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
Cyber Insurance: As Prices Go Up, Coverage Disputes Increase As Well
You may need a subscription to read it, but I greatly enjoyed this Bloomberg Law article today on cyber insurance. The title of the article sort of says it all, although the article delves into the topic in decent depth: “Cyber Insurance Policies Grow Pricey Amid Rising Hacks, Lawsuits.”
For those of you
The Benefits of a Well Run ESOP
Lawyers who, like me, litigate ESOP cases often end up with a skewed view of ESOPs, if we aren’t careful. There is sort of a selection bias at play, in that we typically see the ESOPs where something has gone wrong, or is at least claimed to have gone wrong. I have had plenty of