By: Ryan Tikker
2022 has seen an increase in putative class actions brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (29 U.S.C. §§ 1109 and 1132) against plan fiduciaries. Plaintiffs typically allege that plan fiduciaries breached the duties that ERISA imposes of employee retirement plans, namely, that the fiduciaries breached their duties of loyalty
By: Ryan Tikker
Recently, the Ninth Circuit addressed and further clarified the requirement of a “full and fair review” in the context of a long-term disability benefit case under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In matters that go to litigation, the Ninth Circuit held that a district court may not rely on rationales
By: Mark Casciari and Michael Cederoth
Seyfarth Synopsis: If an ERISA plaintiff establishes a fiduciary breach, expect the computation of damages to be a complicated process that may enhance damages through judgment. And a court judgment in complicated cases can take years to issue. This is the lesson from a recent decision of the Court
By: Tom Horan, Ian Morrison, and Sam Schwartz-Fenwick
Seyfarth Synopsis: Recognizing that the Plan contained an unambiguous arbitration provision, and that “ERISA claims are generally arbitrable,” the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals nonetheless found that arbitration could not be compelled where the provision prospectively barred the plaintiff from pursuing certain statutory remedies.
In Smith v.
By Mark Casciari and James Hlawek
Seyfarth Synopsis: A federal district court denied a motion to dismiss an ERISA complaint that was based in large part on secondhand “information and belief” allegations about the defendants’ business operations. The decision serves as a warning to defendants that they may be forced into costly discovery based on
By Jules Levenson and Mark Casciari
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a decision with major significance for ERISA plans, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld the validity of forum selection clauses in those plans.
ERISA is replete with details. Among them is the proper forum for litigation under the statute. ERISA lists
By: Rebecca K. Bryant, Sam M. Schwartz-Fenwick, and Ian H. Morrison
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent 10th Circuit decision holding that in order for the abuse of discretion standard to apply in litigation the claims administrator must provide participants with actual notice of discretionary authority or notice of a document affecting standard of review
By: Mark Casciari and Michael W. Stevens
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent Supreme Court decision on federal securities law may hold ramifications for ERISA practitioners by addressing whether disgorgement is an equitable remedy.
ERISA’s civil enforcement provisions generally allow the federal courts to award appropriate “equitable” relief. A permissible equitable remedy is disgorgement, which, in
By Michael W. Stevens and Mark Casciari
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court dismissed, prior to any discovery, claims of ERISA fiduciary breach because the plan participant-plaintiffs failed to show that the alleged breaches caused them concrete injury. As a general matter, this decision will make it more difficult for plaintiffs to claim ERISA violations in
Seyfarth Synopsis: Two recent lower court decisions provide a primer on when a prevailing party in an ERISA case may recover fees (as a fee award is not automatic) and a window into the future of video hearings to resolve fee motions.
Two interesting lower court decisions on attorney fee motions were recently issued from