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment against a divorced appellant who challenged a reduction applied to his monthly annuity payment.

  • January 02, 2026

    High Court Asked To Review Vacatur Of Arbitration Award Concerning Severance

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An employer has waived its right to respond to a U.S. Supreme Court certiorari petition concerning a decision the petitioner says “encourages a cascade of litigation over the enforceability of arbitral awards”; the challenged 2-1 ruling affirmed vacatur of an award that resulted from pro se arbitration over severance pay and concerned an Employee Retirement Income Security Act discrimination claim that the majority concluded the claimant never raised.

  • January 02, 2026

    DOL To 2nd Circuit: Disregard 2023 Amicus Brief In ERISA ‘Would Have’ Appeal

    NEW YORK — Roughly 15 months after oral argument in an appeal involving whether the “could have” standard used in damages instructions is grounds for overturning judgment in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action that went before a jury, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) told the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals it wants to withdraw an amicus curiae brief it filed during the Biden administration because the agency “has reconsidered its position on shifting the burden on loss causation for claims alleging a breach of fiduciary duty.”

  • January 02, 2026

    $21.5M Deal Proposed In Partly Revived ERISA Pension Benefits Class Action

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension benefits class action the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partly revived in November 2024 after a bench trial would be resolved for $21.5 million under a settlement proposal the plaintiff asked a California federal court to grant preliminary approval.

  • January 02, 2026

    Judge Denies Dismissal In LTD Case Involving Insurability Requirement

    SEATTLE — In separate but similar orders, a Washington federal judge denied dismissal motions filed by the sponsor and claim administrator of a long-term disability (LTD) plan in a case that involves a dispute regarding whether a claimant who paid premiums for more than a year but had not submitted an evidence of insurability (EOI) form was covered.

  • January 02, 2026

    Oklahoma Federal Judge Upholds Termination Of Longstanding LTD Benefits

    OKLAHOMA CITY — Observing that the case was not an easy one and that the arbitrary and capricious review standard was determinative, an Oklahoma federal judge affirmed termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits under an any-occupation definition of disability for a former nurse who had received benefits for more than 15 years.

  • December 31, 2025

    Role Of Benchmarks In ERISA Claims Is Focus Of Petition For High Court’s Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Certiorari briefing has concluded in a case concerning the role benchmarks play in pleading Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims for breach of the fiduciary duty of prudence, with retirement plan fiduciaries arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court does not need to address the issue but if it does, the petition is “a more suitable vehicle” than a similar one that the U.S. government recently urged the high court to grant.

  • December 30, 2025

    High Court Signals Interest In Petition Filed By ‘Top Hat’ Plan Participants

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 29 requested that the trust administrator for “top hat” deferred compensation and retirement plans respond to a certiorari petition in which plan participants argue that they were wrongly left without relief from federal and state law because the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “adopted an exceedingly narrow and historically unmoored understanding of equitable relief” while simultaneously embracing “an all-too-broad understanding of preemption.”

  • December 30, 2025

    Voluntary Benefits Are Focus Of 4 ERISA Suits Against Large Employers, Brokers

    “Voluntary” accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance programs are the focus of four recent putative class actions filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act against large employers and insurance brokers, with the plaintiffs alleging that they paid “excessive and unreasonable premiums” because of mismanagement and prohibited transactions.

  • December 29, 2025

    Respondent To High Court: Review Of No Surprises Act Ruling Not Needed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Initial briefing has concluded on a certiorari petition in which air ambulance providers seek review of a ruling concerning enforcement of No Surprises Act (NSA) independent dispute resolution (IDR) awards, with the respondent countering that neither of the questions presented warrants review by the U.S. Supreme Court and the providers reiterating that the high court should address whether the NSA provides a private cause of action and resolve what they say are splits regarding Employee Retirement Income Security Act standing.

  • December 29, 2025

    10th Circuit Won’t Rehear Presuit Costs And Fees Case Concerning LTD Benefits

    DENVER — In an order issued without explanation nearly five months after the appellant filed a petition for panel rehearing that drew no response from the other party in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declined to revisit its rejection of a bid to make a long-term disability (LTD) insurer pay attorney fees and other costs for an administrative appeal that got benefits reinstated.

  • December 23, 2025

    6 Significant ERISA Developments From 2025

    We asked Employee Retirement Income Security Act attorneys to weigh in on why certain 2025 developments were significant.

  • December 23, 2025

    Respondents To High Court: Skip ERISA Releases Ruling; There Is No Split

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a brief filed at the request of the U.S. Supreme Court, former Atmel Corp. employees urge denial of a certiorari petition focused on a ruling concerning Employee Retirement Income Security Act releases in their long-running class action concerning severance benefits “[b]ecause there is no circuit conflict and nothing remarkable about the Ninth Circuit’s formulation of the non-exhaustive list of factors relevant to a district court’s assessment of the enforceability of an ERISA claims release.”

  • December 22, 2025

    Third Amended ERISA Fees Complaint Is Dismissed With Prejudice

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Saying in part that “case law in this Circuit resoundingly demonstrates that to plead a plausible excessive fee claim, an employee must supply sufficient factual context about plan fees and services,” a Michigan federal judge dismissed a third amended complaint with prejudice and closed the putative class action that challenged allegedly imprudent management of a retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • December 19, 2025

    $8M ESOP Settlement That Followed Effective Vindication Ruling Wins Final OK

    WILMINGTON, Del. — One of the first Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases in which a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applied the “effective vindication” doctrine in declining to compel individual arbitration has been resolved by an $8 million class settlement that the plaintiff said will yield average net distributions of more than $8,500 per class member; the suit filed in a Delaware federal court challenged a 2016 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transaction.

  • December 19, 2025

    Panel Splits On Equitable Relief Issue In ERISA Suit Against Administrator

    NEW ORLEANS — In a decision that included a partial dissent, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 18 affirmed holdings contrary to the positions of health plans’ third-party administrator (TPA), ruling that the threshold question of arbitrability had not been “clearly and unmistakably delegated to an arbitrator” and that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims for money damages are equitable rather than legal.

  • December 19, 2025

    5th Circuit Reverses Fee Award Because NFL Disability Claimant Didn’t Succeed

    NEW ORLEANS — Concluding that favorable factual findings are “a moral victory . . . insufficient to justify an award of attorney’s fees” and that the claimant here ultimately obtained no legal relief, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 18 reversed an award of more than $1.25 million to a former National Football League player who sued for a higher level of disability benefits than he was awarded, prevailed after a bench trial and then saw that favorable ruling reversed in a previous appeal.

  • December 18, 2025

    Disability Case Involving Long COVID Dismissed Under Governmental Exemption

    CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit filed by a pro se former medical center employee who said he was wrongly denied long-term disability (LTD) benefits after long COVID and other issues including depression and anxiety rendered him unable to work has been dismissed by a Virginia federal judge, who ruled that the only claim fails because the center’s LTD plan is a governmental one exempt from ERISA.

  • December 17, 2025

    PBGC To High Court: Review High-Stakes Special Financial Assistance Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that the decision at issue “will likely result in the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to terminated pension plans that Congress intentionally excluded from” a special financial assistance (SFA) program, the U.S. solicitor general filed a certiorari petition on behalf of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) urging the U.S. Supreme Court to “grant review without awaiting the development of a circuit conflict.”

  • December 17, 2025

    Like Its Peers, 11th Circuit Applies Effective Vindication Doctrine In ERISA Case

    ATLANTA — Saying, “No circuit has reached a contrary conclusion,” the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals became the seventh circuit court to rule that an arbitration provision is unenforceable because it barred “effective vindication” of statutory Employee Retirement Income Security Act rights; the putative class action at hand concerns an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and an advocacy organization filed October 2024 amicus curiae briefs supporting application of the effective vindication doctrine.

  • December 17, 2025

    LTD Claimant Seeks Info Declaration, Other Relief In Suit Over Terminated Benefits

    PITTSBURGH — Among other things, a nurse who has been diagnosed with a chronic pain condition and is challenging termination of her long-term disability (LTD) benefits has sued seeking a declaration that, at a claimant’s request, an LTD insurer “has an obligation to provide information in its claim files that is relevant to a participant’s benefit claim regardless of whether an adverse decision has been made.”

  • December 16, 2025

    ‘Top Hat’ Plan Participants Seek Review Of 6th Circuit Ruling Against Them

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The trust administrator for “top hat” deferred compensation and retirement plans on Dec. 15 waived its right to respond to a certiorari petition in which plan participants argue that they were wrongly left without relief from federal and state law because the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “adopted an exceedingly narrow and historically unmoored understanding of equitable relief” while simultaneously embracing “an all-too-broad understanding of preemption.”