LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION
Anne Wallace
Anne Wallace is a New York lawyer, currently living in the metropolitan Washington, DC area. She writes on legal and business issues and teaches at the college and professional level. Anne graduated from Fordham Law School and Wellesley College.
DOL Charges TPA Embezzled ERISA Plan Assets
March 18, 2024.
Pittsburgh, PA On February 5, the Western District of Pennsylvania issued a Temporary Restraining Order barring RiversEdge Advanced Retirement Systems, LLC and Paul Palguta, the company’s sole owner and president, from accessing the assets of various ERISA retirement plans. The Department of Labor has accused the third-party administrator of misappropriating and misallocating retirement plan assets from seventeen retirement plans, fourteen of which were covered by ERISA. The defendants also are alleged to have transferred assets among the trust accounts for these plans and generated false records to conceal these transfers. The fraudulent information provided to the plans duped them into filing false reports with the DOL, which further frustrated discovery of the embezzlement.
Read [ DOL Charges TPA Embezzled ERISA Plan Assets ]
Last Dance, Last Chance for the Texas Two-Step in J&J Talc Litigation
February 28, 2024.
Trenton, NJ Until mid-2023, the Johnson & Johnson talcum powder cancer lawsuits consolidated in the District Court of New Jersey have been essentially frozen in place, while the Third Circuit Court of Appeals evaluated J&J’s bankruptcy petitions. The stay involved a complicated bankruptcy scheme, commonly known as the “Texas two-step,” which would have permitted J&J to limit its financial liability by shifting the cancer claims to a newly-created, but severely underfunded subsidiary.
Read [ Last Dance, Last Chance for the Texas Two-Step in J&J Talc Litigation ]
PAGA To Face Critical Test on November 2024 Ballot
February 20, 2024.
Sacramento, CA On November 5, 2024, Californians will choose whether to preserve the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) in its present form or replace it with the proposed California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act (FPEAA). Since it became law in 2003, PAGA has been an important element of many California labor lawsuits, and is often understood to function as an important deterrent to employer wage theft. Roughly 5,000 PAGA notices are filed annually.
Read [ PAGA To Face Critical Test on November 2024 Ballot ]
New York MDL Consolidates Growing Number of Exactech Defective Hip Implant Lawsuits
February 9, 2024.
Brooklyn, NY As of February 2024, more than 1,600 defective hip implant lawsuits were pending in multidistrict litigation before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. A status conference has been set for March 13, 2024, at which time the parties will discuss the status of the litigation, unresolved discovery matters and the selection of bellwether cases.
Read [ New York MDL Consolidates Growing Number of Exactech Defective Hip Implant Lawsuits ]
Another Option for Workers Who Cannot Save through an ERISA Retirement Plan
February 8, 2024.
San Francisco, CA In February 2022, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari filed by the petitioner in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v. The California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers). The denial kept in place a decision of the Ninth Circuit that permitted a California-sponsored and administered retirement plan for employees of small businesses.
Read [ Another Option for Workers Who Cannot Save through an ERISA Retirement Plan ]
Johnson & Johnson to Pay $700 Million to Settle State AG Lawsuits
January 23, 2024.
Trenton, NJ Johnson & Johnson has reportedly agreed to pay $700 million to settle talcum powder lawsuits brought by 42 states. These state lawsuits allege that the company wrongfully marketed a product that it either knew or had reason to know was dangerous to human health.
Read [ Johnson & Johnson to Pay $700 Million to Settle State AG Lawsuits ]
More Long-Term Part Timers May Now Save Through 401k ERISA Plans
January 22, 2024.
Washington, DC Beginning on January 1, 2024, an expanded group of long-term part-time employees may be able to participate in their employer’s 401k ERISA retirement plan. It’s a small tweak in the 2019 Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) that could have major implications for young and underemployed workers who struggle to save for retirement. Many employers are still processing the changes, so it may ultimately fall to workers to ensure that they are afforded the opportunities provided by law. In most cases, a well-crafted inquiry (with the advice of competent counsel) may eliminate the need for an ERISA lawsuit.
Read [ More Long-Term Part Timers May Now Save Through 401k ERISA Plans ]
Are Forfeiture Lawsuits the Next Trend for ERISA Litigation in 2024?
January 3, 2024.
Oakland, CA On December 13, Clorox Co. asked the Northern District of California to dismiss a class action ERISA breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit that targets the company’s longstanding practice of using forfeited employer contributions to participants’ accounts to reduce its required contributions to the plan. Plan participants argue that forfeited amounts should instead be used to defray the plan’s administrative expenses.
Read [ Are Forfeiture Lawsuits the Next Trend for ERISA Litigation in 2024? ]
MetLife to Settle ERISA Lawsuit for $4.5 Million
December 15, 2023.
New York, NY On November 20 MetLife Group and a group of participants in the MetLife 401(k) Plan agreed to settle an ERISA breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit for $4.5 million. In their amended class-action complaint, plan participants accused plan fiduciaries of failing to act solely in the interest of plan participants and beneficiaries by including proprietary investment options in the plan when similar, cheaper and better-performing investments were available in the marketplace.
Read [ MetLife to Settle ERISA Lawsuit for $4.5 Million ]
Barge Worker Not Required to Arbitrate California Wage Claims
December 13, 2023.
San Francisco, CA On November 24, the Ninth Circuit held that Frank Miles, a deck engineer responsible for marine vessel maintenance, was not required to arbitrate his wage claims against his employer. While the decision acknowledges a federal policy favoring the enforcement of arbitration agreements, it balances that policy against the principle that employees must have knowingly and explicitly waived their right to a day in court. The dispositive fact in Miles v. Brusco Tug & Barge, Inc. appears to be that the arbitration agreement did not clearly and unmistakably cover claims brought under California labor law.
Read [ Barge Worker Not Required to Arbitrate California Wage Claims ]
- Amazon Retaliates against Women Demanding Fair Pay (Dec-7-23)
- Lawsuit Links PFAS PFOA Water Contamination to Ulcerative Colitis (Nov-27-23)
- Jury Awards $107 Million in Asbestos Mesothelioma Lawsuit (Nov-22-23)
- Home Healthcare Employer Settles Wage Lawsuit for $700,000 (Nov-19-23)
- ESG Rules for ERISA Plan Investing Survive Conservative Challenge (Nov-14-23)
- Customer Service Representatives Stiffed of Pre- and Post-Shift Wages (Oct-23-23)
- Exposure to PFAS Doubles Cancer Risk in Women (Oct-18-23)
- Construction Laborers Pension Plan Sues Investment Manager for ERISA Breach (Oct-17-23)
- Allianz Asset Management Settles ERISA Lawsuit for $7.5 Million (Oct-3-23)
- $12.5 Billion PFAS Settlement Revised to Extend 3M Liability (Sep-29-23)
- Minnesota District Court Dismisses ERISA Fiduciary Breach Lawsuit (Sep-5-23)
- Maryland’s Largest Water Utility Files PFAS Lawsuit (Aug-30-23)
- Pfizer 401k Plan Hit with ERISA Lawsuit (Aug-18-23)
- Xerox Settles ERISA Lawsuit for $7.2 Million plus Free or Reduced-Cost Retiree Medical and Dental Coverage (Aug-15-23)
- 3M to Settle PFAS/PFOA Water Contamination Lawsuit for $10.3 Billion (Jul-24-23)
- Xerox Settles ERISA Lawsuit for $7.2 Million plus Free or Reduced-Cost Retiree Medical and Dental Coverage (Jul-5-23)
- J&J Talcum Powder Lawsuit Begins May 31, Despite Bankruptcy Stay (Jun-27-23)
- As Goes the Water in Waterville, so Goes the Nation’s (Jun-13-23)
- Family Feud Savages ESOP Participants’ Retirement Fund (Jun-12-23)
- State AGs Join Opposition to LTL Bankruptcy in Talcum Powder Lawsuits (May-29-23)
- PFAS Linked to Obesity (May-26-23)
- Enfamil Linked to Preemie Blindness, Cerebral Palsy (May-23-23)
- San Francisco Superior Court: Pay Banquet Servers $9 Million (May-18-23)
- ERISA Lawsuits Target Environmental, Social and Governance Factors in Plan Asset Decisions (May-16-23)
- Ninth Circuit Overturns California’s “No Forced Arbitration Law” (Apr-30-23)
- Johnson & Johnson Offers $8.9 Billion to Settle Talcum Powder Lawsuits (Apr-29-23)
- Can PFAS and PFOAs be Scrubbed from Drinking Water? (Apr-27-23)
- What Now? Retirement Plan Cybertheft Is ERISA Lawsuit To Watch (Apr-3-23)
- Gaming Giant to Settle ERISA Lawsuit for $5.5 Million (Mar-28-23)
- Camp LeJeune Contaminated Water Lawsuits – Where’s the Flood? (Mar-25-23)
- Thinx, Inc. to Settle PFAS/PFOA Lawsuit (Mar-20-23)
- In Utah Nonpatients Can Sue for Medical Malpractice (Sometimes) (Feb-7-23)
- ERISA Lawsuit Settlement Hits Stumbling Block (Jan-30-23)
- Can PAGA Claims Survive U.S. Supreme Court’s Pro-Arbitration Decisions? (Jan-24-23)
- Jury Awards Idaho Man $7.96 Million in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit (Dec-29-22)
- L3 Technologies ERISA Lawsuit Seeks Class Action Status (Dec-28-22)
- Asbestos Mesothelioma Victims Stymied by Bestwall LLC Bankruptcy (Dec-27-22)
- California Files PFAS/PFOA Lawsuit against 3M Company (Dec-26-22)
- DOL Files Unpaid Wages Lawsuit on Behalf of Home Healthcare Workers (Dec-13-22)
- Yale University Pension Plan Lawsuit Heading to Jury Trial (Dec-12-22)