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Benefits
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September 19, 2024
Apple's $490M Deal Over China Sales OK'ed, Attys Get $110M
A California federal judge approved Apple Inc.'s $490 million securities fraud settlement under which class counsel will receive $110.45 million in fees and costs plus interest, resolving years-old litigation alleging Apple and its top brass misled investors about iPhone sales in China.
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September 19, 2024
6th Circ. Upholds NLRB's Severance Order Against Hospital
The Sixth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a National Labor Relations Board decision that found a Michigan hospital violated federal labor law through its offer of severance agreements, but didn't weigh in on whether the board's precedent shift on pacts that include nondisparagement clauses should stand.
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September 19, 2024
Senate Panel Holds Steward CEO In Contempt After No-Show
A U.S. Senate committee voted unanimously Thursday to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in civil and criminal contempt after he defied a subpoena to testify about the bankrupt health system's downfall.
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September 19, 2024
Hormel Foods Can't Beat Retirement Fund Management Suit
Hormel Foods Corp. can't avoid a proposed class action claiming it failed to remove high-cost investment options with poor return rates from its $1.2 billion retirement plans, with a Minnesota federal judge ruling the worker leading the suit identified suitably comparable funds that performed better.
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September 19, 2024
Amazon, Bezos Deny Blue Origin Deal Challenges In Del.
An Amazon.com stockholder suit seeking damages from the e-commerce giant for purportedly conflicted dealing with company founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space launch business can't get off the ground in Delaware's Court of Chancery, attorneys for the Amazon parties argued in a new brief filed late Wednesday.
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September 19, 2024
Cozen O'Connor Benefits Pro Joins McCarter & English
McCarter & English LLP has expanded its Philadelphia office this week with the addition of a former Cozen O'Connor attorney who moved his employee benefit-focused practice after more than five years.
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September 19, 2024
Halted DOL Fiduciary Regs Could Open Lane For SEC Action
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission might need to help clear up confusion about fiduciary investment advice standards in the wake of two Texas judges halting new retirement security regulations from the Labor Department, members of an SEC investor advisory committee said Thursday.
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September 18, 2024
DuPont Heirs Beat ERISA Suit Over 1947 Trust At 3rd Circ.
The Third Circuit reversed a decision Wednesday and found DuPont heirs aren't liable for Employee Retirement Income Security Act violations in a dispute over who's to blame for underfunding a now-insolvent trust that was created by their grandmother in 1947 and paid the heirs and their workers retirement benefits.
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September 18, 2024
$24.5M Fee Sought In Del. For $125M Discovery Suit Deal
Class attorneys who secured a proposed $125 million settlement in a Delaware Court of Chancery suit filed by former Discovery Inc. stockholders challenging the company's $43 billion merger with AT&T in April 2022 proposed a $24.5 million fee for their efforts Wednesday.
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September 18, 2024
Meta Ditches Investor Suit Over Apple Ad Changes For Good
A California federal judge on Tuesday tossed an investor suit against Meta alleging the tech giant hid the financial impact of Apple's privacy changes on its business, finding the suit's allegations weren't detailed enough to avoid dismissal.
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September 18, 2024
Ex-Employees Can Bring ADA Benefits Suits, High Court Told
A retired Florida firefighter called on the U.S. Supreme Court to find that former employees can bring claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act pertaining to post-employment benefits, challenging an Eleventh Circuit ruling that determined only current employees can file these disability bias suits.
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September 18, 2024
UnitedHealth Settles 401(k) Fight Over Wells Fargo Funds
UnitedHealth has agreed to settle a class action from workers alleging the company mismanaged an employee 401(k) plan by loading it with lower-performing investment options to preserve a business relationship with Wells Fargo, according to documents filed Wednesday in Minnesota federal court.
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September 18, 2024
Thermo Fisher Late To Pay Departing Workers, Engineer Says
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and a subsidiary failed to promptly pay all final wages and unused vacation time to departing employees and must now cough up three times the amount of that compensation because of its violation of Massachusetts law, according to a proposed class action filed in state court.
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September 18, 2024
Chicago Slams Airline Group's Suit Against Sick Leave Law
Chicago's recently enacted paid sick leave law doesn't clash with federal law because it doesn't affect airlines' prices or routes, the city said, urging an Illinois federal judge to toss a trade group's challenge to the ordinance.
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September 18, 2024
Citgo Settles Retirees' Suit Over Outdated Mortality Data
Citgo struck a deal to settle a class action alleging it shorted retirees in early retirement payouts by basing the allowances on outdated mortality tables that used data from the 1970s, according to a joint notice filed in Illinois federal court.
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September 17, 2024
Police Pension Fund Says Store Chain Inflated Stock Price
Discount retailer Five Below is facing securities class claims in Pennsylvania federal court from a Florida police officers' pension fund, which says the company falsely attributed poor financial performance to inventory shrinkage while concealing deeper operational issues, causing substantial investor losses.
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September 17, 2024
Benefit Funds Sue Sandoz Over Alleged Fraudulent Transfers
Several health and welfare funds have filed a class action against Sandoz Inc. and affiliates in Pennsylvania federal court, alleging the drugmaker engaged in fraudulent transfers designed to evade liabilities stemming from drug-pricing antitrust litigation.
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September 17, 2024
Walmart Workers Sue Over Health Plan Tobacco Surcharges
Retail giant Walmart Inc. is violating federal benefits law by making workers who use tobacco pay more for health insurance, according to a proposed class action filed in Wisconsin federal court.
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September 17, 2024
Ex-Worker Suing Over Bonuses Backed Axing Them, X Says
X Corp. urged a California federal court to reject a former director's bid to certify a class that could exceed 2,000 members in his suit accusing it of reneging on promised bonuses after Elon Musk took over, saying the former employee was the one who axed the bonuses in the first place.
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September 17, 2024
Marshall Dennehey Adds Boyd & Jenerette Workers Comp Pro
Marshall Dennehey is growing its workers compensation practice in Florida with the addition of a former Boyd & Jenerette PA partner.
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September 17, 2024
HSF To Boost Paid Leave For Parents And Carers
Herbert Smith Freehills LLP said Tuesday that it will offer its employees increased leave for parents and carers, marking it the latest firm to offer improved policies to give staff greater support when they start a family.
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September 17, 2024
Syensqo Transfers $485M of Pension Risk To Pacific Life, RBC
Belgian chemicals company Syensqo said Tuesday it has offloaded $485 million of its U.S. and Canadian pension liabilities through a bulk annuity deal with two insurers.
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September 16, 2024
4th Circ. OKs Immediate Appeal Of Genworth 401(k) Class
The Fourth Circuit gave Genworth Financial a green light to challenge a recent trial court decision certifying a class in a suit brought by former Genworth workers who said the company violated federal benefits law by keeping underperforming BlackRock target-date funds in their 401(k) plan.
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September 16, 2024
Telecom Installer To Pay Workers $600K To End DOL Probe
A Michigan-based fiber optics installer will pay $594,000 in back pay and damages to 63 workers whom the U.S. Department of Labor says the company misclassified as independent contractors, the agency announced Monday.
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September 16, 2024
Aviation Workers Say Volato Fired Workforce Without Notice
Former employees of aviation company Volato Inc. filed a proposed class action in Florida federal court alleging that 233 employees, nearly all the workers at a St. Augustine facility, were laid off without required advanced notice.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule
Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Del. Dispatch: Director Caremark Claims Need Extreme Facts
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently dismissed Caremark claims against the directors of Centene in Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania v. Brinkley, indicating a high bar for a finding of the required element of bad faith for Caremark liability, and stressing the need to resist hindsight bias, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Parsing NJ Court's Rationale For Denying Lipitor Class Cert.
A New Jersey federal court's recent Lipitor rulings granting summary judgment and denying motions for class certification for two plaintiff classes offer insight into the level of rigorous analysis required by both parties and their experts to satisfy the requirements of class certification, says Catia Twal at Edgeworth Economics.
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Series
After Chevron: Challenges Loom For PBGC Actions
After Loper Bright, two recent actions taken by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already under scrutiny seem destined to be challenged and resolved under the new standard of judicial deference, which will greatly affect employers with potential withdrawal liability exposure, say Robert Perry and David Pixley at Jackson Lewis.
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3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture
Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents
Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.
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Series
Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer
As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.
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A Guide To Long-Term, Part-Time Employee Determinations
With final regulations under the Secure Act requiring 401(k) retirement benefits for long-term, part-time employees expected soon, Amy Sheridan and David Guadagnoli at Sullivan & Worcester look at how the proposed rules would shift the risk-reward calculus on excluding categories of employees, and what plan sponsors would need to consider when designing retirement plans.
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Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act
As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.
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Series
After Chevron: ERISA Challenges To Watch
The end of Chevron deference makes the outcome of Employee Retirement Income Security Act regulatory challenges more uncertain as courts become final arbiters of pending lawsuits about ESG investments, the definition of a fiduciary, unallocated pension forfeitures and discrimination in healthcare plans, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.
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Justices' Intent Witness Ruling May Be Useful For Defense Bar
At first glance, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Diaz v. U.S. decision, allowing experts to testify to the mental state of criminal defendants in federal court, gives prosecutors a new tool, but creative white collar defense counsel may be able to use the same tool to their own advantage, say Jack Sharman and Rachel Bragg at Lightfoot Franklin.
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How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market
Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.