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Benefits
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November 13, 2024
Casino Queen To Pay $7.1M To Wrap Up ESOP Suit
The parent company of Illinois-based Casino Queen has agreed to pay a group of workers $7.1 million to shutter their proposed class action claiming their employee stock ownership plan paid too much in a $170 million deal to buy stock in the company, costing employees millions in benefits.
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November 13, 2024
Attorneys Seek $983K Fee For Work On $2.95M Benefits Deal
Six attorneys who settled a benefits class action on behalf of about 14,000 employees of an aerospace and auto parts manufacturer asked a Michigan federal judge to approve nearly $1 million in fees, saying this would be a standard payout in light of the $2.95 million settlement.
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November 13, 2024
Settlement Talks Falter In Schnader Harrison Pension Fight
Negotiations between a former Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP partner and the now-shuttered firm appear to have failed for now in the former partner's proposed Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action as the parties missed the deadline for a deal this week.
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November 13, 2024
Fla. College Nabs Early Win In Retirement Fee Suit
A Florida federal court handed Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University an early win Wednesday in an ex-worker's proposed class action alleging mismanagement of her retirement plan, finding she hadn't demonstrated any individual injury from the recordkeeping fees or investments she had challenged.
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November 13, 2024
Cadwalader Brings New Partner To Corp. Team From Kirkland
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP announced Tuesday that it had hired an adviser to companies and private equity funds from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, touting her experience in complex business transactions.
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November 13, 2024
NY Suit Co. Says Union Fund Can't Bypass Trial In Debt Fight
A Rochester, New York, suit manufacturer shouldn't have to pay $6.2 million to a union healthcare fund before standing trial on claims that it defrauded the fund and violated federal benefits law, the manufacturer told a federal judge.
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November 12, 2024
Ex-Capital One Workers Lodge $43M 401(k) Forfeiture Suit
A group of former Capital One employees has brought a proposed class action in New York federal court accusing the financial institution and its top brass of improperly using $42.65 million in forfeited employee funds that were paid into the company's retirement plan to reduce its own contributions to the plan.
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November 12, 2024
Comerica Sues CFPB To Stop 'Ultra Vires' Benefits Card Probe
Comerica Bank has sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a Texas federal court, accusing it of carrying out an overreaching and unlawful investigation into the bank's handling of a government program for distributing federal benefits via debit cards.
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November 12, 2024
Deloitte Must Face Certified Class Over Nuclear Audit Reports
A South Carolina federal judge on Tuesday certified a class of SCANA Corp. investors accusing Deloitte of issuing audit reports that misled them about the progress the utility company was making on a $9 billion nuclear energy expansion project that failed.
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November 12, 2024
American Airlines Escapes Pandemic Early Retirement Suit
A Texas federal court on Tuesday agreed to permanently toss a group of flight attendants' suit against American Airlines Inc. alleging they were misled into taking a less favorable retirement package during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding a suit dismissed earlier over the same conduct bars their claims.
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November 12, 2024
6th Circ. Must Revive Pension Data Suit, Kellogg Retirees Say
A group of married Kellogg retirees asked the Sixth Circuit to revive claims that they received less value for their money than single retirees when collecting pensions, saying Kellogg uses outdated data when converting pensions from single-life annuity form.
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November 12, 2024
Ex-Alorica Employees Ask For Class Status In 401(k) Fee Suit
Former Alorica Inc. employees urged a California federal court to sign off on a 4,000-member class in their lawsuit claiming the business process outsourcing company loaded its 401(k) plan with high costs and underperforming investment options.
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November 08, 2024
5 Ways Trump's Election Could Change Employee Benefits
Donald Trump's election to a second term as president has attorneys preparing for potentially significant changes to tax, investment and health policy that could directly affect the administration of employee benefit plans.
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November 08, 2024
Cigna Agrees To End Behavioral Health Underpayment Suit
Cigna and a billing contractor have agreed to resolve claims that they violated federal benefits law by colluding to underpay out-of-network claims for substance use disorder treatments, according to a filing in California federal court.
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November 08, 2024
Judge Won't Pause Housing Order In LA Campus Suit
A California federal judge has refused to pause his order requiring the federal government to put out contract offers for the construction of temporary housing on a Los Angeles campus that's at the heart of a class action filed by disabled, homeless military veterans who accused the federal government of misusing the property.
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November 08, 2024
Pot Co. Employees Accuse Billionaire Owner Of Fraud
Former executives of troubled medical marijuana startup Parallel are suing its former CEO and heir to the Wrigley gum fortune, claiming the billionaire paid them in "worthless" shares that he overvalued, resulting in tax bills they can't afford.
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November 08, 2024
Attys Ask 11th Circ. To Affirm Arbitration Denial In ERISA Case
The American Association for Justice has urged the Eleventh Circuit to find that a legal technology company's arbitration clauses are unenforceable, arguing that the company should face workers' Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit in court.
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November 08, 2024
Mitsubishi Chemical Dodges Ex-Worker's ERISA Suit, For Now
A New York federal judge tossed a former worker's suit claiming Mitsubishi's chemical unit retained pricey and underperforming funds in its $700 million retirement plan while failing to cut fees, finding his claims were either half-baked or he failed to show he suffered an injury.
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November 07, 2024
Trans Patients Say Fla. Ban On Care Should Be Bias Tested
A proposed class of transgender individuals asking for the reversal of a ruling blocking Florida's ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care told the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday that hostile discrimination analysis of statutes applies to classes beyond those recognized as "suspect" or "quasi-suspect."
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November 07, 2024
ACLU Asks 11th Circ. To Back Ga. Deputy's Trans Health Win
The full Eleventh Circuit shouldn't roll back a transgender deputy's win in her lawsuit challenging a Georgia county's refusal to pay for gender-affirmation surgery, the American Civil Liberties Union and legal groups argued Thursday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court's Bostock decision made clear that such policies violate federal law.
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November 07, 2024
Vanguard Investors Ink $40M Settlement In Tax Liability Suit
Vanguard investors have asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to give the first green light to a $40 million settlement reached with the firm over it allegedly breaching its fiduciary duty when it triggered a sell-off of assets that left investors with massive tax bills.
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November 07, 2024
Sutter Health Could Face Retrial On Antitrust Claims In March
Sutter Health is headed back to trial after the Ninth Circuit said "highly relevant" evidence was excluded from the 2022 trial where the hospital chain defeated claims that it had driven up the cost of insurance, and the court overseeing the matter says March is the earliest it can do.
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November 07, 2024
Bass Pro Shops Settles Challenge To Tobacco Health Plan Fee
Bass Pro Shops struck a deal to end a proposed class action in Missouri federal court claiming the outdoor retailer improperly charged employees an extra $2,000 a year through their health plans if they used tobacco, according to a docket entry Thursday.
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November 07, 2024
Teva Can't End Inhaler Antitrust Suit But Gets Claim Nixed
A Massachusetts federal court refused Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s attempt to end a case accusing it of orchestrating a decade-long scheme to delay generic competition for its QVAR asthma inhalers, but cut allegations that Teva paid Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc. not to launch its version.
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November 07, 2024
Same PBM Conduct Means Same Insulin Price Trial, FTC Says
Federal Trade Commission staffers want Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx kept together in a single in-house case accusing the pharmacy benefit managers of artificially inflating insulin prices through unfair rebate schemes, arguing they are all "accused of violating the same laws by engaging in the same type of conduct."
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics
Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.
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It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers
Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.
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Basics Of Collective Bargaining Law In Principle And Practice
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Rebecca Bernhard and Jennifer Service at Barnes & Thornburg discuss the nuts and bolts of what the National Labor Relations Act requires of employers during collective bargaining, and translate these obligations into practical steps that will help companies prepare for, and succeed during, the negotiation process.
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Missouri Injunction A Setback For State Anti-ESG Rules
A Missouri federal court’s recent order enjoining the state’s anti-ESG rules comes amid actions by state legislatures to revise or invalidate similar legislation imposing disclosure and consent requirements around environmental, social and governance investing, and could be a blueprint for future challenges, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance
An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.
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Opinion
Congress Must Do More To Bolster ERISA Protections
As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act turns 50 this month, we applaud Congress for championing a statute that protects worker and retiree rights, but further action is needed to ban arbitration clauses in plan provisions and codify regulations imperiled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling, say Michelle Yau and Eleanor Frisch at Cohen Milstein.