On December 16, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Ins. Co., — S. Ct. —, 2013 WL 6569594 that a limitations period for bringing suit that is written into an employee benefit plan document, even a limitations period that starts to run before a cause of action accrues, is […]

As reported in our August 1, 2013 newsletter, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on June 4, 2013 reinstated an ERISA class action in Harris v. Amgen, Inc., 717 F.3d 1042 (9th Cir. 2013), alleging that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties by continuing to offer company stock in two company-sponsored plans […]

In a decision that comes as welcome news to some employers, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that an employer that incurred withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension plan had not become a plan fiduciary by failing to pay the withdrawal liability, and could discharge that liability in bankruptcy. In the case, Carpenters […]

On April 16, 2013, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in U.S. Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen, — S. Ct. —-, 2013 WL 1567371 (2013), resolving a split among the circuits. We wrote about the lower court decisions in this case in our August 2012 newsletter. At issue in McCutchen was whether equitable defenses, such as […]

In Leimkuehler v. American United Life Insurance Co., 713 F.3d 905 (7th Cir. 2013), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the receipt by a 401(k) plan’s financial service provider of “revenue sharing” payments from mutual funds. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s award of summary judgment to the defendant financial service provider, finding […]

The Ninth Circuit, in Harris v. Amgen, has reinstated an ERISA class action alleging that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties by offering company stock in two employer-sponsored plans. The court held that the defendants knew, or should have known, that the stock was sold at an artificially inflated price due to material omissions and […]

On February 19, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Bilyeu v. Morgan Stanley Long Term Disability Plan, 683 F. 3d 1083 (2012), thereby maintaining a split among the federal circuit courts related to a plan sponsor’s reimbursement rights in an action for equitable relief under ERISA § 502(a)(3) […]

ANGEL L. GARRETT and R. BRADFORD HUSS, March 2013 — On March 21, 2013, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Tibble v. Edison International, affirming the district court’s decision in a case where participants alleged that 401(k) plan fiduciaries breached their duties of loyalty and prudence by including certain investment options in the plan, […]

The Department of Labor’s national enforcement initiative for employee stock ownership plans (“ESOPs”) is intended to identify and correct what the Department deems to be violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”). As part of the initiative, the Department has been challenging the enforceability of industry-standard indemnification agreements between ESOP plan sponsors and […]

On January 29, 2013, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice announcing various changes to the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program (DFVC Program), along with a Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions. Although the DFVC Program has been periodically updated by the DOL over the last few years, the last comprehensive update was in […]

In keeping with the tradition of making a new year’s resolution, we suggest the following five resolutions that plan sponsors and fiduciaries can make in 2013 to encourage effective plan governance in the new year, and thereafter. One: Identify the plan fiduciaries. The best practices recommended in this article are only helpful if they are […]