I don’t have anything to say about this right now, and everybody will be weighing in tomorrow on what the decision itself means, but I thought I would note that the court has issued its opinion, favorable to the insurer and the insurance industry, in the Hurricane Katrina coverage case that went to trial recently.
Proving a Conflict of Interest in the First Circuit
What happens when a long time business relationship falls apart, and the principal who had been serving as the administrator of the business’ employee benefit plans starts making benefit determinations intended to avoid unnecessarily enriching the other principal? Well, one of the most interesting things that happens – besides expensive litigation and an eventual award
Interpreting ERISA Plans and Insurance Policies
ERISA on the web generally does a nice job of chronicling ERISA decisions out of the Eleventh Circuit, but one of its recent posts, about an August 8th decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, jumped out at me more than most. The post discusses the case of Billings
Stock-Drop Suits
Nice informative story out of the National Law Journal on the so-called stock-drop suits, which allege breaches of fiduciary duty under ERISA by trustees charged with managing company 401(k) plans. The lawsuits in question were “filed on behalf of employees who lost money in their 401(k) and other retirement plans because of the declining price
Logrolling 101
David Rossmiller, one of the pioneers, along with Marc Mayerson, of insurance coverage blogging, has kind words to say about the Boston ERISA and Insurance Litigation Blog here and again here. I can, in turn, commend David’s Insurance Coverage Law Blog to those of you who, like me, are always looking for
It’s a bird, it’s a plan . .
This being – roughly – the start of a new month, I engaged in my usual habit of reviewing any ERISA decisions issued in the past month by the courts in the First Circuit, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything while busy with the usual run of business. As it turns out, on
Pension Reform
I have talked before about the depressing topic of the termination of retirement benefits, and the role of ERISA in that scenario. As almost no one failed to notice, the Senate just passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which makes “significant changes to practically every retirement plan,” as Jerry Kalish notes. I am fond
Additional Insureds
Hurricane Katrina Insurance Claims
Readers of this prior post know that I had some questions as to whether the Maryland legislature engaged in the necessary amount of due diligence before enacting the Fair Share Act. There is certainly much to be said, though, for the very fact of state legislatures attempting to resolve difficult problems, such as the availability
Coverage Lawyers, and How to Pay Them
It seems like everyone is weighing in on the question of billable hours and alternative fee arrangements these days. My colleague and occasional lunch companion – and forceful proselytizer for abandoning the billable hour – Chris Marston weighed in on his blog the other day on the evils of the billable hour and his belief