The Supreme Court recently ruled in support companies and statements in its corporate filings by holding that public companies are not liable for statements of opinions that turn out to be false. … More

The Supreme Court has asked for the solicitor general to weigh in regarding whether it should grant cert to a case that would decide who bears the burden of proving a breach of fiduciary duty caused financial losses to a pension plan. … More

Oral arguments in King v. Burwell were heard on Wednesday, and few pundits have failed to render an opinion. To me, the bottom line is… More

The U.S. Supreme Court on February 24 heard oral arguments in Tibble v. Edison International involving whether a claim that fiduciaries breached their duty of prudence by offering higher-cost retail-class mutual funds to participants instead of institution-class mutual funds … More

The U.S. Supreme Court on February 23 declined to rehear a decision from the 8th Circuit Court that basically left standing an action by Windstream Corporation to significantly reduce retiree health benefits … More

Earlier today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the district court’s finding of plan reformation in Amara v. Cigna Corp.… More

Amara v. CIGNA Corp. … More

The U.S. Supreme Court has invited the Solicitor General to file a brief to advise the Court whether to accept cert in the case of Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. … More

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case of M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, which involves when retiree health benefits are considered to be vested. … More

The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that it will not hear the case of Tussey v. ABB, despite encouragement from the Solicitor of Labor to hear the case. The Tussey case involved whether deference should be limited to fiduciaries’ decisions that relate to benefit claims. … More

Today, the judge in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota denied EEOC’s request for a TRO/PI, finding that the Honeywell wellness program inflicted no “irreparable harm”. … More

Yesterday the EEOC filed for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and an Expedited Preliminary Injunction in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, claiming that Honeywell’s wellness program violates both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). … More

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a plan document can limit where participants can file suit. In Smith v. Aegon Companies Pension Plan, the participant retired in 2000 and began to receive benefits… More

We wanted to update ERIC members on the latest developments in the Osberg v. Foot Locker case (in which ERIC previously filed an amicus brief on behalf of members with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals). … More

The U.S. Supreme Court has indicated that it will hear the case of Tibble v. Edison International, which involves the selection and monitoring of plan investments and the amount of fees related to those investments.… More

The EEOC has double-downed on their rulemaking-through-lawsuit approach to wellness programs by suing Flambeau, Inc., for a similar violation of the ADA. … More

The federal district court in Oklahoma today decided to vacate the IRS regulation under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that permits individuals in states with federal Exchanges to receive subsidized health insurance. … More

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently examined the standard that applies when courts review a fiduciary’s benefit denial. The Court held that courts should consider “all of the relevant circumstances,” rather than upholding an administrator’s decision as long as it was reasonable.… More

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia announced September 4 that it will rehear the case involving whether tax subsidies are available for both the state-based and federally-run exchanges (Halbig v. Burwell).… More

The Solicitor of Labor recently recommended that the U.S. Supreme Court consider to what extent fiduciaries are required to monitor investments on an ongoing basis in Tibble v. Edison International. In the Tibble case, the participants alleged that the plan fiduciaries improperly included retail-class mutual funds as investment options and violated the plan’s terms by allowing revenue sharing. … More

In a complaint filed yesterday, the EEOC sued Orion Energy Systems Inc. The EEOC claims that Orion violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it forced an employee to submit to medical exams and inquiries that were not job-related and consistent with business necessity as part of a wellness program that, according to the EEOC, was not voluntary. … More

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in Tatum v. RJR Pension Investment Committee on the requirements for fiduciaries when eliminating a plan investment.… More

In recent weeks, U.S. Courts of Appeals have provided mixed results when determining whether state laws were superseded (i.e., preempted) by ERISA. Several Circuit Courts of Appeals recently held that a number of state laws that impacted ERISA plans were not preempted by ERISA, while some courts held that other state laws were not. … More

The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) in an amicus brief filed July 24 urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holding that a company’s bargained for retiree health benefit was vested based on the Sixth Circuit’s “presumption of vesting” despite the lack of any language in an agreement providing for such. The case is M&G Polymers v. Tackett.… More

Please find below a link to an amicus brief filed today with the U.S. Supreme Court by ERIC and ABC in the M & G Polymers v. Tackett case. The brief was prepared jointly by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP. … More