Not long after I first started writing this blog, the Seventh Circuit began trying to preemptively squelch excessive fee litigation by, at heart, insisting that the invisible hand of the market would never have allowed the type of overcharging of fees claimed by the plaintiffs in those cases and that plan fiduciaries therefore could not
ERISA
How Should Courts Analyze Arbitration Clauses in ERISA Plans?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Arbitration, Benefit Litigation
Here’s an excellent client alert, out of Holland and Knight, on the question of mandatory arbitration provisions in ERISA benefit plans. The alert discusses a recent federal district court decision out of Arizona requiring the participant in an ESOP to arbitrate her claim, rather than bring a putative class action case in federal court,…
Attorney Fee Awards in Chapter 93A and ERISA Litigation
Twenty years or so ago, I represented an insurer in a $20 million insurance bad faith and Chapter 93A claim in which one of the key issues was whether the insurer was right to rely on the advice of a terrific lawyer, Tom Burns (the Burns in the Boston firm Burns and Levinson), who had…
Retaliation, Section 510 and the Timing of Terminations
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Section 510 of ERISA makes it illegal to take any job action for the purpose of interfering with an employment benefit that would otherwise have been due to the employee. The classic formulation of such a claim is terminating an employee right before a pension would have vested, simply to avoid owing the benefit; some…
A Perfect Example of the Evolution in Equitable Relief: Recovering Group Life Benefits After Enrollment Errors By The Life Insurer
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have returned to blogging after stepping away for awhile from regular posting for a number of reasons ; foremost among them, however, is wanting to talk regularly about the continuing evolution in this area of the law toward a more even playing field for both employees and employers, and away from the many structural…