John Wick - What You Need To Know about the Corporate Transparency Act
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
Once Removed Episode 24: Expressing Goals and Intent for the Trust
Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard
A Primer On Trusts - A Podcast with Janathan Allen
Podcast - Deberes fiduciarios de los administradores
New SEC Private Funds Rules – What Is Happening and What You Need to Know - Troutman Pepper Podcast
Podcast Episode 189: Adding Context to Compliance and Color To Your Legal Practice
BVI Companies and M&A
Basics of Impact Investing: A Conversation About Investment Policies and Evaluation Metrics For ESG Investors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Court Decisions Impacting Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries
Litigation Trends In the Private Equity and Venture Capital Space
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
Update and Discussion on Legal and Practical Issues
Anne Daly, Judy Ringholz and Steve Ortquist on Healthcare Compliance Program Reviews
#WorkforceWednesday: SCOTUS in Review, Biden Acts to Limit Non-Competes, NY HERO Act Model Safety Plans - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Missing Plan Participants
Board Diversity Podcast
During the next several weeks, we will publish a series of articles that dive deeply into “health plan hygiene” relating to health and welfare benefit plan fiduciary issues and how employers can protect themselves in this...more
Earlier this year, a cyberattack on a leading healthcare claims processing provider had an unprecedented impact on patients and healthcare providers across the country. While group health plans were not directly targeted in...more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions with issues spanning physician power of attorney to preexisting exclusions and the fiduciary duty of an insurance company....more
Earlier this year, a Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) employee brought a class action complaint (the “Complaint”) against J&J alleging fiduciary breaches under ERISA related to the prescription drug coverage under J&J’s self-funded...more
For the past few years, we have encouraged plan sponsors to focus on matters of fiduciary governance for their health and welfare benefit plans (see our 2021 blog post). Yet many plan sponsors overlook the fact that the...more
Many plan sponsors have read about the lawsuit filed against Johnson & Johnson alleging that it breached its fiduciary duties with regard to the prescription drug component of its group health plan, causing participants to...more
An employer health plan is the latest target of class action litigation seeking redress for the alleged conduct of the plan's pharmacy benefit manager ("PBM")....more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently entered into a settlement agreement with a New York-based insurer and third-party administrator (“Company”) of employer group health plans governed by the Employee Retirement...more
Employer-sponsored health insurance covers almost 159 million non-elderly US workers and their dependents, and employees and jobseekers alike view group health coverage as the single most important non-cash job-related...more
Recent years have seen a barrage of class action lawsuits alleging that group health plan continuation coverage election notices, required under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), are deficient in one...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In light of a recent focus on price transparency, claims data, and hidden fees in the health plan world, employer-sponsored health plans have been bringing their fight to the courtroom in an effort to lower...more
Is a new wave of ERISA fiduciary litigation targeting group health plan sponsors on the horizon? There have already been a few examples of health plan fee cases, such as claims challenging the billing practice between...more
For some group health plan fiduciaries, there could be a storm brewing. Changes to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), buried within the 5,593 pages of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021...more
Two recent court decisions bring into focus two seldom-asked questions about the reasonable compensation requirement under ERISA. When must an ERISA plan’s service provider compensation be reasonable?...more
We continue to see an increase in fiduciary litigation involving employer-sponsored group health plans, particularly litigation involving mental health. A recent New York Federal District Court case, Collins et al. v....more
The February Monthly Minute examines the DOL’s recent focus on mental health parity compliance, the Hughes vs. Northwestern University retirement plan fee litigation, and the latest COVID-19 testing coverage guidance....more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) generally requires group health plan sponsors to request and review fee information from their plan service providers who provide brokerage services or consulting. This fee...more
In Technibilt Grp. Ins. Plan & Technibilt, Ltd v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina (W.D. N.C., Feb. 3, 2020), a North Carolina district court held that a plan administrator was an ERISA fiduciary for the purpose of...more
As federal and state governments respond to COVID-19, employers and plan fiduciaries must also address the evolving issues arising under employer-sponsored health plans. The specific considerations covered in this update are...more
This week we discuss the importance of establishing good claims procedures and the benefits of following those procedures. A plan’s claims procedures should be spelled out clearly in both the plan document and the summary...more
A federal district court denied class certification to health plan participants who claimed the plan promised them lifetime benefits. The court found too many individualized questions about what the plan told each...more
This week in our blog series on best practices in administering benefit claims, we discuss the importance of knowing and, importantly, understanding the laws governing benefit claim administration. Section 503 of ERISA...more
A federal court in Nebraska recently rejected a health plan’s fiduciary breach claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) against third-party service providers, holding that the service providers...more
In this edition of our Newsletter, we take a look at a pair of cases that, while unrelated, together remind us of the importance of having clear plan rules in place that reflect the plan sponsor’s intention. The first article...more
Health and Welfare Plan Update - It is 9:00 p.m., do you know where your health plan data is? As IT systems continue to expand, and data is accessed, moved and stored in many new and different ways, the Office for Civil...more