Well, I’m getting ready for a trial, so I certainly don’t have time to read a 105 page ruling on reformation of ERISA governed benefit plans, and I suspect you don’t either. Fortunately for both of us, here’s a great one page article on a new major decision finding that a scrivener’s error – one
Pensions
Divorce Me for My Money, Or Love, Continental Style
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in ERISA Statutory Provisions, Pensions
This is one of the great ERISA stories of all time – its like something out of a Boston Legal episode. I am speaking, of course, of the case, detailed here, of the Continental pilots who, concerned that the retirement plan may go belly up long before they retire, divorced their wives, executed QDROs…
Conkright, Discretion and the Supreme Court
Here’s a nice little story on Conkright, and the new Supreme Court session. As the article explains in a nutshell:
The issue in Conkright vs. Frommert involves how much deference a court must give to an ERISA plan administrator’s interpretation of the terms of the plan. A group of Xerox Corp. retirees who left
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QDROs Down the Drainville?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I don’t think anyone has made as sustained a study of the law of QDROs as Albert Feuer. Albert has a new piece he has authored on the Drainville decision, which I discussed here, in which Albert concurs that it is both well reasoned and accurate in treating substantial compliance with the statutory…
Pension Fiduciaries in the Hot Seat – What to Avoid and How to React if Sued
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I and a cast of thousands will be speaking at a webinar on April 14th on “Pension Fiduciaries in the Hot Seat – What to Avoid and How to React if Sued,” put on by Pension Governance, Inc. Well, its not really a cast of thousands, just me and four very experienced worthies, who know…
Talkin’ ERISA Litigation Trends
I will be presenting a seminar next week, on Wednesday January 14th, to the ASPPA Benefits Council of New England, entitled “ERISA Litigation: An Update from the Front Lines.” After three full days of outlining my talk, I now actually have a pretty good idea of what I am going to say; the talk will…
GM and the Viability of Pension Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
Well, I am not quite sure what to say, or perhaps more accurately where to start, with regard to this article in the New York Times today on the surprising financial health – at least for now – of the GM pension plan. As the company otherwise founders, the article describes years of responsible, forward…
The Longer Term Impact of the Last Several Weeks on Pension Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
There’s an old saying that nothing focuses the mind like an execution date; all trial lawyers have heard judges rephrase it as nothing focuses the mind so much on settlement as an imminent trial date. I thought of this saying when I read this article, in which Susan Mangiero of Pension Governance…
The Amateur Fiduciary
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Fiduciaries, Pensions
Geez, I hate to do this, but sometimes you have to play connect the dots. Reading this story about amateur (some would call it democratically run – small d, local government style) municipal pension plans and their investment strategies that got them caught up in the current collateralized debt obligation/securitization mess, I kept thinking to…
TARP and ERISA Litigation
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Here’s an interesting looking and timely webinar from West next week on the stock market meltdown, the bank bailout, and their effect on ERISA governed plans. The short version of their pitch for the webinar, which ought to be in 20 point type spread across a banner headline, is “here come the breach of fiduciary…