As an ERISA litigator, I have long been an advocate of the idea that the best defense against litigation is good compliance – in other words, that the best way to prevent lawsuits and, if sued, to come out whole on the other end is to operate a well-run benefit program and to consistently do
There is an interesting article in the Guardian on the subject of structural and policy barriers in the United States to the elimination of poverty, which is addressed in a new book by a MacArthur award winning sociologist. I think the New Yorker has a new article out on the same topic, probably based on
I spoke earlier in the week at ALM’s Complex Claims and Litigation Forum in Las Vegas, where I was on a panel on “Tackling Market Disruptors – How to Manage Industry Shifts.” I spoke on a subject near and dear to my heart, which is the impact on claims handling of the rise of the
I was pleased to read this article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, as well as the recent Supreme Judicial Court decision it references. For several years, I have been arguing that in insurance coverage disputes involving sophisticated insureds, Massachusetts courts are moving away from their historic reliance on pro-insured maxims in deciding coverage disputes in favor
I enjoyed this article from Middle Market Growth on the intersection of private equity investing and ESOPs. As the article points out, most people think of ESOPs as fully employee owned enterprises, but in fact there are partially employee owned companies where there is room for private equity investments elsewhere in the ownership structure and
One of the advantages of writing a blog on a particular subject for as long as I have – going on 17 years now – is that you become your own sort of institutional memory, in a way. When I saw this article in Forbes today, discussing barriers that the NFL’s disability system throws up
There is an excellent article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly this week by Eric Berkman on a new District Court decision by Judge Woodlock in Massachusetts concerning mental health benefits and the nature of the review provided by an insurer. The decision, K.D. v. Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, found that the insurer had an insufficient basis
I attended a large legal conference (DRI’s Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium) in person last week for the first time since the pandemic, and not only learned a lot, but had a great time (shout out in particular to the kitchen staff at Capital Grill and props to the bartender at the Whitby
Albert Feuer, who writes frequently on the technical aspects of ERISA compliance, has published an interesting new article in Bloomberg Tax’s Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal on the latest proposed legislation to alter retirement savings. Albert points out that the changes would help in allowing employees to increase their retirement savings, but would fail
I had another conversation yesterday with a financial advisor about bitcoin and crypto in 401(k) plans, a subject on which I have written skeptically in the past. As I am wont to do, I again questioned whether the hunger to add crypto to defined contribution plans is in employees’ best interest, or whether instead