Overview

As media and the plaintiffs’ bar have increased their attention on retirement and health benefits, and as employees have become more aware of their legal entitlements, many employers, along with plan administrators and trustees, are finding themselves entangled in increasingly costly and time-consuming benefits-related litigation.

Our proven ERISA – Retirement and Benefit Plan Litigation team combines a real-world understanding of the intricacies of benefit plan administration and employee benefits operation with extensive experience as ERISA counselors and trial and appellate court litigators. Our ERISA litigation attorneys have significant experience in the ongoing administration and operation of benefit plans, which often provides an advantage in tackling the issues that arise in benefits litigation, as well as the possible application of employment, tax, and securities-related considerations. Employers and service providers of benefit plans rely on us to represent them in class actions and individual litigation. We provide clients with the practical legal advice and representation needed to resolve potential benefits disputes as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Focus Areas

Experience

  • Represented various clients against breach of fiduciary duty claims, including claims related to alleged retaliation and misrepresentation or failure to properly inform by a plan fiduciary.
  • Defended clients against claims alleging actions intended to eliminate benefits in violation of Section 510 of ERISA.
  • Represented numerous plan sponsors and fiduciaries in the defense of claims brought under ERISA involving changes to plan benefit offerings, breach of fiduciary duty, and denial of benefits under pension and welfare benefit plans.
  • Secured an FRCP 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss on behalf of a bottling company against the claims of three distributors for benefits under ERISA, as well as for misclassification under the Fair Labor Standard Act, for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.
  • Successfully defended a corporate client in establishing that ERISA preempts enforcement of the New York State Prevailing Wage Law Supplement provisions.
  • Defended an insurer’s ability to treat its paid-time-off (PTO) plan as an ERISA plan governed by federal law. When the State of California refused to recognize that ERISA governed the PTO plan and preempted California vacation pay law, we sued the state twice to withdraw its challenge.
  • Successfully achieved the denial of class certification and then granting of summary judgment dismissing the ERISA and other claims of two-dozen-plus individual plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and affirmance on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

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