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A federal district court in Louisiana upheld a Texas state law prohibiting insurers from granting themselves discretion to interpret benefit plans when deciding benefit claims. These so-called “discretionary clauses” are routinely found in plans governed by ERISA and generally result in courts deferring to the plan administrator’s decisions.  As a practical matter, the current ruling

The Third Circuit rejected a claim for lifetime health insurance benefits filed by retired employees of Johnson Controls, finding that the clear and unambiguous language of the CBAs and group insurance booklets did not guarantee lifetime health insurance benefits. The suit was filed after the group insurance booklets, which were incorporated into and subject to

The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of religiously-affiliated hospitals and healthcare organizations in holding that a pension plan need not be established by a church in order to qualify for ERISA’s church plan exemption. Petitioners are religiously affiliated non-profit healthcare organizations appealing decisions by the Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuit Courts of

The First Circuit concluded that, pursuant to the applicable collective bargaining agreement, it was for an arbitrator, not the court, to decide whether the union’s claim that the employer failed to properly fund a defined benefit pension plan was preempted by ERISA. The First Circuit explained that the arbitration clause in the CBA clearly applied

In three decisions issued on the same day, the Sixth Circuit held that Meritor retirees were not entitled to lifetime health benefits, while retirees at Kelsey-Hayes and CNH Industries were entitled to contractually vested health benefits. In the first case, a group of former Meritor employees filed suit after the company reduced their healthcare benefits. 

The Fourth Circuit upheld an employer’s unilateral decision to amend a collective bargaining agreement to cap employer contributions to retiree health benefits and freeze Medicare reimbursements for hourly retirees. In so ruling, the Court applied general contract principles, as required by the Supreme Court’s decision in M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, 135 S.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the government’s views on a petition for certiorari asking the Court to decide whether ERISA permits a cause of action for indemnity or contribution by an individual found liable for breach of fiduciary duty.  The underlying dispute resulted from

A federal district court in Ohio dismissed retirees’ claims for lifetime healthcare benefits from Honeywell.  Honeywell provided healthcare benefits to plaintiffs through a series of collective bargaining agreements and, although it continued to do so for several years after the final CBA expired, Honeywell eventually notified plaintiffs that it would terminate contributions toward their healthcare

A federal district court in Michigan dismissed retirees’ claims for lifetime, unalterable healthcare benefits from BorgWarner.  BorgWarner provided healthcare benefits to Plaintiffs through a series of collective bargaining agreements  and health insurance agreements.  After BorgWarner unilaterally modified the available retiree healthcare benefits, Plaintiffs filed suit.  Applying the principles set forth in M&G Polymers USA, LLC

A federal district court in Mississippi ruled for the first time that the “more harm than good” pleading standard established by the Supreme Court in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, 134 S. Ct. 2459 (2014), applied to employer “stock drop” claims brought against the fiduciaries of plans sponsored by closely-held corporations. Hill Brothers Construction