This is a really good day to be returning to my countdown of the top ten most read blog posts of 2024, because just yesterday, the Supreme Court returned to a central issue in ERISA class action and excessive fee litigation: namely, what are the pleading standards and how can they be used
Boston College

Boston ERISA and Insurance Litigation Blog’s Top Ten Countdown for the New Year – The Eighth Most Popular Post of 2024
It’s interesting. Blog posts have “legs” (you should get the intentional pun in a minute) for all sorts of reasons, and it can be hard to figure out why in any particular case. With regard to my eighth most popular blog post of 2024, it might have been the great picture of horses…

What Would a Reasonable Middle Ground on Allowing Excessive Fee Class Actions Look Like?
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…

Improving Federal Court Litigation One Alternative Fee Agreement at a Time
I did not intend to return, yet again, to the summary judgment opinion in Sellers as gist for a blog post. Something about it that I haven’t touched on yet, however, keeps overlapping with other developments which caught my attention because of their relationship to long standing interests of mine related to trial work, discovery…

Horse Races, Judges and Summary Judgment: Further Thoughts on Sellers v. Boston College
Growing up in Baltimore in the Seventies (you can take the boy out of Baltimore but you can’t take the Orioles out of the boy – go Birds!), I developed a love of horse racing, back in the heyday of Pimlico racetrack and the Preakness. I still remember watching Secretariat run the second leg of…

Summary Judgment Proceedings in Breach of Fiduciary Duty Litigation: The Lessons of Sellers v. Boston College
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…