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.
Plan Benefits and Governance Issues
Employers regularly engage us in cases involving benefit plans and ERISA-related claims against plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and service providers. We also handle matters relating to multi-employer plans as well as ERISA issues arising from downsizing and reductions in force.
Because many of our benefits clients are plan sponsors, we are often involved in audits, investigations, and other issues surrounding government agencies charged with statutory enforcement. Among those agencies are the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Health Care Issues
As much of the health care industry receives payments for its services from health plans subject to ERISA, issues arise that require knowledge of both the health care industry and ERISA. Because health care has been a core practice of our firm since our founding in 1973, we have that knowledge. We represent insurance companies, hospitals, and other providers (such as managed care organizations) and the services provided by these clients with respect to insured and noninsured single, multi-employer, and multiple welfare benefit plans.
Clients look to us to litigate a wide range of health care issues. For example, we litigated cases involving the authority of states to treat self-funded plans with stop-loss insurance as insured plans exempt from ERISA's insurance savings clause; the determination of the point at which payments for health benefits from an ERISA plan to a third-party administrator (which, in turn, pays the providers) stop being “plan assets” so that the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA are not applicable; and the extent to which state anti-subrogation statutes apply to ERISA plans. These cases also included ERISA preemption issues.
Multi-Employer Plan-Related Litigation
When multi-employer plan-related litigation and Title IV of ERISA and Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) claims arise, clients turn to us to defend them. We have handled cases ranging from fund-related disputes over pension and health and welfare plan contribution payments to PBGC single-employer pension plan liability to Multi-Employer Pension Plan Amendments Act withdrawal liability. Our attorneys have experience litigating fiduciary issues arising with respect to Taft-Hartley plans, Pension Protection Act issues, and ADEA claims related to employee benefit plans.
Executive Compensation Disputes
Clients also call on our attorneys to handle executive compensation-related litigation. Our attorneys have handled federal district court matters relating to disputes under ERISA-deferred compensation plans (e.g., SERP benefits) and litigation involving top-hat plan status under ERISA. We help resolve disputes regarding payments related to stock options, restricted stock, and other equity-based arrangements, as well as incentives and performance-based compensation plans, and 409A-related disputes.
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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.
Contacts
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Media
Events
Past Events
- November 3, 2021
Insights
Insights
- Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Announces 2025 Promotions4 minute read
- Media CoverageDavid Shillcutt Quoted in “Trump's Win Endangers Slew of Biden-Era Employee Benefits Rules”2 minute read
- BlogsVideo: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week3 minute read
- PublicationsNoncompetes Under Fire, the Benefits of Forfeiture-for-Competition Clauses Getting a Fresh Look3 minute read
- Media CoverageKathryn English, Sandra Mihok, Heather Stone Fletcher, William Carter, Samuel Nolan Featured in “The Top Lateral Hires of ...2 minute read
- Media Coverage
Featured in The Legal Intelligencer: Epstein Becker Green Snags Employment Benefits Team to Launch Pittsburgh Office ...
2 minute read - Media CoverageKathryn English, Sandra Mihok, Heather Stone Fletcher, William Carter, Samuel Nolan Featured in “5-Person Benefits ...3 minute read
- Media CoverageEpstein Becker Green Expands Pittsburgh Footprint Following Addition of 5 Former Attorneys from Eckert Seamans1 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Expands Employee Benefits Practice with Five-Attorney Group in Pittsburgh3 minute read
- Media CoverageJeb Gerth Featured in “People on the Move”1 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Continues Focused Growth in Nashville with Health Care and Employment Hires4 minute read
- Media Coverage
Cassandra Labbees Featured on Journeys to Equity Podcast
2 minute read - Media CoverageCassandra Labbees Quoted in “Back to Basics: HR's Need-to-Know Guide to ERISA”3 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green’s Commitment to Focused Excellence in Core Practices Extolled in 2022 U.S. News – Best Lawyers
5 minute read - Firm AnnouncementsFifty-Eight Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Recognized for Professional Excellence–Three Attorneys Distinguished as ...7 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Adam S. Forman, Christopher A. McMican Named to 2021 Michigan Super Lawyers List
7 minute read - PublicationsThe Court Delivers Four Decisions, Including One Allowing a State to Regulate Reimbursements by Pharmacy Benefit Managers ...
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green’s Focused Excellence in Core Practices Lauded by 2021 U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” ...
4 minute read - Firm Announcements
Adam S. Forman, Christopher A. McMican Named to 2020 Michigan Super Lawyers List
6 minute read - Firm AnnouncementsFifty-Five Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Recognized for Professional Excellence–Two Attorneys Distinguished as ...7 minute read
- Media CoverageCassandra Labbees Quoted in "High Deductible Plans May Waive Cost-Sharing for Coronavirus Tests"2 minute read
- Media CoverageCassandra Labbees Quoted in "Cigna Extends Free Coronavirus Tests to Self-Funded Employer Plans"2 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsExperienced Trial Lawyer Daniel D. Edelman Joins Epstein Becker Green2 minute read
- PublicationsFive Developing Trends Financial Services Employers Need to Know11 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Lauded by 2020 U.S. News – Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" Survey
4 minute read - Firm Announcements
Corporate Counsel Rank Epstein Becker Green as "Litigation Standout" in BTI Litigation Outlook 2020 Report
2 minute read - Firm Announcements
Forty-Seven Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named by The Best Lawyers in America 2020, One Attorney Distinguished as "Lawyer ...
5 minute read - Media CoverageCassandra Labbees Featured on Communicating the Tax Implications of Employee Benefits1 minute read
- Media CoverageJohn Houston Pope Quoted in "5 ERISA Cases to Watch in the 2nd Half of 2019"3 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Is Recognized in the 2019 U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” Survey
4 minute read - Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Selected for The Best Lawyers in America 2019 and Four Attorneys Named "Lawyer of the Year ...
5 minute read - Media CoverageStuart Gerson Quoted in "Is Labor Dept.'s Expansion of Association Health Plans Legal?"3 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Is Recognized in the 2018 U.S. News – Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" Survey
3 minute read - PublicationsNo Tricks, We Treat You to Five Developments in the Intersection of Health Care and Employment Law32 minute read
- Media CoverageWilliam Milani Quoted in "Republican Paid Leave Proposal Gets Business Backing"2 minute read
- Firm Announcements
38 Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Selected for The Best Lawyers in America 2018, One Honored as "Lawyer of the Year ...
5 minute read - PublicationsBenefits Litigation Update - Summer 20173 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsEmployment and Labor Attorney Jonathan M. Brenner Joins Epstein Becker Green from Sidley Austin3 minute read
- PublicationsBenefits Litigation Update – Spring 20173 minute read
- PublicationsA New Year and a New Administration: Five Employment, Labor & Workforce Management Issues That Employers Should Monitor ...32 minute read
- PublicationsBenefits Litigation Update – Fall 20163 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Is Recognized in the 2017 U.S. News – Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" Survey
3 minute read - Media CoverageFrank Morris Quoted in "Employer Groups Don't See Eye to Eye on EEOC Wellness Plan Ruling"1 minute read
- Media CoverageStuart Gerson Quoted in "Faith-Based Health Systems Ask Supreme Court to Take Cases Over Pension Plans"2 minute read
- PublicationsPolicy vs. Legal Perspectives on Healthcare Price Transparency2 minute read
- Media CoverageStuart Gerson Featured in "Supreme Court Gives Plans a Win in ERISA Case, but What's Next?"2 minute read
- Media CoverageStuart Gerson Quoted in "Another Legal Defeat for Faith-Based Health Systems with Pension Plans"2 minute read
- Media CoverageStuart Gerson Quoted in "Supreme Court Sides With Insurer, Against Vermont in Data-Sharing Case"1 minute read
- Media CoverageStuart Gerson Quoted in “Effect of Scalia’s Death on Health-Care Cases Uncertain”2 minute read