Mealey's ERISA
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April 07, 2025
Judge Handles Exclusion Bids, Denies Summary Judgment In Excessive Fee Case
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A class action over a retirement plan’s record-keeping fees and share classes is progressing toward a bench trial after a North Carolina federal judge granted two of the defendant’s three reliability challenges as to expert opinions and then cited competing expert opinions in denying summary judgment.
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April 07, 2025
Citing ‘Too Late’ Arguments, 2nd Circuit Affirms Residual Annuities Ruling
NEW YORK — Saying in an unpublished April 4 summary order that the trial court correctly applied the law-of-the-case doctrine in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over residual annuities, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld entry of a revised final judgment; the appeal concerned a preretirement mortality discount (PRMD) and interest rate for projecting forward employee contributions.
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April 07, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Timeliness, Fee Ruling In Miller Act Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its April 7 orders list, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that affirmed judgment for multiemployer funds on attorney fees and timeliness in a Miller Act case.
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April 07, 2025
10th Circuit Affirms Denial Of AD&D Benefits Under Medical-Treatment Exclusion
DENVER — Saying in an unpublished April 4 ruling that the language of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act policy “unambiguously excludes benefits,” the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed denial of accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) benefits under a medical-treatment exclusion.
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April 04, 2025
ERISA Meaningful Benchmark Issue Is Focus Of U.S. High Court Review Petition
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Noting that their unsuccessful petition for en banc rehearing of the 2-1 decision was supported by six amici curiae, a retirement plan sponsor and related petitioners asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ revival of a putative class action concerning retention of a passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs) and choice of share classes.
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April 04, 2025
Split 3rd Circuit Decides Withdrawal Liability Row For Multiemployer Fund
PHILADELPHIA — Reversing dismissal of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPAA) case, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 ruling that a multiemployer pension plan that was still owed the bulk of a roughly $40 million withdrawal liability settlement agreement when the withdrawn employers filed for bankruptcy can sue other commonly controlled companies.
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April 04, 2025
9th Circuit Sets Argument In Withdrawal Liability Row Over Discount Agreement
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled May 20 oral argument in an appeal concerning an agreement to pay greatly reduced withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension fund; the appellant, which signed the agreement before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeks a ruling that would let it assign the agreement to its acquirer.
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April 03, 2025
Class Allegations, Most Parts Of Claims Survive In ERISA Benefit Statements Case
LOS ANGELES — Resolving two motions filed by the remaining defendant in a pension benefit statements case that is on its second remand from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a California federal judge on April 2 declined to strike putative class allegations and partly denied dismissal.
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April 03, 2025
2nd Circuit Vacates Ruling That ERISA Claims In Pension Row Were Untimely
NEW YORK — Saying in an April 3 nonprecedential summary order that the lower court “was permitted to find that the pension projection statements were incorporated by reference, but it erred in relying on the accuracy of the dates in those statements without providing the parties with the opportunity to submit additional materials,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated dismissal of a joint and survivor annuity (JSA) dispute over allegedly outdated mortality tables.
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April 03, 2025
Reversing Dismissal, 9th Circuit Lets ERISA Excessive Fee Plaintiff Try Again
PASADENA, Calif. — Ruling in an unpublished April 2 memorandum disposition that dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenge to a retirement plan’s fees and funds for lack of standing should have been without prejudice, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed and remanded.
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April 03, 2025
After Bench Trial In ESOP Deal Row, Illinois Federal Judge Rules For Defendants
CHICAGO — Just over two years after the conclusion of a 14-day bench trial in a class action challenging a $265 million employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal, an Illinois federal judge ruled for the defendants on all remaining counts.
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April 02, 2025
Judge Allows Insureds’ ERISA, UCL Claims Against Cigna In AI Claims Denial Case
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part Cigna Corp. and its affiliate’s motion to dismiss insureds’ claims that they violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by allegedly denying coverage using an artificial intelligence algorithm.
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April 02, 2025
Federal Judge Denies Remand, Finds ERISA Preempts Disability Benefits Case
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio ruled that a terminated employee’s amended complaint seeking damages relating to long-term disability (LTD) benefits cannot be remanded to an Ohio court because the claims are preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Actand establish federal question jurisdiction.
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April 02, 2025
Judge Rules Tennessee PBM Provisions Preempted As To Self-Funded ERISA Plans
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Concluding that parts of Tennessee law regarding pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are “preempted to the extent they purport to govern self-funded [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] plans,” a Tennessee federal judge issued a permanent injunction enjoining Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Carter Lawrence from enforcing those provisions against the plaintiff directly or indirectly.
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April 02, 2025
$4M Class Settlement Gets Initial OK In Lawsuit Over ESOP Deal
PEORIA, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a settlement that would resolve an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) lawsuit on a class basis for $4 million; the development came as briefing remains suspended in an interlocutory appeal concerning whether the plaintiff can pursue planwide relief in a representative capacity given that class certification was denied due to intraclass conflict.
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April 01, 2025
Opt-Out Class Certified For 3 Issues In Multiemployer Health Plan ERISA Case
CHICAGO — Saying in part that “common questions predominate over questions of liability but subside over questions of damages,” an Illinois federal judge on March 31 granted certification of an opt-out class “for only the issues of liability and injunctive relief, but not monetary damages” in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case against the trustees of a nationwide multiemployer health plan over expenses and allocations.
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April 01, 2025
6th Circuit Sets Argument In 2 ERISA Pension Appeals Concerning Mortality Tables
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for May 8 in two appeals that involve use of decades-old mortality tables and whether part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires “reasonable assumptions” in calculating certain pension benefits.
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March 31, 2025
Retirees’ PRT Case Against Lockheed Martin Survives Dismissal
GREENBELT, Md. — The same day a similar suit was dismissed without prejudice in a District of Columbia federal court, retirees beat a dismissal motion in another one of the recent set of putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), with a Maryland federal judge ruling in their favor on March 28.
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March 31, 2025
Defendants In 1 PRT Suit Win Dismissal For Lack Of Standing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Defendants won one of the first two rulings on dismissal motions in a recent set of similar putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), with a District of Columbia federal judge on March 28 dismissing a case filed by Alcoa USA Corp. retirees on the grounds that they lack standing.
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March 28, 2025
Judge: ERISA Safe Harbor Provision Saves Surgeon’s Disability Insurance Dispute
BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland denied a disability insurer’s motion to dismiss an orthopedic surgeon’s amended complaint alleging breach of contract and bad faith in a disability benefits dispute, reasoning that the policy may fall under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s safe harbor provision.
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March 26, 2025
Ex-NFL Player To 5th Circuit: Dismiss Fee Award Appeal In Disability Benefits Row
NEW ORLEANS — Arguing in part that “[i]t would be patently unfair to reverse [his] benefits award while citing his failures to properly appeal and then excuse the Plan’s own failures to properly appeal the Fee Award,” a former National Football League player filed a motion asking the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss the plan’s appeal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs.
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March 25, 2025
Another ERISA Drug Costs Complaint Dismissed For Lack Of Standing
MINNEAPOLIS — Ruling that the plaintiffs lack standing because they “are unable to show concrete individual harm, causation, and redressability,” a Minnesota federal judge on March 24 dismissed the initial complaint without prejudice in a putative Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over alleged mismanagement of prescription drug benefits.
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March 24, 2025
Affirming Audit Order, 2nd Circuit Says Conduct Shows Adoption Of Agreements
NEW YORK — In a March 21 summary order saying in part that the record shows that the appellants “engaged in conduct demonstrating” that they adopted two “Master Contracts with respect to all employees performing covered work,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld a summary judgment order granting multiemployer funds’ request for an audit in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
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March 24, 2025
$4M Deal Proposed To Settle Lawsuit Challenging ESOP Transaction
PEORIA, Ill. — An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) lawsuit would be resolved on a class basis for $4 million, according to a motion for preliminary settlement approval that the named plaintiff filed in Illinois federal court; the development comes as briefing remains suspended in an interlocutory appeal concerning whether the plaintiff can pursue planwide relief in a representative capacity given that class certification was denied due to intraclass conflict.
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March 21, 2025
1st Circuit Affirms That ERISA Preempts State Law Wrongful Death Claim
BOSTON — Rejecting the appellant’s argument that a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision “overrules prior law and requires reinstatement of” a wrongful death claim asserted under Massachusetts state law, a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed summary judgment for an insurer, ruling the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts the claim “as a matter of law.”