I suspect that no one understands as well as an ERISA litigator the extent to which the rules governing judicial decision making either determine the outcome of a dispute or, at a minimum, dictate a specific and limited range of potential outcomes as well as establish the respective odds of each. In the context of
Stephen Rosenberg
Stephen has chaired the ERISA and insurance coverage/bad faith litigation practices at two Boston firms, and has practiced extensively in commercial litigation for nearly 30 years. As head of the Wagner Law Group's ERISA litigation practice, he represents plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries, financial advisors, plan participants, company executives, third-party administrators, employers and others in a broad range of ERISA disputes, including breach of fiduciary duty, denial of benefit, Employee Stock Ownership Plan and deferred compensation matters.
What Does a $2.45 Million Settlement of an ERISA Class Action Tell Employers and Plan Sponsors About Risk Management?
This is a fascinating story of risk management and the commodification of ERISA class action litigation. It’s the story of a $2.45 million settlement of a class action concerning the alleged use of outdated mortality tables in a pension plan. For many years, including by me in this blog, ERISA lawyers and commentators have been…
Long Covid and the Problem of Subjectivity in LTD Litigation
At this point in my career, I have litigated just about every type of ERISA claim I can think of, from denied benefit claims to deferred compensation/top hat claims to class actions. I have even made new law in the still developing area of equitable relief under ERISA. I got my start in ERISA litigation…
Black Magic and Reinsurance
When I was a very junior (probably first year) lawyer, one of the founding deans of the modern policyholder practice, Jerry Oshinsky, when he found out I was working on the concept of partial equitable subrogation in the context of insurance losses, laughed and said he considered the entire subject to be “black magic,” more…
What Would a Reasonable Middle Ground on Allowing Excessive Fee Class Actions Look Like?
I wanted to pass along this advisory from Davis Wright Tremaine which argues for legislative action to, in essence, raise the bar that plaintiffs have to hurdle to prosecute an ERISA excessive fee class action. What I like most about it is the authors do not simply complain and ask for legislative intervention, but instead…
Can You Discuss Jazz and the Department of Labor in the Same Blog Post? I Can.
The Department of Labor’s regulation governing ERISA claims and administrative appeals provides a comprehensive structure for the claim process required of all ERISA plans. While there is plenty of room within the context of the regulation for a particular plan to contain its own essentially bespoke claims process, the regulation imposes the broader outline with…
Improving Federal Court Litigation One Alternative Fee Agreement at a Time
I did not intend to return, yet again, to the summary judgment opinion in Sellers as gist for a blog post. Something about it that I haven’t touched on yet, however, keeps overlapping with other developments which caught my attention because of their relationship to long standing interests of mine related to trial work, discovery…
Horse Races, Judges and Summary Judgment: Further Thoughts on Sellers v. Boston College
Growing up in Baltimore in the Seventies (you can take the boy out of Baltimore but you can’t take the Orioles out of the boy – go Birds!), I developed a love of horse racing, back in the heyday of Pimlico racetrack and the Preakness. I still remember watching Secretariat run the second leg of…
Summary Judgment Proceedings in Breach of Fiduciary Duty Litigation: The Lessons of Sellers v. Boston College
I suspect every client I have ever represented in litigation can testify that I am overly fond of the old saying if you have the facts, argue the facts; if you have the law, argue the law; and if you have neither, jump up and down and scream. In my view, most of the time…
Time to Polish Off an Old Chestnut and Put it Back Out on the Mantel: Fixing Retirement Readiness by Postponing the Age of Retirement
Many years ago, back when we were closer to the tipping point where 401(k) plans replaced pensions for the majority of employees, there was a great deal of discussion about whether employees could possibly be financially ready to retire at age 65 absent pensions. I argued at the time that the discussion was wrong and…