This is a fascinating story of risk management and the commodification of ERISA class action litigation. It’s the story of a $2.45 million settlement of a class action concerning the alleged use of outdated mortality tables in a pension plan. For many years, including by me in this blog, ERISA lawyers and commentators have been

I wanted to pass along this advisory from Davis Wright Tremaine which argues for legislative action to, in essence, raise the bar that plaintiffs have to hurdle to prosecute an ERISA excessive fee class action. What I like most about it is the authors do not simply complain and ask for legislative intervention, but instead

The Department of Labor’s regulation governing ERISA claims and administrative appeals provides a comprehensive structure for the claim process required of all ERISA plans. While there is plenty of room within the context of the regulation for a particular plan to contain its own essentially bespoke claims process, the regulation imposes the broader outline with

I suspect every client I have ever represented in litigation can testify that I am overly fond of the old saying if you have the facts, argue the facts; if you have the law, argue the law; and if you have neither, jump up and down and scream. In my view, most of the time

Many years ago, back when we were closer to the tipping point where 401(k) plans replaced pensions for the majority of employees, there was a great deal of discussion about whether employees could possibly be financially ready to retire at age 65 absent pensions. I argued at the time that the discussion was wrong and

This is a great story in Plan Adviser on the past and future of ERISA litigation over 401(k) plans. It’s a fun and short read, neither of which is normally true of articles on this subject. That’s a little tongue in cheek, but that phenomenon is nobody’s fault: when I have written on the subject

It’s very difficult to write with any nuance about discretionary review under ERISA plans, or what is more typically referred to as “arbitrary and capricious review.” I believe it is because it’s one of those areas of the law where, even more than most, where you stand depends on where you sit. In other

The Supreme Court today hears argument in a case concerning many politicians’ and lawyers’ favorite pinata, the Chevron doctrine. It would likely be naïve to believe that the case won’t at least further restrain agency authority and discretion, although whether the case will be the vehicle for complete abrogation of the doctrine is

It’s interesting. I spoke in my last post about the possibility of using ERISA and employee benefits to alter the course of economic inequality, referencing that pensions might be a better choice to accomplish that but they aren’t coming back. If they are, even in just isolated circumstances, it will be as a result of

How are these two stories related? The first concerns a Nobel Prize winning economist’s proposition that the taxation and political structure of the United States plays a central role in the downward mobility of the American middle class, while the second concerns an investment fund that intends to purchase companies from their founders and eventually