In yesterday’s post on Darren Abernethy’s paper on Fair Share statutes, I ended up riffing on the question of whether the Maryland legislature, by putting before the courts a particularly bad version of such a statute, had distorted the development of the law of ERISA preemption in a manner that would only hurt the cause
Preemption of Fair Share Acts: Did the Maryland Legislature Manage to Set The Whole Issue Back a Thousand Years?
Here is Darren Abernethy’s law review note on preemption of state fair share acts that mandate that employers provide certain levels of health insurance. His note, which I have discussed before, is very well done, and Darren has generously allowed me to share it here in full. As readers may recall from earlier posts,
Complying with the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act
I have written a fair amount about whether the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act is preempted by ERISA, but not too much about the practicalities of complying with the act for as long as it remains unchallenged and unpreempted. This despite the fact that I have been asked a lot of questions about compliance by
Where Patent Law Stands Today
On Friday I feel free to deviate from the usual topics of this blog into the topics covered under the digressions category over on the left hand side of the blog. Today being Friday, that’s what I’m going to do, this time returning to an issue I have discussed before, the Supreme Court’s targeting last
Choice Architecture, 401(k) Plans and Race: The Answer to a Conundrum?
I have talked before on this blog about behavioral economics and choice architecture, which concerns the idea that how we structure retirement savings options will affect whether, and how successfully, people save for retirement. You can find a couple of my earlier posts on this issue here and here. In a provocative post –
Electronic Discovery and the Calculus of Arbitration
I have written before about electronic discovery and the amendments to the federal rules governing that discovery, and my theme has often been that the courts need to develop a jurisprudence concerning electronic discovery that carefully weighs the expense of the discovery versus the need for it before granting extensive (and expensive) electronic discovery. In
Sex, Lies and 401(k) Plans?
Well, that is probably overselling this post, but we couldn’t resist the play on the title of the much hyped, much overrated 1989 movie. Regardless, here is an interesting story, out of the soap opera meets 401(k) genre, concerning questions that have arisen over the administration of a prominent law firm’s 401(k) plan
Simply Put, Drunk Driving Doesn’t Happen By Accident
Turns out that the key word in the accidental death and dismemberment insurance that many people get through their employers (and which is therefore an ERISA governed benefit) is “accidental.” The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts has an interesting opinion out that details the applicable standards for determining whether a particular
How an Administrator Can Lose The Right To An Offset
This is actually a kind of fascinating, if someone odd, long term disability benefits case out of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. It involves what otherwise would seem to be a remarkably unnoteworthy issue, namely the right of the plan administrator – an insurer who also administered the plan –
A Divergent Voice on Whether The Supreme Court Cares About ERISA
Brian King has an interesting post over at his ERISA Law Blog, concerning my recent suggestion that the Supreme Court was poised to shift the currents of the river that is the law of ERISA. Brian’s take? Ain’t happening, although in truth Brian’s point is a little more subtle than that, and is