Judge Gertner of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts has an interesting, if brief, ruling that is just out granting a motion to dismiss a severance pay claim under an ERISA governed plan. What caught my eye about it relates back to this post I wrote a few weeks ago, in
Employee Benefit Plans
The First Circuit on ERISA Standing
Very interesting case out of the First Circuit the other day on the question of whether former employees satisfy ERISA standing requirements with regard to defined contribution plans. Short answer is they do, but the Court’s analysis and discussion is an interesting open field run across a range of issues that are both explicit and…
Promises, Promises . . .
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Rob Hoskins over at the always interesting ERISABoard has an interesting story about a Second Circuit decision that essentially says “too bad” to a plan participant’s waiver/estoppel theory seeking benefits. The story is consistent with what seems to be a trend in which courts frequently fall back to the terms of the actual plan to…
Life Is An ERISA Carnival, Believe It or Not
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
By the way, I meant to mention this on Monday, but a million different fires that had to be put out got in the way, so I’ll mention it today instead: Suzanne Wynn’s ERISA carnival from this past weekend surveys and provides links to a truly interesting range of posts on ERISA related issues. I’d…
Bowater, Preemption, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Massachusetts Health Care Costs, and Whatever Else Is On My Mind This Morning
If David Rossmiller can do a potpourri to avoid writing a full fledged blog post then, by gosh, so can I. Conveniently enough, I had some three small items on my mind this morning anyway, all of which I will mention here in one fell swoop:
? More on Bowater: For those of you…
The First Circuit’s Road Map for Terminating Benefit Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Just a fairly short post on a technical ERISA issue that the First Circuit ruled on a few days ago, namely the steps that have to be followed to terminate or amend a benefit plan, at least with regards to the documentation and formalities needed to do so. In Coffin v. Bowater, Inc., the First…
Misrepresentations Under ERISA Plans: Is There A Cause of Action?
Here’s an interesting case out of the First Circuit this week concerning an attempt to use an equitable estoppel theory to force a plan to pay supplemental life insurance benefits even though the former employee covered by the plan had not submitted the necessary health forms to qualify for that coverage. The case, Todisco v. …
ERISA and Same Sex Marriage
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Here’s a great story out of Boston, by means of the Workplace Prof, that touches on several obsessions of this blog – ERISA, the federal arbitration act, and court review of arbitration awards. As the Prof explains in this post here, a federal judge for the District of Massachusetts is seeking amicus briefs related…
Can Partners Healthcare Systems Provide Different Benefits to Different Kinds of Partners?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans, Preemption
Judge Tauro of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an interesting opinion this week as to the power, if any, of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to continue to investigate whether an employer, in this instance Partners Healthcare Systems – which operates major teaching hospitals, among other operations – violates…
Summary Plan Descriptions and Discovery in ERISA Cases: the Latest from the First Circuit
The First Circuit issued an opinion in the case of Morales-Alejandro v. Medical Card System on Wednesday. The case, which involved a challenge to a denial of long term disability benefits, is noteworthy for two aspects. The first is that the case reaffirms this circuit’s reluctance to allow discovery beyond production of the administrative record…