Resource Type: Amicus Briefs
Court Rules Pensions Can Be Sought After to Pay Restitution
Pension funds can now be used to pay restitution in criminal cases, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The court held that the Victim’s Restitution Act of 1996 clears the way for victims to go after funds held in an individual’s pension account when seeking restitution […]
Court Awards Retiree Back Payments for Wrongly-Suspended Pension Payments
A big issue for retired construction workers and others in multiemployer plans has been whether they can get payments for years that their early retirement pensions were suspended before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that the suspensions were unlawful. The federal appeals court in New York has ruled that these retirees must receive […]
U.S. Supreme Court Lets IBM Cash Balance Ruling Stand
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear an appeal of a court of appeals’ ruling that IBM’s cash balance pension plan did not discriminate against older workers. While this decision ends litigation in the IBM case, it does not end litigation brought against other companies that have converted to cash balance plans. By […]
The Right to Sue for Harm Caused by Breach of Fiduciary Duty
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals In Re Schering-Plough granted standing to a group of participants who trusted their employer by investing in company stock which subsequently lost tremendous value. The participants filed suit claiming that the company, its officers and directors breached fiduciary duties to the plan by continuing to offer employer securities knowing […]
Courts Disagree on Pension Credit for Early Breaks-in-Service
In a recent case, DiGiacomo v. Teamsters Pension Trust Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that if a retiree earned the right to a pension after the private pension law went into effect in 1976, a plan must count all the years he was a member of the plan in […]
Hirt v. Equitable Retirement Plan
The PRC also submitted an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs in Hirt v. Equitable Retirement Plan, a cash balance case heard in the Second Circuit. Read our brief encouraging the Second Circuit to reject the Seventh Circuit’s holding in Cooper v. IBM and instead find that cash balance plan formulas violate ERISA. (3/29/2007)
Milofsky v. American Airlines
The PRC supported the plaintiff in Milofsky v. American Airlines. The case decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that a group of plan participants that did not represent all plan participants, could nevertheless sue for breach of fiduciary duty. The participants claimed they were harmed because their pensions were invested […]
LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates
The PRC supported the plaintiff in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, a case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case will determine whether an individual participant in a 401(k) plan can sue to recover losses that did not affect all (or many other) plan participants. Read our summary on the LaRue case. Read our brief supporting the […]
