Well, this is something. I think the partner who mentored me as a junior associate and I started reserving insurers’ rights to recover defense costs back from insureds if the claim at issue turned out to be uncovered thirty years ago – and someone has finally convinced a Massachusetts court to order an insured to
Why Old Fashioned Good Faith, And Not Regulation, Is The True Key To A Well-Run ESOP
I have an interesting relationship with ESOPs, both as a matter of my personal preference for corporate designs that place at least some of the value of a company in the hands of those who create that value, and from the perspective of a lawyer who has spent many years litigating ESOP disputes. The two
An Interesting Commentary on the State of the Fiduciary Liability Insurance Market
I didn’t want July to pass without commenting on The Fid Guru’s excellent blog post reviewing excessive fee litigation over the first half of the year and the corresponding state of the fiduciary liability insurance market. I particularly appreciated the extensive discussion of the history of the market for fiduciary liability coverage, as it
Attorney Fee Awards in Chapter 93A and ERISA Litigation
Twenty years or so ago, I represented an insurer in a $20 million insurance bad faith and Chapter 93A claim in which one of the key issues was whether the insurer was right to rely on the advice of a terrific lawyer, Tom Burns (the Burns in the Boston firm Burns and Levinson), who had
What Does Bobby Bonilla Day Teach Us About Deferred Compensation Agreements?
Bobby Bonilla day is celebrated every July 1st, as the day on which the retired outfielder is paid $1,193,248.20 from the New York Mets, which the Mets will continue to do until the last payment in 2035. Its usually recognized in the media as the punchline of a joke about the Mets and their previous
The Eleventh Circuit Says – Correctly – That the Widow of a Deceased Employee Can Recover Life Insurance Benefits Even Though the Deceased Employee Was Never Enrolled in the Plan Due to the Plan Administrator’s Mistakes
One of my partners emailed me the other day with kind words about my blog, and I responded that there was plenty to write about these days when it comes to ERISA and insurance. Amusingly, this morning’s inbox ended up presenting the perfect exemplar. I was sitting down to write some follow up comments on
What Would Shakespeare Say About Offering Bitcoin in 401(k) Plans?
Somehow, Shakespeare seems to have anticipated crypto; the ongoing kerfuffle over offering crypto in the investment menus of 401(k) plans is seeming more and more to be simply “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” For those of you who may have missed it, in the past several weeks, just to hit the highlights, Fidelity
The Problem of Access to Retirement Plans in Small Companies
This is a great article on the question of why smaller businesses do not offer retirement plans. I recommend reading it, and won’t simply restate its findings here, but instead want to add two thoughts.
First, there are many important issues in the world when it comes to retirement security for employees, but the lack
According to the Second Circuit, the DOL Claim Regulations Actually Do Mean What They Say
I am of two minds when it comes to ERISA decisions out of the Second Circuit. My first is to naturally jump to the conclusion that, in the immortal words of Willy Loman, attention must be paid, simply because of the Court. Then I remember the long retired big law partner from my
Retaliation, Section 510 and the Timing of Terminations
Section 510 of ERISA makes it illegal to take any job action for the purpose of interfering with an employment benefit that would otherwise have been due to the employee. The classic formulation of such a claim is terminating an employee right before a pension would have vested, simply to avoid owing the benefit; some