By Kathleen Cahill Slaught and Michelle Scannell
In the latest chapter in a long-running battle about retiree health and life insurance benefits, the Tenth Circuit recently brought retiree Plaintiffs’ fiduciary breach claims back to life. In doing so, the Tenth Circuit sided with the Second Circuit in a circuit split on the applicable statute of…
By Mark Casciari and Jim Goodfellow
Once again, the Supreme Court will opine on how to write ERISA plans to maximize the right of fiduciaries to sue to recover monetary relief.
On March 30, 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to review the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Board of…
By Kathleen Cahill Slaught and Michelle Scannell
Since the Supreme Court’s CIGNA v. Amara decision, courts have grappled with the scope of the permissible forms of equitable relief under ERISA, including the surcharge remedy, the sole focus of today’s blog. Surcharge is generally a type of monetary relief awarded to remedy a fiduciary breach. In…
Today, the Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision authored by Justice Breyer, issued its decision in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, stating, “We hold that no such presumption [of prudence] applies. Instead, ESOP fiduciaries are subject to the same duty of prudence that applies to ERISA fiduciaries in general, except that…
By: Ian Morrison and Abigail Cahak
The first (or second) question to ask in any ERISA breach of fiduciary duty case is whether the acts in question are even fiduciary acts.
On appeal in an ERISA “stock drop” case, the Second Circuit focused on that basic question, resulting in a clean win for the defendants.…
By: Ada Dolph and James Goodfellow
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) continues to roll out regulations focused on plan fee disclosures. Last week, the DOL published a proposed amendment to the 2012 final rule proposing to make mandatory a guide for covered service providers to include with their ERISA Section 408(b)(2) disclosures to plan…
By Kathleen Cahill Slaught and Justin T. Curley[1]
In Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc., 547 U.S. 356 (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court held that an ERISA plan could recover settlement proceeds from a beneficiary under the terms of the plan rather than under an equitable lien theory requiring “strict tracing” of…
By: Ronald J. Kramer
When it comes to monetary damages, usually a plaintiff must show some type of harm to recover. That apparently is not the case, however, when seeking plan reformation as a remedy for an alleged failure to disclose certain information.
In Osberg v. Foot Locker, Case No. 13-187-cv (2d Cir. Feb.…
By: Mark Casciari and Annette Kim
In Killian v. Concert Health Plan, No. 11-1112 (7th Cir. Nov. 7, 2013), the Seventh Circuit en banc reversed the judgment of the district court, holding plaintiff-appellant, James Killian, may pursue a claim for breach of fiduciary duty against his deceased wife’s health care plan. Mr. Killian…
By: Mark Casciari and Chris Busey
Anyone who can spell ERISA knows the difference between defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution retirement plans. This distinction was again at the forefront of a recent U.S. district court decision.
In Palmason v. Weyerhauser Co., No. 11-0695 (W.D. Wash. Aug. 23, 2013), plaintiffs were participants in the…
