This week, I cheated. I have known since Tuesday that I wasn’t going to have time to either blog or post on LinkedIn this week on even a small portion of the articles, ideas, podcasts and presentations that were crossing my desk and catching my eye. So I started writing this week’s Five Favorites for Friday three days ago, knowing that I would otherwise have way too many candidates for this post that I would have to cull through on Thursday to write this post.

For anyone new to this series, the back story can be found here – but in short, the Five Favorites for Friday post is my opportunity to write relatively briefly on five items from my inbox that I want to, but haven’t yet had the opportunity to, comment on.

So here are this week’s Fab Five:

  1. I am slightly late on this particular article, in that it wasn’t published this week. However, the conceit of this series is that it allows me to discuss things that crossed my literal or figurative desk and caught my eye in the past week, which this one did. Stephen Embry’s article on advanced AI weaponry for plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyers points out that the development could be a game changer for both the plaintiffs’ bar and the defense bar. I have written before, however, on my concern in the ERISA space with regard to what an AI powered plaintiffs’ class action bar suggests for ERISA plan sponsors, fiduciaries and their insurers – namely, the ability of more such shops to litigate more such cases, including against smaller plans that previously wouldn’t have justified the expense of suit, with the same or less investment and staffing. Other than the class action defense bar, more class action ERISA suits is the last thing that anyone on the defense side of the “v”or their insurers need. Whether it’s number of suits, settlement amounts, defense costs, or any other rubric, the trendlines in this area are already worrisome for plan sponsors and their insurers. The continued rollout of AI isn’t going to help.
  2. I really like insurance (as anyone who reads this blog can likely tell) and I love movies. So sue me. I really, however, have long been fascinated by movie stunt performers, ever since I worked as a pizza delivery driver as a teen in a shop run by a stuntman who had moved from Hollywood to the East Coast for a while because of a contentious divorce and custody battle back east. I have said before that I am really enjoying MS Amlin’s series of short films comparing underwriters to established movie stunt performers, and I really enjoyed the latest release.
  3. I am sure you know the old quote from the bank robber Willie Sutton, as to why he robbed banks – “Because that’s where the money is.” Forfeiture litigation, which is based on the theory that it violates ERISA for plan sponsors and fiduciaries to use employer contributions that revert to a plan when employees terminate employment to offset future contributions, is all the rage at the moment. As this article points out, the legal foundation for the claims is, to date, leaky, but there is a massive amount of money at issue. Right now, to me, the explosion in these types of cases represents large damages, still searching for a cause of action.
  4. This is a great story about First Brands, the risks of contagion and private equity. The story is an object lesson in why it is going to be extremely hard for plan fiduciaries to act prudently if they become charged with overseeing private equity and other alternative investment options in their 401(k) plans. My advice to plan fiduciaries confronting this issue is right here, and hasn’t changed since I wrote it.
  5. There was a lot of competition for the coveted fifth and final slot in this week’s Five Favorites for Friday. Among other candidates, I could have easily gone with this podcast on the changes AI will bring to liability standards in medical malpractice litigation, or this article detailing the growth in class action ERISA litigation in 2025, or a host of other worthy contenders. But instead I am going with this article on the status of cyber insurance and related developments in Asia. What I like most about it is that it illustrates the interrelationship between the growth of this line of insurance and real time developments in the world of cyber risk, including government efforts to protect against cyber exposures.