By Michael W. Stevens and Mark Casciari
Seyfarth synopsis: Arkansas has sought certiorari on the question of the ability of states under the ERISA preemption clause to regulate the rates charged by PBMs, and the Supreme Court has asked for the input of the Solicitor General on whether it should decide the issue..
In…
By: Mark Casciari
Synopsis: A new Third Circuit decision has allowed an ERISA fee complaint to stand even though there were no specific allegations of fiduciary errors in the process of selecting investment options and fees. This development is yet another in the line of decisions that decide if the federal door to discovery will…
By Ronald Kramer, S. Bradley Perkins, and Michael W. Stevens
Seyfarth Synopsis: A provider that is not seeking benefits based upon an assignment of a patient’s claims under ERISA but instead is pursuing state law claims based solely on agreements and representations made directly by the insurer to the provider may survive attempts…
By Mark Casciari and Kristine Argentine
Synopsis : Many parties to ERISA litigation and arbitration pay lip service to the burden of proof, put on their respective cases and leave it to the trier of fact to decide which side deserves the victory. Burdens of proof have become increasingly important, however, as procedural and substantive…
Seyfarth Synopsis: Please join us at our Chicago Willis Tower office on Thursday, December 6th, for breakfast along with a Seyfarth Legal Forum and Continuing Legal Education (CLE): 2018 Highlights and a Look Ahead to 2019.
About the Program
Providing our clients with a multidisciplinary overview of Legal Hot Button issues and Best Practice: …
By: Mark Casciari and Jim Goodfellow
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit declined to enforce an agreement to arbitrate ERISA Section 502(a)(2) claims, but did not rule out enforcement in other ERISA claim contexts.
In Munro v. University of Southern California, et al., No. 17-5550, 2018 WL 3542996 (9th Cir. July 24, 2018), plaintiffs sought…
By Ryan Pinkston and Jon Braunstein
SEYFARTH SYNOPSIS: The Ninth Circuit recently dealt another major blow to healthcare providers that attempt to bring suits as assignees of their individual patients, holding that an ERISA plan’s anti‑assignment provision bars a provider’s suit even where the plan mistakenly told the provider that no such anti‑assignment provision exists.…
By Ron Kramer
Seyfarth Synopsis: While an employer can bargain to impasse and exit a critical status multiemployer pension fund, under the Pension Protection Act it cannot bargain to impasse and implement a proposal that would have it remain in the fund, but under different terms than the rehabilitation plan schedule the parties had previously…
By James Hlawek and Ian Morrison
Seyfarth Synopsis: An employer, which had paid medical expenses on behalf of an employee’s dependent son, made comments about the company’s rising healthcare costs several months before firing the employee. The Sixth Circuit found this was enough to warrant a trial on the employee’s ERISA interference and retaliation…
By: Ryan Pinkston and Jon Braunstein
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a major victory for ERISA plans and other payors, the Fifth Circuit recently overturned a district court’s notorious decision in favor of a healthcare provider and reinstated a plan administrator’s ability to guard against healthcare billing fraud, waste, and abuse.
On December 19, 2017, the United…
