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Benefits

  • August 06, 2025

    LA Seeks To Nix Attys In Ex-Cop's Military Leave Bias Suit

    Attorneys for a former Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant improperly obtained and tried to use a privileged email between a city attorney and a current LAPD lieutenant in a military bias suit, the city said, urging a California federal court to disqualify them from the case.

  • August 05, 2025

    Wash. Judge Questions Injunctions' Scope In Head Start Case

    A Washington federal judge asked attorneys Tuesday to explain how the U.S. Supreme Court's decision concerning nationwide injunctions might impact efforts by a group of Head Start associations to halt federal directives restricting noncitizen access to the program and use of funds for diversity initiatives.

  • August 05, 2025

    OptumRx Urges Panel To DQ Motley Rice In LA Opioid Suit

    OptumRx told a California appellate panel Tuesday that Motley Rice should be disqualified from representing Los Angeles County in a lawsuit alleging it colluded with drugmakers to fuel the opioid crisis, saying the firm violated state law by using confidential information obtained in the case in other lawsuits it's handling against Optum.

  • August 05, 2025

    UBH Patients Score Partial Win In Mental Health Claims Fight

    A California federal judge handed a partial win Tuesday to a class of participants in employee health benefit plans who sought coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatments from United Behavioral Health, holding the company's overly restrictive guidelines breached fiduciary duties under federal benefits law.

  • August 05, 2025

    Law Profs Urge 11th Circ. To Toss Judge-Shopping Sanctions

    A group of seven law school professors is urging the Eleventh Circuit to toss a sanctions ruling against three attorneys for judge shopping, arguing that federal law does not forbid the practice and citing the "potentially chilling effect the order will have on counsel, especially those involved in pro bono representation."

  • August 05, 2025

    White & Case Lands Baker Botts Benefits Chair

    The firmwide executive compensation and employee benefits chair at Baker Botts LLP became the 20th U.S. lateral partner to join White & Case LLP this year, according to a Tuesday announcement.

  • August 05, 2025

    Rising Star: Proskauer's Justin S. Alex

    Proskauer Rose LLP partner Justin S. Alex has tackled the benefits aspects of a slew of major sports industry deals over the past 15 years, including the sales of three NFL teams, earning him a spot among the benefits law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ex-Officer Says LAPD Withheld Info In Military Leave Bias Suit

    A former Los Angeles Police Department officer claiming he was passed over for a promotion because of his military status said he has not received the records he requested containing information about similarly situated employees. 

  • August 05, 2025

    Teva Settles Claims Over Delayed Generic Asthma Inhalers

    Teva Pharmaceuticals has settled a 2023 lawsuit by a coalition of union healthcare funds accusing the company of thwarting the introduction of a generic version of its QVAR inhalers to the market, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.

  • August 05, 2025

    IRS Floats Update To System For Fringe Benefits

    The Internal Revenue Service floated rules Tuesday that would change its system of business classification for employees hoping to exclude fringe benefits and employee discounts from their gross income at tax time.

  • August 05, 2025

    Alaska Airlines Can't Nix Flight Attendant's Surgery Win

    A Washington state appeals court won't disturb a jury's finding that a flight attendant was entitled to coverage of a spine surgery for an injury she sustained while working for Alaska Airlines, saying the trial court judge rightly rejected the airline's proposed jury instruction for its confusion.

  • August 04, 2025

    11th Circ. Says Bakery Co. Can't Dodge $15.6M Pension Bill

    The Eleventh Circuit backed a pension fund's calculations that a wholesale bakery company may have to pay as much as $15.6 million after exiting the benefits plan, ruling it properly applied a credit outlined in the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act.

  • August 04, 2025

    Consumers Want Fees Of $49M From $203M In Chicken Deals

    Broiler chicken consumers asked an Illinois federal judge on Monday for about $49 million in attorney fees from two rounds of price-fixing deals they've struck with major producers, matching the settlement percentage to which a Seventh Circuit panel last month found class counsel was entitled.

  • August 04, 2025

    Nurse Agrees To Repay $614K For False Claims In Conn.

    A nurse who owned a medication management business and two Connecticut residential care homes agreed on Monday to settle state and federal False Claims Act allegations for $614,000, ending allegations that he billed Medicare and Medicaid impossible daily hours and for clients that were hospitalized or dead.

  • August 04, 2025

    9th Circ. Rejects Most Of Sodexo's ERISA Arbitration Push

    The Ninth Circuit said Monday that employers can't unilaterally change Employee Retirement Income Security Act-governed plans to require arbitration, backing the bulk of a trial court ruling that refused to throw out of court a nicotine fee lawsuit against food service company Sodexo.

  • August 04, 2025

    Hair Care Brand Olaplex Settles IPO Investors' Suit For $47.5M

    Olaplex Holdings Inc. has reached a $47.5 million settlement with investors to resolve a proposed class action alleging that the hair care brand's initial public offering documents did not disclose that the European Union had banned a controversial ingredient called lilial, which would affect Olaplex's main product offering.

  • August 04, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week at the Delaware Court of Chancery, insurance brokerage and risk management giant Marsh & McLennan Cos. sought injunctive relief in a new suit accusing U.S. affiliates of London-based Howden Holdings Ltd. of a poaching scheme that involved over 100 M&M employees resigning on July 21. 

  • August 04, 2025

    Rising Star: Gibson Dunn's Gina Hancock

    Gina Hancock of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has guided companies through executive compensation and employee benefits practices as part of mergers and acquisition deals worth more than $60 billion in total, earning her a spot as one of the benefits law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 04, 2025

    Cold Storage Co. Duped Investors Before 2024 IPO, Suit Says

    A pension fund has sued Lineage Inc., a cold-storage real estate investment trust, and several of its executives in Michigan federal court over the company's initial public offering, the largest of 2024, alleging the REIT and its top brass misled investors about softening demand and unsustainable pricing.

  • August 01, 2025

    Supreme Court Asked To Weigh In On Distillery-Union Row

    An Oregon distillery has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to revive its challenge of a National Labor Relations Board decision that dinged the liquor maker for unfair labor practices, saying clarity was needed for a legal standard that the distillery says has allowed NLRB decisions to escape judicial review.

  • August 01, 2025

    X Corp. Must Arbitrate Ex-Twitter Workers' Claims, Cover Fees

    A Seattle federal judge is forcing X Corp. to fully pay the fees for arbitrating the claims of about 150 former Twitter employees in Washington who say they were shorted on bonus and severance pay amid layoffs after Elon Musk took over the social media giant in 2022.

  • August 01, 2025

    Texas Judge Says States Can Pursue BlackRock Coal Suit

    A Texas federal judge Friday gave Texas and other states the go-ahead to pursue claims that BlackRock Inc. and other asset managers used market muscle to decrease coal production, saying the states plausibly showed that the asset managers breached antitrust laws.

  • August 01, 2025

    Mich. Cos. Can't Get Atty Fees In Withdrawal Liability Dispute

    A Michigan furniture manufacturer and its shipping partner cannot get interest and attorney fees in a dispute with a Teamsters-affiliated pension fund, an Illinois federal judge ruled, finding the fund's bid to increase the amount of money the companies owed was not made in bad faith.

  • August 01, 2025

    4 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In August

    The Ninth and Eleventh circuits in August will hear from employers fighting trial court decisions refusing to kick proposed class actions alleging ERISA violations into individual arbitration. Here's a look at four coming oral argument sessions that should be on benefits lawyers' radar.

  • August 01, 2025

    Steel Workers Want OK Of $1.8M Deal In Inflated Stock Suit

    A former employee of Flat Rock Metal and Bar Processing has asked a Michigan federal judge to grant a green light to a $1.8 million settlement in a suit claiming the trustees of the company's employee stock ownership plan allowed the plan to buy $60 million in company stock at an inflated price.

Expert Analysis

  • What Del. Supreme Court LKQ Decision Means For M&A Deals

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    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in LKQ v. Rutledge greatly increases the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions, representing an important affirmation of earlier precedent and making it likely that such agreements will become more common in M&A transactions, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • 10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

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    The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

  • How High Court's Cornell Decision Will Affect ERISA Suits

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cunningham v. Cornell, characterizing prohibited transaction exemptions as affirmative defenses, sets the bar very low for initiating Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, and will likely affect many plan sponsors with similar service agreements, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing

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    Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.

  • 10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

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    As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.

  • How Proxy Advisory Firms Are Approaching AI And DEI

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    Institutional Shareholder Services' and Glass Lewis' annual updates to their proxy voting guidelines reflect some of the biggest issues of the day, including artificial intelligence and DEI, and companies should parse these changes carefully, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

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    Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

  • Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

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    Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • How Plan Sponsors Can Mitigate Risk In PBM Contracts

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    A recent lawsuit in New York federal court alleges that JPMorgan caused exorbitant prescription costs by mishandling the pharmacy benefit manager arrangement, adding to a growing body of Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary breach litigation and affirming that fiduciaries must proactively manage their healthcare plan vendors, say attorneys at Hall Benefits Law.

  • Series

    Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

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    Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Preparing For Corporate Work

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    Law school often doesn't cover the business strategy, financial fluency and negotiation skills needed for a successful corporate or transactional law practice, but there are practical ways to gain relevant experience and achieve the mindset shifts critical to a thriving career in this space, says Dakota Forsyth at Olshan Frome.

  • 6 Ways The Dole Act Alters USERRA Employment Protections

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    The recently passed Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act continues a long-standing trend of periodically increasing the scope of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, expanding civilian employment rights for service members and veterans with some of the most significant changes yet, say attorneys at Littler.

  • A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process

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    The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.

  • Series

    Improv Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Improv keeps me grounded and connected to what matters most, including in my legal career where it has helped me to maintain a balance between being analytical, precise and professional, and creative, authentic and open-minded, says Justine Gottshall at InfoLawGroup.

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