Clarissa A. Kang

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Revives Two 401(k) Fee Cases, Potentially Making It More Difficult for Plan Fiduciaries to Obtain Early Dismissal

 DYLAN RUDOLPH and CLARISSA KANG, April 21, 2022  In a rather surprising move, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued two short decisions within the span of a week, which reversed lower court dismissals in 401(k) fee cases brought against Salesforce.com, Inc. and Trader Joe’s Company. A motion to dismiss challenges the quality of a […]

Supreme Court to Decide on ERISA Preemption of State Law Regulating Prescription Drug Pricing

CLARISSA A. KANG, November 24, 2020  One of the cases heard by eight justices of the Supreme Court (after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and before Justice Amy Coney Barrett was appointed and sworn in), Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association involves the question of whether ERISA preempts or supersedes an Arkansas state law governing […]

Supreme Court Gives Plaintiffs Cover to Beat ERISA’s 3-Year Statute of Limitations

CLARISSA A. KANG and DYLAN D. RUDOLPH, February, 2020    On February 26, 2020, the Supreme Court settled a split among federal circuit courts of appeal regarding what it means to have actual knowledge of an alleged breach of fiduciary duty sufficient to begin the running of a three-year period to file suit on the […]

Ninth Circuit Upholds 401(k) Plan’s Provision That Compels Arbitration and Prohibits Class or Collective Action

CLARISSA A. KANG, September, 2019  Last month, the Ninth Circuit held in favor of retirement plan fiduciaries to require arbitration of a participant’s claims for breach of fiduciary duty on an individual basis, rather than on a class action basis. Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp., — F.3d –, 2019 WL 3926990 (9th Cir. 2019). In […]

New Wave of Retirement Fee Litigation: The University 403(b) Lawsuits

CLARISSA A. KANG, January 2017   The fiduciaries of retirement plans for 12 major universities have been hit with coordinated lawsuits asserting breaches of fiduciary duty arising from allegedly excessive fees for administrative and investment management services, imprudent selection and monitoring of recordkeepers and investment options, underperforming plan investment options, and a “paralyzing” array of […]

Department of Labor Proposes Update to Disability Benefit Claims Regulations

CLARISSA A. KANG, November 2015 — On November 18, 2015, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published proposed regulations to update plans’ internal claims and appeals procedures for determining disability benefit claims. The proposal is meant to bring in line the adjudication of disability benefit claims with claims and appeals procedures for non-grandfathered group health plans […]

Must Benefit Denial Letters Inform Claimants of a Plan’s Time Limit for Bringing a Lawsuit?

CLARISSA A. KANG, September 2015 — “Yes,” says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The Third Circuit in Mirza v. Insurance Administrator of America, Inc., et al. recently held that a plan administrator violated section 503 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) for failing to disclose in a […]

A New Approach to Abuse of Discretion Review

ALYSSA OHANIAN and CLARISSA KANG, September 2014 — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently applied a searching analysis under the abuse of discretion standard of review — one that takes into account all circumstances and will not uphold denial simply if there is a single reasonable basis to deny benefits — even where there […]