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Benefits

  • March 17, 2025

    Vituity Inks $8.75M Deal To End 401(k) Excessive Fee Suit

    Healthcare management company Vituity has agreed to pay $8.75 million to resolve a proposed class action alleging it excessively charged workers $600 in annual retirement plan management fees in violation of federal benefits law, according to a California federal court filing.

  • March 17, 2025

    American Airlines Pension Data Suit Transferred To Texas

    American Airlines can ship to Texas a proposed class action alleging the company used outdated statistics to calculate retirees' pension payments, an Illinois federal judge ruled, finding the worker leading the case was one of the only things tying the suit to Illinois.

  • March 17, 2025

    Houston Midwife Arrested In Texas' 1st Criminal Abortion Case

    A Houston-area midwife has been arrested after an investigation by the Texas attorney general's office for allegedly providing illegal abortions, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday, the first such criminal charges brought since the state issued its near-total abortion ban.

  • March 14, 2025

    US Trustee Pans Pump Co.'s $9M Asbestos Insurance Deal

    The U.S. Trustee's Office has challenged a proposed $9 million settlement between a Chapter 7 trustee for a bankrupt Connecticut pump company and two insurers, saying the agreement nonconsensually deprives third parties of their asbestos-related personal injury claims against the insurance carriers.

  • March 14, 2025

    NC Ex-Doctor Gets 2.5 Years For Drug Test Billing Scheme

    A 72-year-old doctor in North Carolina was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison and ordered to hand over $2 million in restitution for a fraudulent billing scheme involving medically unnecessary drug tests, prosecutors said.

  • March 14, 2025

    FTC Urges 8th Circ. Not To Pause Insulin Pricing Case

    The Federal Trade Commission has urged the Eighth Circuit not to pause its in-house case accusing Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx of artificially inflating insulin prices, telling the appeals court the pharmacy benefit managers have no chance of winning on their constitutional claims.

  • March 14, 2025

    Dr. Oz Pledges 'Upcoding' Crackdown If Confirmed At CMS

    Dr. Mehmet Oz told lawmakers he would combat rising healthcare costs by showing there's a "new sheriff in town" opposed to so-called upcoding by Medicare Advantage plans, as he sought support Friday for his nomination to lead the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

  • March 14, 2025

    Judge Splits $79M Judgment In Danish Tax Fraud Case

    A New York federal judge divided a nearly $79 million judgment against four investors and their pension plans after a jury in February found them liable for participating in a tax fraud scheme against the Danish government.  

  • March 14, 2025

    Sutter Health Reaches $4.3M Deal To End Retirement Suit

    Nonprofit healthcare system Sutter Health will pay $4.3 million to settle a class action from workers alleging their employee retirement plan was saddled with excessive fees and poorly performing investments, according to filings in California federal court.

  • March 14, 2025

    Insurance Co. Unlawfully Nixed Disability Benefits, Suit Says

    Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co. abruptly cut off a FedEx employee's disability benefits and refused to consider her doctor's conclusion that she's unable to return to work, in violation of federal benefits law, according to a lawsuit filed in Tennessee federal court.

  • March 13, 2025

    Ohio Health Insurer Wins $24M Verdict ln Racketeering Case

    An Ohio jury has awarded Medical Mutual of Ohio more than $24 million in damages, after the insurer accused its rivals FrontPath Health Coalition and HealthScope Benefits of undercutting the bidding process for healthcare contracts with the city of Toledo.

  • March 13, 2025

    Judge Trims Claims Of Botched Federal Savings Transition

    A D.C. federal judge trimmed a proposed class of federal employees and their family members' claims against two companies that manage workers' retirement plan and the plan's board Wednesday, tossing claims of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty but leaving breach of contract and unjust enrichment claims intact.

  • March 13, 2025

    Federal Judge Still Skeptical Of Amazon Securities Fraud Suit

    A Washington federal judge said he was "struggling" with a group of Amazon shareholders' stance in a securities fraud suit on Thursday, doubtful that stock sales numbers were enough to back claims that Jeff Bezos had a motive to dupe investors about the company's fulfillment capacity and third-party seller practices.

  • March 13, 2025

    Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund Beats Accountant's Bias Suit

    The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund defeated Thursday a former accountant's lawsuit claiming he was passed over for promotions and ultimately fired because he was a Black man in his 60s, with an Illinois federal judge finding it was his declining job performance that cost him the job.

  • March 13, 2025

    PBMs Tell FTC 5-Month Delay Too Long For In-House Insulin Trial

    The nation's "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers say they want to get to trial in the Federal Trade Commission's administrative suit against them sooner rather than later, arguing that the agency's request for a five-month delay would be too long, but they're open to a three-week postponement.

  • March 13, 2025

    SEIU Fund Escapes Surgery Centers' Underpayment Suit

    A Service Employees International Union benefit fund no longer has to face a lawsuit four surgical centers launched accusing it of shortchanging them on patient treatments, with a New York federal judge saying Wednesday the centers have failed to show that any agreement existed between themselves and the fund.

  • March 13, 2025

    6th Circ. Won't Rehear Ex-Electric Co. Exec's Severance Suit

    The Sixth Circuit will not rethink its panel decision upholding the dismissal of a severance suit brought by American Electric Power Services Corp.'s former chief digital officer who claimed he was shortchanged on his way out the door, according to a Thursday order.

  • March 13, 2025

    US Bank Agrees To Massive Class In 401(k) Fee Suit

    U.S. Bancorp told a Minnesota federal court Thursday that it agreed to the certification of an approximately 93,000-member class in a lawsuit alleging the financial company allowed its employee 401(k) to pay exorbitant recordkeeping fees.

  • March 13, 2025

    5th Circ. Sides With NLRB On Reconsidered Exxon Ruling

    The National Labor Relations Board didn't overstep by wiping out and rethinking a decision involving an Exxon Mobil unit after learning a member had a stake in the company, the Fifth Circuit said, enforcing the board's ruling that the company sabotaged negotiations with a union.

  • March 13, 2025

    Vanguard's $40M Deal In Tax Suit Gets Delay In Final Approval

    A Pennsylvania federal judge delayed a proposed $40 million settlement between Vanguard and investors who claimed the firm unfairly stuck them with big tax bills, saying both sides must respond to objections about the effects of a recent SEC settlement on the deal.

  • March 13, 2025

    Judge Orders Reinstatement Of Many Fired Federal Workers

    A California federal judge on Thursday ordered the immediate reinstatement of certain probationary employees fired from six federal agencies, saying the Office of Personnel Management did not have the authority to direct those terminations, making the firings "unlawful."

  • March 12, 2025

    'Not An Autocracy': Judge Says Trump Can't Fire FLRA Chair

    President Donald Trump last month unlawfully fired the Democratic chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, a Washington, D.C., federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the government "is not an autocracy" that allows the president to "remove federal officials on a whim."

  • March 12, 2025

    Women Attys, AGs Urge Justices To Protect Provider Choice

    Women attorney groups and a group of state attorneys general urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject South Carolina's attempt to stop Medicaid patients from seeing Planned Parenthood healthcare providers, saying in an amicus brief Wednesday that patients have a right to choose their healthcare providers and have a private right of action to enforce that right.

  • March 12, 2025

    Mich. Justices Fret About Insurer Fallout In Benefits Case

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed receptive to an insurance pool's argument that it does not owe coverage to a municipality for canceling a retirement benefit, asking about the potential for a major impact on the industry were it to affirm an adverse ruling.

  • March 12, 2025

    Trump Admin Drops Biden Bid To Unfreeze ACA Trans Rule

    The Trump administration asked the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday to dismiss its appeal, filed in July by the Biden administration, of a Texas federal judge's decision to halt a rule protecting access to gender-affirming healthcare.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • 50 Years Later, ERISA Remains A Work In Progress

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    A look at the 50 years since the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s passage shows that while the law safeguards benefits through vesting rules, fiduciary responsibilities and anti-discrimination provisions, the act falls short in three key areas, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • 1st Gender Care Ban Provides Context For High Court Case

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    The history of Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming medical care — the first such legislation in the U.S. — provides important insight into the far-reaching ramifications that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti next term will have on transgender healthcare, says Tyler Saenz at Baker Donelson.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 37 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Opinion

    FIFA Maternity Policy Shows Need For Federal Paid Leave

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    While FIFA and other employers taking steps to provide paid parental leave should be applauded, the U.S. deserves a red card for being the only rich nation in the world that offers no such leave, says Dacey Romberg at Sanford Heisler.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

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