I have talked elsewhere, including here and here, about the extent to which market forces can be expected to protect against conflicted decision makers in ERISA benefits litigation, and my preference for the position of courts such as the First Circuit, who recognize the central role such forces should play in devising the appropriate
Bad Faith Failure to Settle? Maybe, Maybe Not.
Well, this is an interesting report, and though I am not quite sure exactly what to make of it, it falls within the general rubric of this blog. As Robert Ambrogi sums the reporting and blogging on this story up here, a law firm has been hit with an eighteen million dollar malpractice verdict
Insurance Policy Interpretation and ERISA Conflict of Interests
Insurance coverage could learn a bit from the law of ERISA, particularly from the concept of structural conflicts of interest that is so much in play in ERISA litigation at the moment. In the world of insurance coverage litigation, insurers almost invariably stand in exactly the position that ERISA decisions view as a structural conflict:
Retirement Benefits and Fiduciary Duties under ERISA
There is a nice and complimentary write up of this blog at Workplace Prof Blog, one of my favorite sources for a wide range of information related to employee benefits, including ERISA, such as this post on a petition for writ of certiorari arising out of a recent Ninth Circuit ruling concerning the fiduciary
Choice of Law in Insurance Coverage Litigation
Lawyers today are specialists, as evidenced by the long list of single issue law blogs listed on the bottom left of this blog (for an explanation of that list, see here). And with specialization comes what I call “without a second thought” tools, which are approaches to practice that are second nature to those
Is More Supreme Court Review of ERISA Standards of Review in the Works?
With lawyers, how we view an opinion, and for that matter a blog post, frequently depends on the focus of our practices and the things that, as a result, we are looking for. I was reminded of this over the weekend when I came across this post on Appellate Law and Practice, a blog run
Attorney Fee Awards in the First Circuit
There was another important issue addressed in the First Circuit’s decision this month in Janeiro, one I had planned to address in a return post on the case, involving an issue dear to the hearts of anyone who sues plans, administrators or fiduciaries for a living, namely the right to recover attorneys’ fees in
Hurricane Katrina Insurance Coverage and the Insurance Industry
I tend to be a fan of facts, and of hard numbers, as they frequently paint a picture different than the one that would otherwise appear. This is no less true for the subject matter of this blog than for other subjects. Lawsuits and litigation, and the discussions about them, often focus on the spectacular
Preemption Problems, Big Box Stores and Health Insurance
Now here is a neat post about New Jersey using disclosure – and presumably the hope that embarrassment will cause a change in behavior – to address the problem of large employers who, instead of providing health benefits, allow subsidized state health care programs to provide the health insurance for their employees. This is in
Freddie Mac’s Stock Drops, then Settles
The mortgage giant Freddie Mac has now agreed to a settlement of claims against it stemming from the effect of questionable accounting on the stock holdings of employees enrolled in its 401(k) plan. As Stephen Taub nicely sums it up:
Freddie Mac agreed to pay $4.65 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought under the