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Benefits
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August 13, 2024
Capital Group Can't Force 401(k) Fund Suit To Arbitration
A California federal court refused to force individual arbitration of a proposed class action against The Capital Group Companies Inc. from a 401(k) plan participant alleging mismanagement, finding an arbitration provision in plan documents couldn't waive statutory rights under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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August 13, 2024
Ex-Tilray Exec Can Collect $4M Arbitration Award
A Minnesota federal judge has confirmed a more than $4 million arbitration award in favor of a former Tilray Brands Inc. executive who took the company to arbitration over her termination, finding that the pharmaceutical company hasn't established that the award should be vacated.
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August 13, 2024
Firms In State Street Case See $400K Slashed From Fee Bid
A Massachusetts federal judge known for scrutinizing attorney fees in class action suits trimmed more than $400,000 from a requested award for two firms who led a $4.3 million settlement with State Street Corp. over its employees' 401(k) plans.
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August 12, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Rethink Upending Sutter Health Antitrust Win
The Ninth Circuit refused Monday to reconsider a panel's split decision overturning Sutter Health's defeat of insurance plan purchasers' $400 million antitrust suit, summarily rejecting hospital system arguments that the court wrongly put in play corporate "purpose" and decades-old communications.
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August 12, 2024
Norfolk Southern Says Cuts To Investors' Suit Aren't Enough
Norfolk Southern Corp. told a New York federal court on Friday that a magistrate judge's recommendations to trim an investor proposed class action over losses stemming from the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, derailment didn't go far enough, and urged the court to dismiss the entire complaint.
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August 12, 2024
Kimberly-Clark Cuts Settlement Deal In 401(k) Fee Suit
Kimberly-Clark Corp. agreed to settle a proposed class action from participants in the toilet paper company's $4 billion employee 401(k) plan who alleged mismanagement, according to a mediator's report filed in Texas federal court.
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August 12, 2024
Beyond Meat Escapes Investor Suit Over Production Woes
A California federal judge has tossed a proposed class action accusing vegan burger manufacturer Beyond Meat of securities fraud, saying investors will need to be more specific about what the company's CEO knew at the time he touted the company's allegedly faltering partnerships with fast-food restaurants like McDonald's.
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August 12, 2024
Ex-Morris James Paralegal Loses Unemployment Pay Fight
Delaware's Supreme Court on Monday denied an ex-Morris James LLP paralegal's attempt to revive his bid to collect unemployment benefits after he agreed to leave the firm, saying he failed to show that a lower court made a "reversible error" in upholding the denial of his jobless pay bid.
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August 12, 2024
DOL Tweaks 2 Parts Of Asset Manager Exemption
The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm made two mostly technical changes Monday to a popular exemption used by asset managers who also manage retirement assets known as the qualified professional asset manager exemption.
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August 12, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Multimillion-dollar share conversions, power struggles in a classic rock band, a good deal for fandom collectibles, and a pindown by two heavyweights were all part of the spectacle in Delaware's Court of Chancery last week. New cases involved pharmaceutical companies, cannabis, drones and liquid-gas exports. In case you missed it, here's the latest from the Chancery Court.
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August 09, 2024
Ex-Twitter Board Member Says X Owes Him $23M From Stock
A former member of Twitter's board of directors who helped oversee the sale of the social media company to Elon Musk in 2022 claimed X Corp. owes him more than $23 million worth of vested and unvested shares, according to a lawsuit filed in California state court.
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August 09, 2024
Medicare Drug Price Suit Nixed Over 'Forum Shopping' In Ohio
The Department of Health and Human Services has notched yet another win in litigation challenging the constitutionality of the Medicare drug price negotiation program, securing the dismissal of a suit brought by several chambers of commerce.
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August 09, 2024
DC Circ. Says Mining Cos. Can't Appeal Retiree Health Win
Four former subsidiaries of the now-defunct coal company Consol Energy Inc. can't challenge an arbitration award that banned unilateral changes to union-represented retirees' health benefits plan, the D.C. Circuit held Friday, saying the ex-subsidiaries weren't parties to the award and aren't injured by it.
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August 09, 2024
Appeals Board Says BAE Not Owed $21M Pension Cost Claim
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals rejected BAE Systems' $20.8 million appeal over costs related to withdrawing from a union pension plan at the end of a U.S. Air Force contract, saying the contract did not cover those costs.
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August 09, 2024
Aetna Illegally Axed Exec's Disability Benefits, Judge Says
A California federal judge said Aetna was wrong to end an executive's disability benefits after it found he suffered from a mental illness instead of a physical disability, stating the insurer used flawed doctor opinions and may have been motivated by cutting costs.
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August 09, 2024
Kraft-Heinz Investor Can't Revive Del. Insider Trading Suit
Attorneys for a Kraft Heinz stockholder lost a bid to convince Delaware's Court of Chancery that new evidence justified reopening a dismissed suit alleging that company insiders with ties to a controlling investor, Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital Inc., sold $1.2 billion worth of shares on nonpublic information.
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August 09, 2024
Energy Transfer Investors Get Partial Win In $3B Pipelines Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge granted a class of investors a partial win in a class action claiming that Energy Transfer misled them about its $3 billion Mariner East 2 and Revolution pipeline projects, ruling that the investors have raised genuine issues of material fact with at least one of their claims.
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August 09, 2024
Liberty Mutual Must Face Eatery's Suit Over Injury Claim
The Connecticut state appeals court on Friday revived a restaurant's lawsuit against Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. stemming from a workers' compensation claim, ruling that an administrative board that initially sided with the insurer lacked jurisdiction over the matter.
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August 09, 2024
DOL Settles White Mountain Apache Tribe's ERISA Suit
A D.C. federal judge has signed off on an agreement between the U.S. Department of Labor and the White Mountain Apache Tribe that settles its ERISA suit claiming the agency unlawfully slapped it with $140,000 in penalties after abruptly enforcing certain pension reporting requirements.
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August 09, 2024
Home Depot's ERISA Win At 11th Circ. Deepens Circuit Split
The Eleventh Circuit's recent ruling backing Home Depot's defeat of a suit from workers who showed their 401(k) plan was mismanaged, but couldn't tie those lapses to financial losses, adds to a growing circuit split that attorneys say warrants guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court.
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August 08, 2024
Uber's $200M Deal To End Investors' 'Train Wreck' IPO Suit OK'd
A California federal judge granted preliminary approval Thursday to Uber's $200 million class action deal with investors who claim the ride-hailing giant made false and misleading statements ahead of its $8.1 billion initial public offering regarding its passenger safety record, financial condition and the legality of its business model.
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August 08, 2024
Video Game Co. Can't Beat All Of Investors' Fraud Claims
Digital entertainment and e-commerce company Sea Ltd. can't fully defeat a pension fund's lawsuit alleging that the company misled the market to stop a free fall in its share price after a subsidiary lost publishing rights in Southeast Asia to the popular League of Legends video game, among other things.
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August 08, 2024
CenterPoint Accused Of Mishandling Worker Retirement Plan
A group of CenterPoint Energy employees hit the company with a proposed class action on Wednesday, alleging the entity mismanaged their employee retirement plan and cost participants millions of dollars.
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August 08, 2024
Block & Leviton, Bernstein Litowitz To Lead WWE-UFC Suit
Block & Leviton LLP and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP pinned down counsel leadership duties Thursday for a pending, high-profile Delaware Court of Chancery stockholder challenge to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.'s $21.4 billion merger with Ultimate Fighting Championship.
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August 08, 2024
NJ Chief Justice Escapes Depo In Ex-Jurist's Pension Suit
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court will not have to sit for a deposition in a suit brought by a former Superior Court judge over the denial of her disability pension application, a Garden State judge ruled Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Accidental Death Ruling Shows ERISA Review Standard's Pull
The Eleventh Circuit’s recent accidental death insurance ruling in Goldfarb v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance illustrates how an arbitrary and capricious standard of review in Employee Retirement Income Security Act denial-of-benefits cases creates a steep uphill battle for benefit claimants, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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50 Years Later, ERISA Remains A Work In Progress
A look at the 50 years since the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s passage shows that while the law safeguards benefits through vesting rules, fiduciary responsibilities and anti-discrimination provisions, the act falls short in three key areas, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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1st Gender Care Ban Provides Context For High Court Case
The history of Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming medical care — the first such legislation in the U.S. — provides important insight into the far-reaching ramifications that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti next term will have on transgender healthcare, says Tyler Saenz at Baker Donelson.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses
The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.
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Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.
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Opinion
Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.