By Mark Casciari and Alexius O’Malley

Synopsis: Supreme Court has agreed to decide the fate of class waiver provisions in mandatory arbitration agreements, which may spark a new trend in ERISA benefits litigation. 

On January 13, 2017, the United States Supreme Court agreed to decide whether employment agreements mandating individual arbitration of employment disputes, and

By: Mark Casciari and Michelle Scannell

ERISA class actions can drag on for years.  Defending them is costly, so expensive nuisance settlements are tempting, regardless of the merits. 

Compounding the problem, ERISA actions often are ripe for class certification because ERISA plans, by definition, each apply to a class of people. 

But before you grab

By:  Amanda Sonneborn and Meg Troy

In the first case to rely substantially on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S.Ct. 2541 (2011), to deny class certification in a putative ERISA class action, the Northern District of Illinois recently rejected the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification of a stock drop claim.  In Groussman et

By:  Mark Casciari and Ada Dolph

On an issue it described as “undecided,” the Second Circuit held on November 3, 2011 that a pensioner’s ERISA Section 502(a)(3) claim of an underpayment of benefits under an ERISA plan accrues “when there is enough information available to the pensioner to assure that he knows or reasonably should