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Contract Terms Employee Benefits Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Saul Ewing LLP

The Friday Five: Five ERISA Litigation Highlights - August 2025

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This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions including deference to initial benefits decisions in de novo reviews, the recovery of fees incurred in pre-litigation administrative proceedings, proof of disability due to...more

Polsinelli

Sixth Circuit Holds TPAs Do Not Get a Free Pass from ERISA’s Fiduciary Duties

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In a decision about ERISA’s fiduciary duties and transparency, the Sixth Circuit in Tiara Yachts, Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan held that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM), a third-party administrator...more

Hall Benefits Law

How Plan Sponsors Can Mitigate Risk in PBM Contracts

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For employers offering benefit plans, fiduciary responsibility is not just a legal designation. Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, the fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care...more

Hall Benefits Law

PBM Contracts Could Expose Plan Sponsors to Fiduciary Liability

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A plan sponsor’s fiduciary duty to be transparent in Pharmacy Benefit Manager contracts safeguards plan participants’ interests and mitigates the risk of litigation, regulatory penalties, and reputational harm, say Hall...more

Maynard Nexsen

Can ERISA Plans Avoid California Insurance Code Section 10110.6 with Choice-of-Law Provisions?

Maynard Nexsen on

The Ninth Circuit is considering the enforceability of a choice of law provision in an ERISA plan in William White v. Guardian Life Insurance Company, et al., Case No. 24-2681, appeal pending from the United States District...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Dont Forget to Invite the Committee to the Party Fiduciary Committees as Parties to a Vendor Contract

In many situations, practitioners recommend establishing a fiduciary committee to oversee ERISA-covered employee benefit plans. There are several reasons for this, including providing a well-defined process for...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Sixth Circuit Rejects Arbitration for Proposed Fiduciary Breach Class Action

The Sixth Circuit, in a matter of first impression for that Circuit, held an arbitration clause contained in an individual employment agreement did not apply to ERISA fiduciary breach claims brought on behalf of a defined...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The LHD/ERISA Advisor: Ninth Circuit Joins Fourth Circuit in Holding that Equitable Estoppel is Barred Where Use Would Contradict...

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In Wong v. Flynn-Kerper, 999 F.3d 1205 (9th Cir. 2021), the Ninth Circuit barred the use of equitable estoppel to challenge the purchase price of company shares under an ERISA stock ownership plan when such use would...more

Jenner & Block

The “Defensive” 401(k) Plan

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No good deed goes unpunished. Those of us working with 401(k) plans are familiar with this sentiment. An employee benefit plan, as the name implies, is supposed to benefit employees. Yet benefit plans – particularly 401(k)...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Benefit Denial Letter Must Identify Contractual Limitations Period

An Illinois federal court recently held that the failure to identify a contractual limitations period in a benefits denial letter renders the limitations period unenforceable, even before applicable regulations were changed...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The LHD/ERISA Advisor - October 2020: Second Circuit Allows Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim to Proceed Based on Misrepresentation...

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In Sullivan-Mestecky v. Verizon Communs. Inc., 961 F.3d 91 (2d Cir. 2020), the Second Circuit held that a claim under Section 502(a)(3) of ERISA could proceed, where the beneficiary pled that the plan and its agents...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

How to Minimize Judicial Review of ERISA Fiduciary Decisions

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Seyfarth Synopsis:  The courts have stated that their review of fiduciary decisions is both exacting and deferential.  A recent decision from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit offers help to ERISA benefit...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Addressing Data Privacy and Security Provisions in COVID-19 Related Service Provider Agreements and Beyond

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Employers’ engagement and use of various types of vendors has expanded recently, to include vendors who assist with office re-entry screening and contact tracing as employees return to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...more

Littler

Second Circuit Rules ERISA Plan Can Be Reformed Absent Any Mistakes, Fraud or Other Inequitable Conduct

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The Second Circuit recently considered for the first time whether the equitable remedy of reformation was available under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) where a court determined that the written terms of...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Enforces Forum Selection Clause in Employer’s Benefits Plan

A federal district court in North Carolina enforced a forum selection clause in a short-term disability plan and on that basis transferred the case to Wisconsin federal court. In so ruling, the court explained that ERISA’s...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Stunning Development — The Ninth Circuit Enforces an ERISA Plan Arbitration and Class Action Waiver Provision

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Seyfarth Synopsis: Reversing course and overruling previous precedent, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit now holds that ERISA plan mandatory arbitration and class action waiver provisions are enforceable, and can...more

Carlton Fields

Ninth Circuit Steps In-Line on Arbitrability of ERISA Claims

Carlton Fields on

The Ninth Circuit, in back-to-back opinion and memorandum decisions in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp., overruled long-standing precedent that ERISA claims are not arbitrable. The plaintiff, a former Schwab employee, filed a...more

Robinson+Cole ERISA Claim Defense Blog

Irreconcilable Differences: In Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp., Ninth Circuit Overrules 35-Year-Old Authority; Concludes ERISA...

The Ninth Circuit recently issued two decisions in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp.: the first overrules the decision in Amaro v. Continental Can. Co., 724 F.2d 747 (9th Cir. 1984) (Dorman, – F.3d –, No. 18-15281, 2019 WL...more

Littler

Circuit Courts Grapple With the Permanence of Retiree Health Benefits Under Collective Bargaining Agreements

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On August 7, 2019, in Kelly v. Honeywell International, the Second Circuit handed down the latest decision in a series of cases across the country on a company’s obligation to provide lifetime health care to retirees....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Not All Is Lost for California Employers: Enforce Non-Compete Forfeiture Provisions through ERISA Top Hat Plans?

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Even before the California Supreme Court decided Edwards in 2008, employers knew all too well the woes of attempting to enforce non-competes against California employees. Edwards simply reaffirmed California’s long-standing...more

Burr & Forman

DOL Provides Transitional Relief to Association Health Plans

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On April 29, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released a policy statement providing transitional relief from the potential adverse consequences arising from a District Court’s vacating portions of the...more

Polsinelli

Buyer Beware: Successor Employer Required by Court to Continue Retiree Health Benefits Under Language in Contract

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Mergers and acquisitions can be complicated transactions, particularly when the entity to be acquired has employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement with a union. ...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Dos and Don’ts for Drafting Severance Agreements

There are a number of important considerations for employers to keep in mind when drafting a severance agreement. Join Milwaukee shareholders Bud Bobber and Brian Radloff for a discussion of practical tips for drafting...more

Hogan Lovells

District Court Case Highlights Advantages of ERISA Severance Plans

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Specialists have long touted certain significant advantages to employers that come along with maintaining ERISA severance plans, and a recent district court case highlights some of these advantages....more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Eighth Circuit Affirms Enforcement of ERISA Plan Forum Selection Clause

The Eighth Circuit enforced an ERISA plan’s forum selection clause and denied plaintiff’s appeal to have her lawsuit for disability benefits transferred back to the District of Arizona. Plaintiff Lorna Clause, who lives in...more

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