On September 30, 2025, Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a final judgment on damages in Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., No. 4:23-cv-552 (N.D. Tex. Sept. 30, 2025), which related to challenges that American Airlines and its employee benefits committee (“AA”) violated their ERISA fiduciary
ERISA Litigation
Eleventh Circuit Holds Pension Fund Correctly Applied Partial Withdrawal Liability Credit
By Neil V. Shah & Sydney Juliano on
In Perfection Bakeries Inc. v. Retail Wholesale & Dep’t Store Int’l Union & Indus. Pension Fund, No. 23-12533, 147 F.4th 1314 (11th Cir. Aug. 1, 2025), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that an employer’s credit for a prior partial withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan must be applied at the second step of the four-step statutory…
District Court Interprets Multiemployer Plan Fee-Shifting Provision to Encompass Attorneys’ Fees and Costs Incurred in Related Litigation
By Neil V. Shah & Anastasia Gellman on
A multiemployer plan that prevails in an action to collect delinquent contributions or withdrawal liability is statutorily entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs “of the action.” In International Painters & Allied Trades Industry Pension Fund v. Florida Glass of Tampa Bay, Inc., No. 23-cv-00045, 2025 WL 712965 (D. Md. Mar. 5, 2025)…
Tenth Circuit Affirms Distinction Between Forfeiture and Penalty for Competition
By Seth Safra & Jake Lee on
In Lawson v. Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the forfeiture of certain stock awards for violating a covenant not to compete. Like the Seventh Circuit in LKQ Corp. v. Rutledge(which applied Delaware law), the Tenth Circuit concluded that, under Kansas law, the remedy of…