Mealey's ERISA
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October 18, 2024
Federal Judge Says Claimant Failed To Meet Burden Of Proving Disability
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge denied a disability claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record after determining that the claimant failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that she was disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation.
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October 17, 2024
Amicus Bid In 11th Circuit ERISA Effective Vindication Case Draws Opposition
ATLANTA — An advocacy organization’s request for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act putative class action where the lower court applied the effective vindication doctrine has drawn opposition, with the appellants telling the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the proposal doesn’t add “to the arguments already before this Court” and “is tainted by the financial interests of counsel for Plaintiffs-Appellees.”
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October 15, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Review EAJA Fee Denial In ESOP Challenge
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As urged by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15 declined to review denial of an Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) request for attorney fees and nontaxable costs in an unsuccessful challenge to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal.
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October 15, 2024
Amicus Brief Filed In 7th Circuit MPRA Withdrawal Liability Row
CHICAGO — In an amicus curiae brief regarding a withdrawal liability dispute that involves the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA), two law professors say they think the challenged ruling is correct but they want to give the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “statutory and policy context . . . before it becomes the first (and perhaps only) appellate court to resolve this question.”
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October 15, 2024
Reconsideration Of Latest Postjudgment Ruling Denied In ERISA Conversion Case
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge has denied a motion that she said asked her “to reconsider and reverse virtually every aspect of” a postjudgment ruling for Cigna Corp. and its pension plan (together, Cigna); the motion was filed by the class that earlier achieved some success in a challenge to the plan’s 1998 conversion.
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October 14, 2024
Appeal And Attorney Fee Bid Are Dropped In ERISA Imprudence Case
SANTA ANA, Calif. — An appeal filed after defendants won on all claims after a bench trial in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) fees and funds has been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a stipulation, and the defendants told a California federal court they are withdrawing a fee award request and an application to tax costs.
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October 11, 2024
Another ERISA Effective Vindication Ruling Gets Certiorari Petition Treatment
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 10 filing, an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participant waived his right to respond to a certiorari petition in which the plan’s trustee urges the U.S. Supreme Court to address what it says is a circuit split on whether to “recognize the availability of individual arbitration for [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] claims.”
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October 11, 2024
Judge Makes Tentative Findings In ERISA Row Over Spin-Off, Retirement Benefits
PHILADELPHIA — Following a six-day bench trial in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over corporate restructuring that affected early retirement and optional retirement benefits, a Pennsylvania federal judge on Oct. 10 issued tentative findings of fact regarding liability issues and a related procedural order.
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October 11, 2024
Disability Insurer Says Claimant Not Entitled To More Than $445K In Attorney Fees
MINNEAPOLIS — A disability plan participant is not entitled to more than $445,000 in attorney fees because the participant’s submissions in support of the requested amount are based on unreasonable hourly rates and unsupported time entries, a disability insurer says in its response to the participant’s motion for attorney fees filed in Minnesota federal court.
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October 11, 2024
LTD Benefits Owed Based On Fibromyalgia Diagnosis, Disability Claimant Says
ATLANTA — In a complaint filed in Georgia federal court, a disability claimant alleges that her long-term disability (LTD) benefits were wrongfully denied and urges the court to find that she remains disabled under the disability plan as a result of a fibromyalgia diagnosis.
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October 11, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Says Disability Claimant Failed To Show She Remains Disabled
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge denied a disability claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record after determining that the claimant failed to meet her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that she remained disabled from working in a sedentary occupation as a result of symptoms related to fibromyalgia.
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October 11, 2024
Disability Claimant Not Entitled To Supplement Claim Record, Magistrate Judge Says
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts federal magistrate judge on Oct. 10 denied a disability claimant’s motion to clarify and complete a claim record after determining that the disability insurer sufficiently attested that the claim record is the complete record.
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October 10, 2024
$2.72M In Fees And Costs Awarded In ERISA Row Involving Withdrawal Liability
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Making slight reductions and reproaching “the defendants’ contumacy and intractability,” a District of Columbia federal court judge awarded attorney fees of $2,533,576.52 and costs of $187,769.17, both subject to postjudgment interest, in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act withdrawal liability case.
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October 10, 2024
Disability Claimant, Insurer Settle Dispute; Judge Enters Order Of Dismissal
BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge dismissed a long-term disability (LTD) benefits suit after the parties reached a settlement and filed a stipulation of dismissal.
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October 10, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms ERISA Pension Ruling Against Plan Participant
NEW YORK — In a nonprecedential summary order, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims relating to pension benefits for a participant who didn’t claim the benefits for several years after reaching retirement age while he kept working.
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October 10, 2024
Disability Claimant Appeals Any Occupation Standard Ruling To 11th Circuit
ATLANTA — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals following a Georgia federal judge’s finding that a disability insurer’s termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits was not wrong because the claimant failed to meet her burden of proving that she is disabled under the plan’s any occupation standard.
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October 09, 2024
Termination Of LTD Benefits Was Not Arbitrary, Capricious, Federal Judge Says
BATON ROUGE, La. — A disability insurer did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in terminating a claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the insurer’s decision is supported by substantial medical evidence showing that the claimant was not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation, a Louisiana federal judge said in denying the claimant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.
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October 09, 2024
Disability Claimant Failed To Prove Back Pain, Issues Are Disabling, Judge Says
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability claimant failed to present sufficient evidence to meet her burden of showing that she is disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation as a result of chronic back pain and disc degeneration, a Virginia federal judge said in granting a disability insurer’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.
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October 08, 2024
3rd Circuit Affirms Rulings For Former Exec In ERISA ‘Top Hat’ Benefits Row
PHILADELPHIA — Upholding rulings issued after a bench trial, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a nonprecedential disposition that the rate used to calculate a lump sum distribution was unreasonable under the terms of the “top hat” supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) at issue and that there was no clear error in the finding that the board “acted in bad faith.”
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October 08, 2024
Citing Thomas, 5th Circuit Upholds Denial Of AD&D Benefits In ERISA Case
NEW ORLEANS — In a per curiam unpublished opinion calling the reasoning of Thomas v. AIG Life Ins. Co. “persuasive,” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld denial of accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) benefits on the grounds that the beneficiary didn’t carry her burden.
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October 08, 2024
$500K Attorney Fee Deal Struck, Appeal Over ESG Factor Ruling Dropped
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge has adopted a stipulation in which Missouri state officials agreed to a $500,000 attorney fee award and dismissal with prejudice of their appeal of a ruling that imposed a statewide permanent injunction barring enforcement of parts of two new rules a trade association said would have required “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice.”
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October 07, 2024
Settlement With ‘Landmark’ $10M Recovery Gets Initial OK In Mortality Table Row
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal granted preliminary approval to a class settlement including what retirees said would be a “landmark recovery” of $10 million on Oct. 4; the proposal in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans also includes up to $4.75 million for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
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October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review ERISA Ruling In Life Insurance Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a certiorari petition regarding an Employee Retirement Income Security Act decision that a retiree said concerned information regarding group life insurance rates and the respondent contended didn’t answer the question presented in the petition.
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October 07, 2024
High Court Refuses To Review 5th Circuit’s Ruling In NFL Disability Benefits Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a former National Football League player’s petition for a writ of certiorari in its list of orders issued Oct. 7, refusing to review the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the former NFL player failed to prove that he is entitled to additional disability benefits under the NFL’s benefits plan.
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October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Government’s View On Withdrawal Liability Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court is seeking additional input on a petition for review of a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) withdrawal liability decision that created a circuit split, issuing an Oct. 7 invitation for the U.S. solicitor general to express the government’s views.