The Second Circuit these days is the gift that just keeps on giving when it comes to ERISA litigation, and for that matter to blogging about ERISA litigation. Following up hard on the heels of its thorough and legitimately interesting opinion on employer stock drop litigation in Citigroup and McGraw-Hill, the court issued this
Benefit Litigation
Denial of Benefit Claims, The Repeat Player, and Saving Money on Litigation
By Stephen Rosenberg on
One of the first posts I wrote on this blog was about insurance coverage and the concept of the repeat player. The idea behind it was that insurers use the same counsel over and over again in coverage disputes, with the result that they put on the field – to use a sports metaphor &ndash…
When Does Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies Really Require Exhaustion
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation
Like most lawyers who represent plans or their administrators in denied benefit disputes, one of the first things I check when a participant’s complaint is forwarded to me is whether the participant exhausted all review opportunities with the plan’s administrator. If not, the defense of failure to exhaust administrative remedies needs to be raised. For…
Market Down? Then ERISA Lawsuits Must Be Up
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation
I tell people all the time when I speak at seminars that compliance is key because in a downturn, participants will sue plans and their fiduciaries over things they just ignored when the markets just kept going up, up and up, with participants’ account balances doing the same. I have frequently noted this in posts…
Governmental Plans, Annuities, and the Intersection of ERISA with the Securities Laws
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have discussed in many posts the idea that the plaintiffs’ class action bar has alighted on ERISA and breach of fiduciary duty claims as a preferable tactical alternative, in many cases, to proceeding under the securities laws. This approach was a particularly nice fit for stock drop cases, in which company stock held in…
Does LaRue Alter the Rules for Class Actions?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
As a general rule, I don’t write blog posts about cases I am handling. For the most part, nothing good can come of it. I do make an exception once and awhile, but only to the extent of passing along a particular ruling, without commentary, that may be of broader relevance and interest. Today is…
An Unfortunately Timely Topic: When Severance Programs are ERISA Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Nothing shows up in my practice any more frequently, particularly in this economy and over the last couple of years, than severance packages, and the question of whether a particular severance package program is governed by ERISA. Roy Hoskins, on the ERISABoard.com site, reviews this issue, and its application by the District of Maine under…
Small Plans Don’t Always Have Small Problems
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation
This is an interesting small piece out of Reish and Reicher highlighting the fact that smaller plans, with relatively small asset pools, face many of the same risks and problems that are faced by the large plan sponsors involved in the bold face cases that show up on a daily basis in the media. To…
Statute of Limitations and Denial of Benefit Claims
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation
Here is an excellent and very educational post that I wanted to pass along from the Florida Insurance Blog on the statute of limitations applicable to denied benefit claims under ERISA. It is an issue that is often not as straightforward as it either appears or should be, as the Ninth Circuit case addressed in the…
When Does a Flaw in an Administrative Appeal Render an Administrator’s Denial of Benefits Arbitrary and Capricious?
There have been a series of interesting ERISA decisions over the past several weeks out of the United States District Court for Massachusetts, whose Boston courthouse I can see through my office window as I type this post. The decisions have stacked up on my desk a little bit, like a leaning tower of paper.