PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Best Practices for Reducing ERISA Litigation Risk
ERISA Claims: How Can Benefits Be An Employer’s Burden?
On this Ropes & Gray podcast, ERISA and benefits partner Sharon Remmer is joined by litigation & enforcement partners, Amy Roy and Dan Ward, to discuss President Trump’s recent Executive Order that directs the U.S. Department...more
A recent federal district court decision has upheld an Arkansas Insurance Department rule that requires health benefit plans to submit certain pharmacy compensation information to the Department....more
When an employer has an obligation to contribute to a multiemployer pension fund, and the fund is underfunded (a deficit between assets and future projected payout obligations), an employer who ceases to have an obligation to...more
When it comes to retirement plan litigation, the common theme I’ve noticed over the years is that lawsuits rarely die in the early rounds. A fiduciary’s best hope is to win on summary judgment or at trial, but a motion to...more
Under ERISA’s multiemployer pension plan provisions (the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 or MPPAA), an employer who withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan normally is liable for withdrawal liability....more
ERISA – Attorneys’ Fees and Social Security Disability Offset - In Stark v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co., the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court order dismissing ERISA claims brought by the...more
One of my favorite movie scenes in Donnie Brasco is when Lefty and the crew bust open city parking meters for dimes because they’ve got to make their weekly nut. Sometimes, I feel like ERISA litigation is the same thing,...more
Physicians generally do not have direct standing to bring a claim for benefits under an ERISA group health plan. Rather, a physician’s standing derives from the patient’s status as a plan participant and must be assigned....more
On July 14, 2025, we published a detailed Legal Update describing the state of the law with respect to the ongoing wave of ERISA forfeiture lawsuits. This Legal Update analyzes the material developments that we have seen over...more
A recently filed lawsuit against Northwestern University and its health plan fiduciaries raises novel claims that could be problematic for employers that offer multiple medical benefit options, if the suit gains traction. The...more
What can employers do with non-vested employer contributions? Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), employers may require an employee to work for a set number of years before any company...more
There are always plenty of new retirement plan investment performance and fee cases, and it’s hard for a plan sponsor, even one that is doing everything properly, to be assured that it won’t be the target of a lawsuit....more
Sometimes, in the strange world of ERISA litigation, you get a surprise. And in Hutchins v. Hewlett Packard, we got one: the Department of Labor, yes, that DOL, the one whose name alone strikes fear into the heart of many...more
After six long years of litigation, Intel’s 401(k) plan design just got a big legal endorsement. A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit dismissed a lawsuit filed by plan participants who claimed that including hedge funds...more
There’s a hard truth about being a plan sponsor or a plan provider: you can be doing everything right and still get sued. That’s the world we live in—especially in the retirement plan space. You can dot every “i,” cross every...more
Last week the White House issued an executive order directing the Department of Labor (DOL) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to facilitate 401(k) participants’ access to alternative investments, including private...more
In a lawsuit currently under appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the court has been asked to decide whether the plan administrator violated its fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty under ERISA when...more
It’s not often you see the U.S. Department of Labor jumping into the legal ring to back plan sponsors, but when they do, you know something bigger is at stake than just one plan participant’s gripe. That’s exactly what...more
ERISA is widely regarded as a remedial statute. As a result, employers who are pursued by multiemployer pension plans for withdrawal liability face an uphill battle when trying to recoup attorneys’ fees (often substantial)...more
Earlier this year, ERISA fiduciary breach defendant Parker-Hannifin filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court that, if granted, could settle a circuit split created by the Sixth Circuit...more
Recently, companies have seen a spate of class action lawsuits challenging the legality of tobacco cessation wellness programs and related tobacco surcharges imposed by their employer-sponsored health benefit plans....more
Forfeitures have long been a sleepy corner of 401(k) plan administration, but recent class-action lawsuits are waking everyone up....more
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
In the world of ERISA litigation, process often trumps perfection. That was the story in Waldner v. Natixis, where a federal judge dismissed claims that Natixis and its plan committee acted disloyally and imprudently by...more
In THC–Orange County LLC v. Regence BlueShield of Idaho Inc., the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho addressed a motion by plaintiff THC–Orange County LLC, doing business as Kindred Hospital Ontario, to conduct...more