40 results for 'cat:"ERISA" AND cat:"Class Action"'.
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J. Groh adopts the magistrate judge's report and recommendation following remand from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, approving the case as a class action and denying the cross motions for summary judgment. There are material disputes about the vesting of the retiree's life insurance benefits prior to 1984. Given the time the case has been on the docket, and that certain evidence has been destroyed, the court orders the parties to confer to discuss a mutually agreeable adverse inference to be submitted for the court's consideration and to attend another mediation session on or before June 3.
Court: USDC Northern District of West Virginia, Judge: Groh, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 5:18cv114, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Civil Procedure, erisa, class Action
J. Tunheim largely denies the employer's motion for summary judgment in its employee's suit alleging that it invested employees' 401(k) savings in underperforming funds for over a decade. The employer did not breach any enforceable portion of its Investment Policy Statement, so a count alleging breach of that policy is dismissed, and the employer's Board of Directors are dismissed as defendants because they were not functional fiduciaries and had no duty to monitor the fund. Genuine disputes remain as to the employee's other claims, and they survive "because a reasonable trier of fact could easily find" that the employee caught the employer "with its hand in the cookie jar."
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 0:21cv1049, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, Fiduciary Duty, class Action
J. Pepper grants the beneficiary's motion to file a second amended complaint in a class action claiming the health care system failed to choose prudent investments with reasonable fees for its retirement plan. Because decisions from the Seventh Circuit since the class action was originally filed in 2020 have changed pleading standards for ERISA fiduciary duty claims, the beneficiary's motion to file an amended complaint is "reasonable" despite the fact that it will cause "regrettable" delay in the case. The health care system's amended motion to dismiss and motion for supplemental briefing are denied as moot.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv893, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, class Action
J. Conley grants the retirement plan administrators' motion to dismiss the beneficiaries' class action claiming the administrators breached their fiduciary duties by selecting and retaining investments in index funds that perform poorly compared to other available funds. In part because the beneficiaries have failed to prove the disputed investments were made outside the administrators' "reasonable judgment," and because the investments did not always perform poorly during the class period, the beneficiaries have failed to a state a viable claim for breach of fiduciary duty. The beneficiaries' complaint is dismissed without prejudice, and they are given until February 26, 2024, to file an amended complaint, should there be a good-faith reason for it.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv449, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, Fiduciary Duty, class Action
J. Garnett grants final approval of a $750,000 settlement that will end a class action accusing 99 Cents Only Stores and its retirement plan of exhibiting “lack of skill, flawed processes and imprudent decisions" that reduced the account balances and diminished the returns on the employee participants' 401(k) investments. Although the settlement only represents 25% of the total potential damages to be sought at trial, the participants estimated only a 50% chance of success as to their claims, so the settlement amount is reasonable.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Garnett, Filed On: January 2, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1966, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, Settlements, class Action
J. Whitney denies a hauling and transportation service’s motion to dismiss allegations of violations of a federal workers’ protection law brought by a class of employees after the service laid them off then fired them. The class claims that by laying its members off then firing them, the service unfairly prohibited their access to wages, accrued paid time off, pension contributions, ERISA benefits and potential medical expenses for 60 days. The class has shown sufficient evidence for its claim.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Whitney, Filed On: December 12, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv498, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: erisa, class Action, Labor
J. Bryan denies the insurance company's motion to decertify the class in the insureds' class action asserting that the insurance company must cover treatment of gender dysphoria and gender reassignment surgery for a minor. Not only are the class members not seeking individualized damages, which would preclude class certification, but the insurance company's discriminatory conduct described in prior orders is uniform among all plans and all class members.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Bryan, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv6145, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: erisa, Insurance, class Action
J. Brennan grants the ERISA plan administrator's motion to dismiss, ruling its failure to transfer assets from certain passively managed investment funds cannot support a fiduciary duty claim because the comparator evidence from the participants involves actively managed funds. Meanwhile, the participants' failure to cite any similar funds with lower management fees requires dismissal of the claim for excessive fees under ERISA.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Brennan, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv256, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, Fiduciary Duty, class Action
J. Mollway declines a sheet metal contractor’s motion to dismiss this ERISA class action on the argument that the use of the word “may” only permits, and does not require, arbitration. “While the arbitration language could have been clearer, its use of ‘may’ is not grounds for dismissal.” The court directs both parties to meet and confer before Nov. 8, 2023.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Mollway, Filed On: October 26, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv280, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Arbitration, erisa, class Action
J. Zilly grants the participants and beneficiaries’ motion to certify class, which will include any member who invested funds in the Profit Sharing and Retirement Plan. The class representative, class counsel and local counsel are appointed by the court, ordering the parties 21 days to submit a joint status report.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Zilly, Filed On: October 6, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv37, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, Insurance, class Action
J. Azrack compels to arbitration a putative class action ERISA suit bought by a former regional manager that alleges her employer, Luxottica, an Italian eyewear designer, miscalculated her monthly pension payments due to their reliance on mortality assumptions that she claims is 50 years out of date. The court finds the arbitration clause is enforceable and expressly covers claims arising under ERISA.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Azrack, Filed On: September 30, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv6072, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, class Action
J. Lungstrum grants a class of employees' motion for final approval of a class action settlement. The class, which brought claims under ERISA, sufficiently showed in court that Coca Cola breached its fiduciary duty when it imposed record-keeping fines on employees' benefits.
Court: USDC Kansas, Judge: Lungstrum, Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv2054, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: erisa, Fiduciary Duty, class Action
J. Hurd grants class certification to a General Electric employee's one-count class action ERISA complaint that seeks to challenge GE's practice of excluding coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatment which is considered "unproven, experimental or investigational". The litigants suffered a concrete injury for purposes of standing when they were forced to pay more than $68,000 in medical costs for their adoptive son's mental health treatment even though he suffers from disorders which are expressly covered under the health plan.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Hurd, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv553, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: erisa, class Action
J. Rossman finds that the lower court properly tossed class ERISA claims brought by employees who alleged the company did not properly manage the ERISA plan and breached its duty by offering high-cost funds and charging unfairly high fees. The evidence on the record shows there was nothing unreasonable about the fees and that the company did not violate its fiduciary duties in how it administered the plan or kept its record books. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Rossman, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 22-4045, Categories: erisa, class Action