I don’t have too much to say about the specific details of this opinion in Kelley v. Fidelity Management Trust Company, out of the First Circuit yesterday on a putative class action against Fidelity related to the use of float income from plan transactions. This is particularly because it is primarily a technical decision
ERISA Statutory Provisions
Challenging the Department of Labor’s Authority to Regulate the Annuity Marketplace: National Association for Fixed Annuities v. Thomas Perez and the Department of Labor
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I wrote yesterday on the first complaint filed, in federal court in Texas, challenging the Department of Labor’s new fiduciary regulations, and then within hours, a second such suit was filed. The second suit is a more narrowly targeted action, brought by sellers of fixed annuities and charging that the Department of Labor, for various …
A Busy ERISA Week in the Ninth Circuit: Moyle v. Liberty Mutual and Rich v. Shrader
Last week, I spoke on a panel with, among others, Trucker Huss’ Joe Faucher, who discussed some aspects of Ninth Circuit ERISA jurisprudence with a mostly East Coast-centric audience. A week later, that circuit has turned out two of the more interesting and potentially significant appellate decisions in ERISA that any court has produced …
Halo v. Yale, the Second Circuit, Hamilton and Sideways Challenges to the Scope of Discretionary Review
In the musical Hamilton, everyone from Aaron Burr to Hamilton’s wife, Eliza, asks why Hamilton always “writes like he’s running out of time,” and the lyrics assign various pop psychology rationales to his urgency. This morning, though, after listening to the soundtrack again, I realized the real reason – he’s a lawyer! He’s always on …
Thoughts on Kaplan v. Saint Peter’s Healthcare System and the Church Plan Exemption
Remember the Church Lady from Saturday Night Live? I have always wondered if she was covered by an ERISA governed retirement plan, or whether her retirement plan was exempt from ERISA as a church plan. I think the answer probably lies in the question of whether her retirement benefits were established and maintained by …
Nothing’s Ever Simple in the World of ERISA: Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Here is a wonderful analysis – which manages to both review its past and guess intelligently at its future – of Montanile v Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan, the latest Supreme Court case to try to determine the scope of equitable remedies available under ERISA. Montanile, scheduled…
My Exclusive Interview with Fiduciary News on ERISA Litigation
The good people at Fiduciary News gave me a soapbox, and I was happy to climb up on it. They interviewed me as part of their series of monthly interviews on ERISA and related topics, and I discussed ERISA litigation and a wide range of related issues. You can find the “Exclusive Interview: ERISA Attorney…
What Does Retaliation under ERISA Look Like?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans, ERISA Statutory Provisions
What’s worse than playing games with your employees’ retirement savings? Well, probably not much, from both a moral and legal perspective. The heavy hand of the plaintiff’s bar, and possibly the Department of Labor, will come looking for you if you do.
But one thing that makes such an event worse for a plan sponsor…
Initial Thoughts on the Supreme Court’s Opinion in Tibble v. Edison
By Stephen Rosenberg on
So what does it mean if you are an ERISA litigator who writes a blog and you are too busy litigating to write a post on Tibble v. Edison (even though you have published a widely read article on the case) right after the Supreme Court issues its opinion on the case? I don’t know…
Will Church Plan Litigation Lead to an Attack on Governmental Plan Exemptions?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in ERISA Statutory Provisions
Dismayed at the attention her father was receiving from her teenage friends over dinner in a Chinese restaurant, Sally Draper remarked to the table that her father’s joke about stray cats and slow restaurant service was one he had been making for years. I thought of this when I saw Mike Reilly’s interesting post last…