Seeking to resolve a rather lopsided circuit split, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court seem poised to support a requirement that employees alleging breach of fiduciary duty overcome a pleading-stage presumption that employee stock plan fiduciaries acted with prudence.
Read More »Tag Archives: ERISA
BRIEFS FOR THE BRIEFS WRITER: Notices of appeal: The finality saga continues
This column’s main mantra for appeals is to appeal from any decision, order or judgment which could reasonably be construed as “appealable.”
Read More »DOMA guidance could spur litigation wave
Recent guidance issued by the Department of Labor could trigger litigation over a new concern: whether private business owners with religious objections to gay marriage can be required to extend employment benefits to their employees’ same-sex spouses in states where such unions are not recognized.
Read More »Analysis: Employees must keep beneficiary designations updated
It’s fair to assume Warren Hillman never intended that the proceeds of his federal employee life insurance policy would go to his ex-wife when he died unexpectedly in 2008.
Read More »Insurance – ERISA — disability benefits
11-1295 & 11-1427 Raybourne v. Cigna Life Insurance Co. of New York
Read More »Employment – ERISA — retaliation
11-3291 George v. Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, Inc.
Read More »Employment — ERISA
10-3524 Schorsch v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co.
Read More »Employment – ERISA — delegation
12-1230 Aschermann v. Aetna Life Ins. Co.
Read More »Employment – ERISA — disability
10-1136 Marantz v. Permanente Medical Group, Inc.
Read More »Employment – ERISA — statutory penalties
11-1112 Killian v. Concert Health Plan
Read More »ERISA plans may offset child’s Social Security benefits, says 7th Circuit
Employee benefit plans could reduce long-term disability benefits by the amount of Social Security disability benefits received by the plan participants’ dependent children, the 7th Circuit has ruled in affirming judgment.
Read More »Employment — ERISA
11-2889 Schultz v. Avaiall, Inc Long Term Disability Plan
Read More »Employment — ERISA
10-3286 Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Waste Management of Michigan, Inc.
Read More »TORT REPORT: Made-whole doctrine can be effectively disclaimed in policy
In Wisconsin, the made-whole doctrine has provided the insured with a legal right to pursue money from a tortfeasor to cover his or her losses.
Employment – ERISA – surviving spousal benefits
10-1521 Burns v. Orthotek, Inc., Employees’ Pension Plan and Trust
Read More »Employment – ERISA – breach of fiduciary duty
09-4081 & 10-1755 Loomis v. Exelon Corp.
Read More »10-2284 & 10-3046 Kolbe & Kolbe Health & Welfare Benefit Plan v. The Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc.
Employment ERISA; attorney fees
Read More »10-1900 Frye v. Thompson Steel Co., Inc.
Employment ERISA; offsets
Read More »10-1978, 10-2175 & 10-3713 Williams v. Rohm and Haas Pension Plan
Employment ERISA; class actions; attorney fees
Read More »09-3884 Pearson v. Voith Paper Rolls, Inc.
Employment ERISA; estoppel
Read More »10-3287 Carter v. Pension Plan of A. Finkel & Sons Co.
Employment ERISA
Read More »10-1558 Sullivan v. CUNA Mutual Ins. Society
Employment ERISA
Read More »10-1889 & 10-3083 Pakovich v. Verizon LTD Plan
Employment ERISA
Read More »10-2887 NewPage Wisconsin system, Inc., v. United Steel
Employment ERISA; LMRA
Read More »10-3898 & 11-1006 Weitzenkamp v. UNUM Life Ins. Co. of America
Insurance ERISA; self-reported symptoms limitation The failure to include a self-reported symptoms limitation in the summary plan description (“SPD”) prevents an ERISA plan from relying on it to discontinue benefits. “Here, the SPD clearly sets out that long-term benefits will be discontinued after twenty-four months if a participant’s disability is due to mental illness or substance abuse. It does not, ...
Read More »2009AP1558 Steffens v. BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois
Insurance ERISA
Read More »10-3917, 10-3918, 10-3988 & 10-3989 Thompson v. Retirement Plan for Employees of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
Employment ERISA; deference
Read More »10-2112 Jackman Financial Corp. v. Humana Ins. Co.
Insurance ERISA; facility-of-payment clauses Where a life insurance policy contained a facility-of-payment clause, it did not violate ERISA for the insurer to pay the proceeds to the insured’s children. “Under the arbitrary and capricious standard, we overturn the administrator’s decision only where there is an absence of reasoning to support it. See Hess v. Reg-Ellen Machine Tool Corp., 423 F.3d ...
Read More »09-804 Cigna Corp. v. Amara
ERISA Equity Although ERISA does not give district courts authority to reform a pension plan, relief is authorized by sec. 502(a)(3), which allows a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary “to obtain other appropriate equitable relief” to redress violations of ERISA “or the [plan’s] terms.” This Court has interpreted §502(a)(3)’s phrase “appropriate equitable relief” as referring to “‘those categories of relief’” that, ...
Read More »09-1750 In re: Motorola Securities Litigation
Securities ERISA; affiliated purchasers A corporation’s profit sharing plan cannot claim a share of the settlement of a securities fraud action. “[T]he Plan is an affiliate of Motorola and on this basis is excluded from the class, although we arrive at this conclusion by a slightly different analysis. The district court applied the ordinary meaning of the term ‘affiliate,’ but ...
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