Second Circuit Narrows ERISA Exhaustion Requirement When Plan Document Is...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s holding in Kirkendall v. Halliburton, Inc. reaffirms that a benefit plan’s claims procedures must be drafted clearly and in language to be understood...
View ArticleMultiple Class Action Complaints Challenge Church Plan Status of Hospital...
Recent complaints challenging the “church plan” status of certain pension plans maintained by church-sponsored hospital systems may signal the beginning of a new wave of lawsuits challenging...
View ArticleSupreme Court Upholds ERISA Plan’s Three-Year Deadline to File a Lawsuit
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that an ERISA plan may properly impose a reasonable time limit on filing a lawsuit to recover benefits. Such time may start to run even before completion of...
View ArticleView From McDermott: Conflicting Review Standards in Executive Retirement...
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, retirement plans generally come in two flavors – (i) retirement plans qualified under Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) and (ii)...
View ArticleSixth Circuit to Revisit Unprecedented Expansion of ERISA Wrongful Denial of...
On December 6, 2013, in Rochow v. Life Insurance Company of North America, 737 F.3d 415 (6th Cir. 2013), the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that an insurance company that improperly...
View ArticlePBGC Announces 2014 Moratorium on ERISA Section 4062(e) Enforcement Actions
On July 8, 2014, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued a press release announcing a moratorium on its enforcement of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974(ERISA) Section...
View ArticleSenate Unanimously Approves Bill Modifying ERISA Section 4062(e)
On September 16, 2014, the United States Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 2511, which would amend Section 4062(e) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), to...
View ArticleSupreme Court to Review Application of ERISA’s Six-Year Statute of...
On October 2, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States granted the plaintiffs’ petition for a writ of certiorari in Tibble v. Edison International to answer “Whether a claim that [Employee...
View ArticleCalifornia Imposes Mandatory Sick Leave Law
On September 10, 2014, California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (California’s sick leave law) became law. The new law requires most employers to allow employees to accrue up to...
View ArticleView From McDermott: A New Type of ERISA-Based Hold-Up—The Rise of...
Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of physicians who have dropped out of Preferred Provider Organization (‘‘PPO’’) and Health Maintenance Organization (‘‘HMO’’)...
View ArticleERISA Section 4062(e) Significantly Reformed Effective December 16, 2014
On December 16, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, which contains provisions that significantly reform ERISA Section 4062(e). The new law...
View ArticleSupreme Court Rejects Sixth Circuit’s Yard-Man Inferences in M&G Polymers...
In M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, 135 S. Ct. 935 (2015), the Supreme Court of the United States addressed the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that include...
View ArticleSixth Circuit Rejects Claim that Disgorgement of Profits Is Appropriate...
On March 5, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc in the matter of Rochow v. Life Insurance Company of North America, 2015 WL 925794 (6th Cir. Mar. 5, 2015), reversed...
View ArticleView From McDermott: 2014 ERISA Litigation Review–Decisions From the Supreme...
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a number of significant ERISA cases. In its 2013-14 term, the Supreme Court decided two ERISA-based appeals – Fifth Third Bancorp. v. Dudenhoeffer and Heimeshoff...
View ArticleSupreme Court Acknowledges Fiduciaries Have Continuous Duty to Monitor Plan...
On May 18, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion in the Tibble v. Edison Int’l, 575 U.S. ___ (2015) case, finding that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit erred in...
View ArticleSupreme Court Rejects Latest Challenge to Affordable Care Act: What Are...
On June 25, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld one of the main pillars of the Affordable Care Act (ACA): the tax credits that allow millions of Americans to afford health care...
View ArticleCalifornia Amends Its Healthy Workplaces, Health Families Law
As previously reported, California’s Healthy Workplaces, Health Families Act of 2014 (California’s Sick Leave Law) took full effect on July 1, 2015, although some provisions were effective as of...
View ArticleSeventh Circuit Finds that State Insurance Law Applies, Resulting in De Novo...
On September 4, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in Fontaine v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended...
View ArticleDOL’s New Disability Claim Rules Add to a Plan Administrator’s Duties under...
Now, faced with an aging baby-boomer generation and increased costs related to disability litigation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (DOL) has proposed new...
View ArticleFlambeau Inc. Wellness Program Testing Falls Within ADA Safe Harbor
On December 30, 2015, a federal judge in the Western District of Wisconsin ruled in favor of Flambeau, Inc. (Flambeau) and against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in holding that...
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