United Mine Workers of Am. 1974 Pension Plan v. Energy W. Mining Co., No. 20-7054, __ F. 4th __, 2022 WL 2568025 (D.C. Cir. Jul. 8, 2022) (Before Circuit Judges Rao, Walker, and Sentelle). 

We have rarely selected a withdrawal liability case as the Case of the Week, but this decision from the D.C. Circuit siding, with a mining company that withdrew from a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan, is an interesting exception. Continue Reading The D.C. Circuit Rules That Past is Prologue in Withdrawal Liability Dispute

Gimeno v. NCHMD, Inc., No. 21-11833, __ F.4th__ 2022 WL 2309436 (11th Cir. Jun. 28, 2022) (Before Circuit Judges Pryor, Rosenbaum, and Brasher). 

Today’s case of the week goes where many cases have gone before in answering in the affirmative the straightforward question: “Does [ERISA Section 502(a)(3)] create a cause of action for an ERISA beneficiary to recover monetary benefits lost due to a fiduciary’s breach of fiduciary duty in the plan enrollment process?” Continue Reading The Eleventh Circuit Agrees That Surcharge is Available Equitable Relief

McQuillin v. Hartford Life & Accident Ins. Co., No. 21-1514, __ F. 4th __, 2022 WL 2029879 (2d Cir. Jun. 7, 2022) (Before Circuit Judges Walker, Calabresi, and Cabranes).

 ERISA claims administrators and courts often hold plan participants and beneficiaries strictly to time limits and other plan-imposed or regulatory requirements and cut off their rights when they fail to meet these requirements. In this decision, the Second Circuit rules that insurance companies and other claims administrators must likewise meet regulatory time limits or suffer the consequences of their failure to do so. Continue Reading Taking ERISA Rights Seriously: Second Circuit Rules That Hartford’s Failure to Meet Time Limits Excuses Claimant from Exhaustion