5 Big ERISA Litigation Developments From 2026's First Half

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court's acceptance of a petition challenging Intel's 401(k) investment lineup and a Fourth Circuit ruling unraveling a class of Genworth Financial retirement plan participants headlined the court developments that caught benefits attorneys' attention in the first six months of 2026. Here, Law360 looks at those and other noteworthy ERISA decisions.

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Health System Strikes Deal To End Tobacco Fee Suit

By Grace Elletson

Nonprofit health system Advocate Aurora Health reached a deal to close a proposed class action claiming it hit workers with an unlawful fee through their health plan if they used tobacco, according to a filing in Illinois federal court.

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Microchip Co. Strikes Deal In Decade-Old Severance Dispute

By Grace Elletson

A microchip maker has agreed to settle a long-running class action alleging the company illegally shut down its severance program following a 2016 merger weeks before the case was set to go to trial, according to a California federal court filing.

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Trump Accounts Not Subject To ERISA, DOL Says

By Asha Glover

Trump accounts, the new tax-advantaged brokerage accounts for newborns, will generally not be considered employee pension benefit plans and will not be subject to federal benefits laws, according to guidance issued Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

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CSX Seeks Early Win In Ex-Workers' FMLA Fight

By Emily Brill

CSX Transportation asked a Florida federal judge to toss two ex-workers' claims that they were fired for using Family and Medical Leave Act leave, saying one was fired for using the leave dishonestly and the other was fired for repeatedly calling out sick without medical documentation.

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Brief

BofA Exits Biden-Era OCC Order Over Pandemic Relief Lapses

By Jon Hill

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has terminated a 2022 consent order with Bank of America NA over its handling of prepaid unemployment benefit cards during the COVID-19 pandemic, closing out a key part of a Biden-era joint enforcement action against the bank.

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Series

Founding An Autism Academy Made Me A Better Lawyer

Starting a nonprofit autism school with no building, no funding model and no guarantee that families would trust us taught me the importance of mission, patience and purpose — lessons that sharpened my practice and showed how meaningful work outside the office can make lawyers better, says Phillip Russell at Ogletree Deakins.

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Judiciary Cites AI Deepfakes In Opposing Courtroom Cameras

By Courtney Bublé

Two bipartisan bills to bring cameras into federal courtrooms advanced Thursday, but the policymaking body for the federal judiciary continues to oppose them and raised the issue of deepfakes in the age of artificial intelligence.

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Trump Lawyer Advances In Senate Judiciary Noms Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The nomination of Matthew Schwartz to be a judge on the Second Circuit advanced out of committee Thursday.

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'Mortified' Atty Takes Blame For Fake Quotes In Taco TM Fight

By Ivan Moreno

A Connecticut attorney facing possible sanctions over fake case quotations in a taco restaurant trademark fight told a federal judge that he takes "full and unqualified responsibility" for the flawed filings, saying he is "mortified" and acknowledging that his verification process for AI-assisted legal work fell far short.

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Calif. Moves On Proposal To Allow Legal Aid By Nonlawyers

By Lynn LaRowe

The California Supreme Court has directed the state bar to solicit public comments on a proposed community justice worker program that would allow nonlawyers to provide limited legal assistance under the supervision of qualified legal aid organizations, according to a Thursday announcement.

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Analysis

Law Students Undeterred Under Trump's Immigration Climate

By Britain Eakin

In a climate where immigration lawyers are coming under the Trump administration’s scrutiny to tamp down on asylum fraud, law students are being ignited to enter the workforce early and rectify the injustices they see.

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Mich. Panel Sanctions Atty Over AI-Hallucinated Cases

By Susan Smiley

A medical malpractice suit in the Michigan Court of Appeals led to financial sanctions against an attorney who the court said during litigation repeatedly cited nonexistent cases that were generated by artificial intelligence.

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Ford Says 'Lemon Law' Firm Faked Bills Using Overseas Staff

By Linda Chiem

Ford Motor Co. accused California personal injury firm Quill & Arrow LLP of defrauding it out of more than $25 million in high-priced legal bills for work actually handled by virtual assistants overseas and non-lawyers in scores of product liability cases against the automaker.

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NY High Court Upholds Mandatory Judge Retirement Age

By Dorothy Atkins

New York's highest court Thursday affirmed a ruling that rejected jurists' challenges to the Empire State's mandatory retirement age of 70 for state judges and justices, finding that the centuries-old constitutional mandate doesn't conflict with a recent state civil rights amendment banning age discrimination.

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Tort Report: Meta Set To Face Facebook Sex Trafficking Trial

By Y. Peter Kang

An upcoming trial in Texas for a first-of-its-kind case against Meta and claims against a health clinic owned by a U.S. senator lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

General counsel may cringe at the news, but their chief financial officers will rejoice over a new study that shows the average spending by legal departments dropped to a six-year low in 2026. And two in-house Cigna lawyers are at the center of a finding of "improperly asserted privilege" over key company documents related to a payment lawsuit brought by three labs.

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