In the First Circuit, the proper party defendant in an action concerning ERISA benefits is the party that controls administration of the plan; in other circuits, that’s not so plain. The question to which this is the answer is, who do you sue to recover benefits due under an ERISA governed plan. Here’s a timely and useful law review article, courtesy of the Workplace Prof blog, that provides a more lengthy and detailed answer to this particular question.

Why does ERISA preemption matter in the health insurance context, and why do many people think it should preclude state health insurance mandates, such as the Wal-Mart law already deemed preempted in Maryland and the San Francisco ordinance that is currently the subject of litigation over the question? Leaving aside the legal reasons why the acts are preempted, it is because employers, who provide most of the health benefits in the country, rely upon the stability and predictability generated by ERISA and the preemption doctrine. That, in any event, I think is a fair reading of this article here.

Lots going on, lots to talk about. Let’s start with this one, which, coincidentally, allows me to kill two birds with one stone. You may recall that some time back I mentioned that I had come across two interesting blogs that I wanted to pass along, one of which was The Float, covering primarily investment related issues and their intersection with ERISA. I mentioned I would pass along the other blog in a subsequent post, which, almost inevitably since I had promised to do so, I never did, as breaking news and a pending trial shunted it to the side. Well, that other blog is this one, Benefits Biz blog, by the benefits and executive compensation lawyers at Baker & Daniels, which I have found to be a consistently interesting read. Moreover, I return to it today to pass that link along because of a very interesting post they have concerning a case that the Supreme Court has now elected not to add to its docket, concerning the relationship of age discrimination laws and employer provided health insurance benefits. As many already know and as I have discussed in the past here on this blog, the Supreme Court has shown a continuing interest in all things ERISA, with three cases either already decided or added recently to its docket. The Supreme Court’s lack of interest in this particular case perhaps hints – I am reading tea leaves here now, in the august tradition of Kremlinologists and other students of secretive institutions – at the outer limits of the Court’s interest in the subject of ERISA. The cases accepted for review to date by the Court emphasize litigation issues and, in particular, the effect of the evolution of retirement benefits from pensions to 401(k) plans on the litigation environment. This is not a fair reading of the case passed on by the Court that the Baker & Daniels’ lawyers discuss in their post; we may be able to infer that if you want to attract the Court’s interest in an ERISA case right now, you better make it about litigation and defined contribution type plans.

I guess this is the flip side of all the grief that is starting to come down on fiduciaries for excessive – or at least what seems to plaintiffs’ lawyers to be excessive in hindsight – exposure to the subprime mortgage mess in pension and 401(k) holdings: pension plan fiduciaries now adding such exposure to their funds in the hope of goosing returns by buying these beaten down assets at fire sale prices (kind of like they are playing at being Jamie Dimon). Here’s the story, and thanks to my colleague Eric Brodie for bringing this development to my attention.

My trial finally concluded late yesterday after two weeks, with the jury returning a verdict in favor of my client (pause here for self-congratulatory pat on the back). While I was able to get some posts up last week, during the first week of trial, events during trial this past week left me with no time to post. A lot went on during that week that would be of interest to readers of this blog, running from the almost certain ERISA litigation that will follow from the Bear Stearns collapse, to further Department of Labor attempts to mandate transparency, to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ continuing efforts to single handedly prove that state regulation of employer provided health insurance benefits should, in fact, be preempted. We’ll return to these themes, and other topics, next week, now that we have time to get the printing press rolling again here.

The Supreme Court continues to look for ERISA cases to serve as vehicles for exploring the current and proper parameters of that statute, and last week requested from the Solicitor General’s office the government’s views on a potential ERISA case for the Court’s docket, Amschwand v. Spherion Corp. This in and of itself is old news, in a way, to anyone who follows this stuff. I wanted to pass along a post, however, from employment law blogger Donald Heyrich, about the underlying facts of the Amschwand case and the possibility the case presents for the Court to address the issues raised by claims seeking equitable relief under ERISA.  I haven’t had a chance yet to look into the case itself, so I can’t actually vouch yet for his analysis – or provide my own – but I liked the post enough and the blog as well to want to pass it on today.

Still on trial, but I did have time this afternoon to read this interesting piece, summarizing a number of interesting appellate decisions over the past year from California courts on a range of insurance coverage issues, running from post-claim underwriting of health insurance to the scope of coverage granted by directors and officers policies. The cases include one that provides an interesting analysis of the scope of the attorney-client privilege in the context of insurance, an issue I have talked about at some length in the past on this blog. You can find the article right here. For those of you interested in the subjects covered by this blog, it is probably a worthwhile read.

I am starting a trial today, so my posting will be sporadic and erratic at best. As I did the last time I was trying a case, I will try to at least find time to pass along new court decisions, publications, or events of significance while I am on trial, even if I don’t comment much on them in the posts; if they warrant it, I will return to the posts later to discuss the issues in more detail.

I am trying to kick the LaRue habit, but couldn’t resist going back to the well one more time (how’s that for mixing my metaphors?). I know from readers of this blog and from talking to other lawyers that people are very interested in LaRue and the Supreme Court’s current interest in ERISA cases – in fact, one lawyer told me that right after LaRue was decided he was at a meeting on an entirely different topic but LaRue is all anyone wanted to talk about that day- so I wanted to pass along this very interesting looking teleconference next month on individual 401(k) suits post-LaRue. The faculty includes Tom Gies, who represented the plan and its sponsor in LaRue, and Karen L. Handorf, an attorney currently in private practice who previously worked for the Office of the Solicitor of Labor, background that may make her ideally suited to comment on one of the biggest mysteries of all raised by LaRue and the Supreme Court’s selection for its docket of two more ERISA cases, namely what’s with the Supreme Court’s sudden fascination with ERISA litigation.

One interesting thing about the LaRue case is the amount of blog commentary it inspired. For me personally, the best aspect of that wasn’t so much what other bloggers had to say about the subject, but more the fact that the discussions brought some blogs to my attention that I had not previously been aware of. I thought I would pass along two of the more interesting ones to you, as they may be of interest to people who come here to read up on the ERISA and retirement benefit issues discussed in this blog.

The first is The Float, published by Interlake Capital Management. The Float is mostly focused on financial news related to 401(k) plans and the like, but is somewhat unique in that it blends discussion of those economic issues – as well as just plain old fashioned business media bashing – with intelligent comments on breaking legal issues affecting such plans, such as the LaRue decision. It’s a lot of fun to read, not the least of which is because you don’t need a Wall Street background to enjoy their financial commentary, just some interest in and experience with the subject.

I’ll pass the second blog along in my next post.