Appeals, Preemption, Employee Benefits

First Circuit Concludes Employee’s Wrongful Termination, Other State Law Claims are Preempted by Federal Law

Foley & Lardner LLP on 6/24/2025

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (covering Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island) recently awarded a victory to employers litigating claims “related to” certain employer-sponsored...more

ERISA Preemption — The Courts of Appeal Continue to Rule As They Await Further Supreme Court Attempts To Define, Once and for All,...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/23/2019

Synopsis: Two Courts of Appeal reach opposite results on ERISA preemption, thus continuing the judicial quest for a definitive meaning of ERISA preemption. Stay tuned for more such decisions, and yet more Supreme Court...more

California Appellate Court Affirms Broad Scope of ERISA Preemption in State Law Privacy Case

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 2/27/2019

Seyfarth Synopsis: In an unpublished yet fascinating decision, the California Court of Appeal held that ERISA § 514 preempts state law causes of action premised on wrongful disclosure of protected private health information....more

Eighth Circuit Upholds ESOP Administrator's Decision on Death Benefit Claim

Holland & Knight LLP on 9/5/2018

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a U.S. District Court's application of deferential standard to the review of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) administrator's decision based on broad...more

Seventh Circuit Holds that ERISA does not Preempt State “Slayer Statute”

BCLP on 2/12/2018

We turn once again to the sad and difficult task that plan administrators face when distributing the benefits of a participant who has been murdered by his or her designated beneficiary. Sad for obvious reasons. Difficult...more

The ERISA Litigation Newsletter - November 2016

Proskauer Rose LLP on 12/1/2016

This month we review a recent Second Circuit decision addressing ERISA plan status as a class member in a securities shareholder class action. As discussed in the article, the decision exposes a potential conflict among the...more

Oregon State Court of Appeals Recognizes Federal Slayer Law

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive... on 11/7/2016

Oregon, like many states, has on its books a “slayer statute,” which generally prohibits a slayer or abuser of a decedent from obtaining benefits by virtue of the death of the decedent. The parents of Julianne Herinckx...more

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