Lawsuits by out-of-network medical providers against ERISA plans and their third party administrators rank as one of the most common ERISA-type cases being raised these days. In these cases, out-of-network medical providers purport to provide services to patients—often substance use or mental health treatments—and then...
Fiduciaries are not guarantors of an investment’s success. Rather, all they are asked to do is be diligent, prudent, and loyal in managing an investment’s success—the ultimate success or failure of the investment does not determine whether a fiduciary has properly complied with their duties. ...
Regular followers of ERISA litigation know that the so-called 401(k)/403(b) “fee” cases have dominated the ERISA litigation space ever since the first tranche was filed in 2006. Literally hundreds of cases have been filed against defined contribution plan fiduciaries, resulting in the payment of billions...
Vanilla ERISA claims seeking plan benefits may well be the most common lawsuit encountered by federal judges. Even so, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not expressly contemplate how these ERISA claims for benefits—with their unique limits on discovery and discretionary standard of review...
The United States Supreme Court’s constitutional standing decision in Thole continues to reverberate throughout ERISA litigation. In Scott v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc., the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota dismissed challenges to United’s cross-plan offsetting practices because the plaintiffs, plan participants, themselves...
In Negron v. Cigna Health and Life Ins., the Plaintiffs alleged that CIGNA misinterpreted their standardized group health plans and caused pharmacies to charge participants with higher copays than was proper. Plaintiffs sought to certify a class of all participants in the various group health...
Under ERISA, group health plans are legal entities that can sue and be sued. Often overlooked, these plans have the ability to raise lawsuits under not only ERISA, but state law, antitrust, and other legal theories. On May 11, the United States District Court for...
After a long, tortured procedural history, Principal Life Insurance Co. won a court trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. The case was initially dismissed in an early procedural motion, but then revived by the Eighth Circuit Court of...
ESOPs and so-called “company stock funds” are designed to hold the stock of the sponsoring employer. They are designed by their nature to be undiversified, and ERISA exempts them from any contrary obligation. Still, ERISA’s fiduciary duties still apply to those who administer and manage...
ERISA Section 102 requires employers to provide accurate and comprehensive information about plan benefits to participants through a summary plan description (and its updates). A group of participants in Detroit Edison’s defined benefit plan sued alleging that the employer failed to accurately describe the consequences...
Giant 401(k) service providers like Fidelity have an array of products and fees. Under ERISA’s fiduciary standards, this network of fees and costs have historically given rise to allegations that Fidelity was a fiduciary. Historically, providers like Fidelity have often—but not always—been able to defeat...
Suits alleging that defined benefit plan sponsors failed to update mortality tables used to determine whether alternative plan benefit options are the “actuarial equivalent” of the single life benefit have been proceeding rapidly. Just days ago, one of the targets of these actuarial equivalence lawsuits...
In their search for above-market returns, 401(k) Plan fiduciaries may be tempted to look for alternative investment options to the traditional mutual funds and collective trusts that largely dominate 401(k) Plan investments—options such as hedge funds and private equity. Fear of lawsuits might hamper adoption...
The initial critical inquiry in any ERISA fiduciary breach case is whether the defendant is an ERISA fiduciary—often a very complex inquiry. In Central Valley Ag Cooperative v. Daniel Leonard et al., the Eighth Circuit rejected claims against two service provides to an ERISA group...
A California federal court recently dismissed an ERISA class action claiming that the investment options in Intel Corp.’s 401(k) plan were too expensive and unperformed. In reaching that decision, the court followed a framework set forth by the Eighth Circuit in Meiners v. Wells Fargo...
A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Fleming v. Rollins, Inc., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 227697 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 23, 2020) highlights the disagreement among courts about the scope of ERISA’s requirement that participants exhaust their ERISA...
The Supreme Court’s standing decision in Thole v. U.S. Bank N.A., 140 S. Ct. 1615 (2020) continues to have consequences in the lower courts. Applying Thole, a New York federal court recently dismissed a putative class action because the health plan in question was overfunded,...
In one of a growing number of cases involving cybertheft of 401(k) plan assets, a federal judge allowed ERISA claims to proceed against a third-party plan administrator, but dismissed the claims against the plan sponsor. The plaintiff alleged that an imposter obtained her password, logged...
Andrew HollyAndrew represents clients in a wide range of complex civil matters.
Nick BullardNick is a trial partner in Dorsey’s office in Minneapolis. ...
Tim ArendsChair of the Benefits and Compensation practice group, Tim devot...
Shannon BjorklundShannon provides advice and litigation assistance to companies...
Tim GoodmanTim Goodman works with employers on medical plans, retirement pl...
Alan IversonAlan is a litigator in Dorsey’s trial group with a focus on cli...
Stephen P. LuckeSteve represents businesses, employers, insurers, and fiduciarie...
Marianne O'BaraMarianne works regularly with numerous non-U.S. companies and t...
Kirsten SchubertKirsten helps clients large and small navigate all aspects of com...
Michael VovesEmployee Benefits, Minneapolis
