I didn’t intend to write a second post (here’s the first) on the ever rising tide of excessive fee litigation, but the LinkedIn algorithm, responding to my posting of my first blog post on this issue, hand delivered me another great graphic, this one by Sompo International, on the same topic. What I
This is a great and well-illustrated presentation by Chubb on the history of excessive fee litigation against sponsors of defined contribution retirement plans, on the pace of filings, on the types and sizes of plans that are being sued and on settlements of those claims. What you can see in the data is something that
There is an interesting article in the Guardian on the subject of structural and policy barriers in the United States to the elimination of poverty, which is addressed in a new book by a MacArthur award winning sociologist. I think the New Yorker has a new article out on the same topic, probably based on
One of the advantages of writing a blog on a particular subject for as long as I have – going on 17 years now – is that you become your own sort of institutional memory, in a way. When I saw this article in Forbes today, discussing barriers that the NFL’s disability system throws up
There is an excellent article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly this week by Eric Berkman on a new District Court decision by Judge Woodlock in Massachusetts concerning mental health benefits and the nature of the review provided by an insurer. The decision, K.D. v. Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, found that the insurer had an insufficient basis
I am quoted in an excellent article in Pensions & Investments by Robert Steyer on the use of independent fiduciaries when providing employer stock in company retirement plans. As many of you probably know, the Supreme Court’s decision a few years back in Fifth Third Bancorp vs. Dudenhoeffer raised the pleading bar substantially for plaintiffs
Here’s an excellent client alert, out of Holland and Knight, on the question of mandatory arbitration provisions in ERISA benefit plans. The alert discusses a recent federal district court decision out of Arizona requiring the participant in an ESOP to arbitrate her claim, rather than bring a putative class action case in federal court,
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
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
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