I don’t exactly understand why this particular post made it all the way up the rankings to be the sixth most read post on my blog in 2024, as substantively it isn’t anywhere near as interesting to me as most of the other posts in the top ten, which discuss more novel or esoteric
Boston ERISA and Insurance Litigation Blog’s Top Ten Countdown for the New Year – The Seventh Most Popular Post of 2024
Story after story keep telling the same story – that class action litigation against ERISA plan sponsors and fiduciaries is a growth industry. Encore Fiduciary’s Daniel Aronowitz and Karolina Jozwiak have a great, data rich piece out in Planadvisor documenting this fact, and the legal media world is all atwitter about the latest new way…
A Modest Proposal for Solving (At Least Part of) the ERISA Class Action Litigation Crisis
So two stories today give me a soapbox to address one aspect of ERISA class action litigation and the push back from plan sponsors and their fiduciary liability insurers against the costs imposed on them by this line of litigation. One story, which to protect the innocent I won’t otherwise identify, involves court approval of…
Long Covid and LTD Benefits
This is a great, and I think pretty even handed, article by Bloomberg on litigating LTD claims under ERISA. Although the headline and the central thrust of the article are about obtaining LTD benefits for claims of long Covid, the article really does a nice job of explaining the entire LTD claim process and the…
Why Turning Excessive Fee Class Action Litigation Into More of an Insurer Managed Exposure Will Benefit Both Insurers and Plan Sponsors
Jacklyn Wille of Bloomberg Law, who by now knows more about ERISA litigation than most ERISA litigators, has an interesting article out (you can find it here; subscription may be required), concerning court approval of a “$1.7 million class settlement benefiting participants in an Advance Auto Parts Inc. subsidiary’s retirement plan . . .
What Does a $2.45 Million Settlement of an ERISA Class Action Tell Employers and Plan Sponsors About Risk Management?
This is a fascinating story of risk management and the commodification of ERISA class action litigation. It’s the story of a $2.45 million settlement of a class action concerning the alleged use of outdated mortality tables in a pension plan. For many years, including by me in this blog, ERISA lawyers and commentators have been…
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…
Can You Discuss Jazz and the Department of Labor in the Same Blog Post? I Can.
The Department of Labor’s regulation governing ERISA claims and administrative appeals provides a comprehensive structure for the claim process required of all ERISA plans. While there is plenty of room within the context of the regulation for a particular plan to contain its own essentially bespoke claims process, the regulation imposes the broader outline with…
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…