276 results for 'nos:"Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor"'.
J. Shubb finds for a life insurance company on a widow’s ERISA claims arising from the denial of accidental death benefits when her husband, who was employed by a grocery store chain and was learning to fly allegedly store-owned aircraft, died following a fatal crash. The company's policy included an aircraft exclusion that applied to the decedent, as he was considered part of the crew, rather than a passenger, at the time of the accident.
Court: USDC Eastern District of California, Judge: Shubb, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv919, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Employment, Erisa, Insurance
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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. Lemelle finds for an employee benefits plan administrator on a former commercial truck driver’s breach of fiduciary duty claims arising from denial of his request for long-term benefits due to his pre-existing hypertension. The issue is whether the driver was covered under the employer’s policy when he was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, which according to Department of Transportation guidelines, would prevent him from driving a licensed commercial vehicle. The plan administrator’s interpretation of the term “active full-time service” as applied to a worker who had not worked in several weeks, had exhausted his paid time off and was on indefinite medical leave is reasonable considering the policy language and known facts.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Lemelle, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1760, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Transportation
J. Conley grants summary judgment to the insurance company in the beneficiary's lawsuit claiming it wrongfully denied her claim for long-term disability benefits after she stopped working in June 2022 due to cognitive issues, eye problems, hand numbness, shoulder pain, chronic kidney disease and other complications from diabetes. Through the denial of her initial claim and two subsequent appeals, the insurance company was not arbitrary and capricious in making its decisions based on the beneficiary's medical records and ability to perform her job in light of the combined effect of all her ailments, many of which the evidence shows were stable or improving.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: January 24, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv494, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Insurance
J. Peterson grants summary judgment to the insurance company in a lawsuit from a beneficiary claiming she was wrongfully denied long-term disability benefits after she stopped working in January 2021 due to eye pain and spasms. Through the beneficiary's initial claim and two subsequent appeals, the insurance company comprehensively reviewed all the evidence and medical opinions related to the beneficiary's pain and the limitations her conditions placed on her ability to do her job, and it cannot be found to have been arbitrary and capricious in its decisions.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv617, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Insurance
J. Evanson finds in favor of the employer for its lawsuit seeking to enforce a Subrogation and Right of Recovery provision of its health benefits plan in order to recover a portion of the former employee's settlement funds equal to the medical benefits the employer paid out after the employee was injured in a car accident. The employer is entitled to a $73,300 judgment and attorney fees, because while the employee argues that it would be unfair to let the employer make itself whole through reimbursement because she was not made whole in her settlement of the New York action, its Health and Welfare Plan explicitly states that the employer's right to reimbursement trumps her right to be made whole.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Evanson, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv1551, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Employment, Erisa, Settlements
J. Immergut grants the trust funds $187,800 in damages for their complaint accusing the sand and gravel supplier of not paying full fringe benefit contributions to the trust funds from August to December 2022 and skipping its remittance report in January 2023. The trust funds adequately show that the sand and gravel supplier is liable for their ERISA claim because of its delinquent contributions and the awarded damages equal the amount of unpaid fringe benefits and union dues, interest and liquidated damages.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Immergut, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv1060, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Damages, Labor
J. Brady rules in part for the insurer because the policyholder failed to convert her employment life insurance policy into a personal policy prior to her death. However, the claim should not be dismissed, as while the insurer did not have a duty to inform her of her policy rights, she was experiencing mental decline.
Court: USDC Northern District of Indiana, Judge: Brady, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv290, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Civil Procedure, Erisa, Insurance
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. Eagan remands this case concerning the denial of an employee's short-term disability benefits to the plan administrator "for clarification of its decision." The claimant, who was diagnosed with sleep apnea and major depressive disorder, asserts a claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The court concludes that remand is proper as the administrator "failed to adequately explain the grounds for the decision."
Court: USDC Northern District of Oklahoma , Judge: Eagan, Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv61, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Civil Procedure, Erisa, Health Care
J. Joseph grants the joint motion to lift a stay in the pension fund's lawsuit claiming unpaid contributions from the general contractor. The general contractor's motion to enforce the parties' previous settlement agreement to bar the fund from filing a new complaint is denied, but the fund's motion to file a third amended complaint is also denied, as it untimely seeks to add a new claim unrelated to the central claim regarding contributions to the fund for hours worked by the contractor's employees. The parties are ordered to confer on a discovery plan to explore whether the contractor's employees were performing work covered by the collective bargaining agreement from June 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021, and they are ordered to submit a joint letter regarding the plan to the court by January 8, 2024.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Joseph, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1299, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Contract
J. Pechman grants the family judgment on their ERISA claims accusing the insurance company and others of wrongfully denying coverage for the minor, who was under the father's plan, for his stays at mental healthcare facilities in 2019 and 2020. The insurance company abused its discretion in policy determination because it denied full coverage without providing a reasonable explanation for why the minor did not need further treatment at one of the mental healthcare facilities. The insurance company must complete its review and determination of what is owed to the family.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Pechman, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1517, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Insurance
J. Zilly denies the employee's motion to amend the judgment for her complaint that the insurance company wrongfully denied her claim for long-term disability benefits under an employee benefit plan. The employee shows a taxable 2015 income of $104,500 but she does not show that this income is solely from her employment, or that it was her base salary without added funds such as bonuses and overtime pay. The insurance company is to calculate the employee's claim for LTD benefits according to the policy, and then it is to pay pre-judgment interest at a 5.46% rate per annum on unpaid LTD benefits from Oct. 6, 2020 until Oct. 6, 2023, the date of judgment.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Zilly, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv1424, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Employment, Erisa, Insurance
J. King denies the trusts' motion for a protective order staying discovery until they answer the plan participant's operative complaint, a class action accusing the trusts of not providing him with enough information to make an informed decision about his retirement plans and retroactively suspending part of his accrued retirement benefits. The trusts argue that the plan participant's first set of requests for production involve sensitive information regarding over 465,000 plan participants since 1983 and would require at least 28 million document pages, but the trusts do not address whether the alleged thousands of hours of discovery they anticipate could be eased with technology-assisted review or other discovery tools.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: King, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv922, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Discovery