A federal judge in South Carolina has approved a multi-million dollar class-action settlement between Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company executives and former employees who say they lost retirement benefits when the company collapsed. Lawyers from both sides said that the ...

Tagged with: ERISA

Because it appears that the defendant-insurer failed to timely respond to plaintiff’s claim for long-term disability benefits under an ERISA-governed plan, plaintiff is warranted in bringing the case to this court to obtain her benefits under the plan. However, defendant ...

Tagged with: ERISA

Plaintiff’s state law claims for breach of contract, breach of contract/detrimental reliance, and bad faith failure to pay insurance seek to hold the defendant-employer liable for benefits that plaintiff says she was promised but did not receive. Her claims do ...

Tagged with: ERISA

Speights v. BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (Lawyers Weekly No.  002-018-18, 11 pp.) (David Norton, J.) 9:17-cv-00594; D.S.C. Holding: Plaintiff’s claims all arise out of defendant’s denial of coverage for a cancer treatment under an ERISA-governed health care plan; plaintiff’s ...

Tagged with: ERISA

Shepherd v. Community First Bank (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-193-17, 9 pp.) (Mary Geiger Lewis, J.) 8:15-cv-04337; D.S.C. Holding: Since defendants’ state-law counterclaims relate to the parties’ ERISA plan, those counterclaims are preempted by ERISA. The court grants plaintiff’s motion to ...

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Smoak v. Cangialosi (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-173-17, 6 pp.) (Richard Mark Gergel, J.) 2:17-cv-01709; D.S.C. Holding: Plaintiffs bring a 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3) claim based on their allegations that defendant Cangialosi sold ERISA life insurance coverage to defendant William Smoak’s ...

Tagged with: ERISA

Spires v. Schools (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-145-17, 28 pp.) (Richard Mark Gergel, J.) 2:16-cv-00616; D.S.C. Holding: Where plaintiffs have alleged that the assets of an ERISA employee stock ownership plan were used to redeem insiders’ promissory notes at more than ...

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Smoak v. Cangialosi (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-112-17, 7 pp.) (Richard Mark Gergel, J.) 2:17-cv-01709; D.S.C. Holding: Where the employer defendants are not ERISA fiduciaries, they are not proper defendants under ERISA; nevertheless, plaintiffs may be able to seek equitable remedies ...

Tagged with: ERISA

Estate of Criswell v. Aetna Life Insurance Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-089-17, 11 pp.) (R. Bryan Harwell, J.) 4:15-cv-04831; D.S.C. Holding: Plaintiff argues that its state-law claims based on defendant’s failure to pay life insurance benefits are exempted from ERISA ...

Tagged with: ERISA

A woman fighting a rare autoimmune disorder was awarded health benefits associated with additional treatment ordered by her physician, her attorney reports. Her insurer had denied her claims, contending that while she initially met the definition for coverage, it became ...

Tagged with: ERISA