PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
Imagine you’re a private equity firm. You buy a company, and you want to retain and incentivize key employees, so you give them some equity in the form of incentive units. You also want to prevent them from running off and...more
If there’s a Mount Rushmore of ERISA class-action litigators, you better believe Jerry Schlichter’s face is carved into it—probably right next to a 408(b)(2) disclosure and a stack of mutual fund fee charts. And once again,...more
In Lawson v. Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the forfeiture of certain stock awards for violating a covenant not to compete. Like the Seventh Circuit in LKQ Corp. v....more
In North American Fire Ultimate Holdings, LP v. Alan Doorly, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that the restrictive covenants included in an incentive unit grant agreement were unenforceable when the units received by the...more
This Federal Circuit opinion analyzes claim construction arguments and requests for remittitur in the context of preserving issues for appeal. Background - Belanger is a manufacturer of car wash systems. Belanger owns...more
LKQ Corp. v. Rutledge, C.A. No. 110, 2024 (Del. Dec. 18, 2024) - In this en banc decision, the Delaware Supreme Court answered a certified question from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit...more
On Friday, May 16th, plaintiff’s counsel in the Rodriguez v. Intuit Inc. case filed a motion to support a settlement of $1,995,000. The motion appears to reflect a good compromise between the parties … and as they say, a...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) violated AT&T's Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial and right to adjudication by an Article III court when...more
Ignorantia legis neminem excusat. That is, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Under this principle, those to whom the law applies are presumed to know the law and will be held accountable for violating it....more
On April 17, 2025, the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion (“Op.”) holding unconstitutional a Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) enforcement order. In that order, the Commission imposed civil penalties against...more
The Fifth Circuit on April 17 vacated a $57 million FCC forfeiture against AT&T, ruling the agency violated the company’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial under the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in SEC v. Jarkesy. ...more
On March 19, 2025, the German Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht or BAG) held in Case No.: 10 AZR 67/24 that certain forfeiture clauses in General Terms and Conditions of Business (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen or...more
In 2024, employers rushed to track the twists and turns of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) noncompete ban, which attempted to limit the enforceability of agreements that restrict employees from working for a competitor...more
An earlier version of this article appeared in Estates Gazette. Over the last 18 months we have seen a number of retailer restructuring plans, which have rewritten landlords’ leases and imposed sweeping rent cuts, whilst...more
On Monday, March 3, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) heard argument in Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc., regarding whether the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act, G. L. c. 149, § 24L (the...more
Schlichter Bogard, LLC represents participants of the $7 billion Charter Communications, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan in a class action against Charter Communications, Inc....more
In a notable holding, the Delaware Supreme Court has confirmed that forfeiture-for-competition provisions generally are not subject to reasonableness review, greatly enhancing the likelihood of their enforceability. LKQ...more
In Hutchins v. HP Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed – with prejudice – the plaintiff's claims challenging the use of forfeited employer 401(k) contributions. This is the latest...more
The most recent wave of ERISA litigation is focused on the use of plan forfeitures in 401(k) plans, with the newest case, Armenta v. WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. being filed just last week. Although, for years, many...more
In 2021, LKQ Corporation (LKQ) filed suit against Robert Rutledge, its former plant manager, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. LKQ alleged that Rutledge’s working for a competitor within nine...more
The Delaware Supreme Court’s ruling in Cantor Fitzgerald v. Ainslie, which reversed the Court of Chancery’s 2023 finding that forfeiture-for-competition provisions should be evaluated by the same “reasonableness” standard as...more
There has been a recent uptick in ERISA class actions challenging the use of 401(k) plan forfeitures. Forfeitures are employer contributions that participants forfeit when they leave employment before those contributions vest...more
CI’s 9th Annual Canadian Forum on Global Economic Sanctions is designed to cover your top compliance challenges, offering unparalleled networking and benchmarking opportunities for economic sanctions, trade, financial crime,...more
The Delaware Supreme Court recently clarified that forfeiture-for-competition clauses under the Employee Choice Doctrine may be enforceable against a broader range of employees, including middle managers, not just...more
On January 8, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) released a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) proposing a $369,190 penalty against a television licensee for willfully and...more