NEWARK, N.J. - A health insurance plan's provision barring insureds from assigning rights leaves a provider pursuing its individual right to payment under state law and precludes removal and preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, a federal judge in New Jersey held Sept...

OAKLAND, Calif. - A California federal judge on Sept. 11 granted preliminary approval of a $1.4 million settlement to be paid by the owner of California yoga studios that is accused of failing to fully compensate its instructors for all work and failing to provide overtime, meal and rest breaks (Shauna...

SEATTLE - A human resources expert for tree-trimming business Asplundh Tree Experts Co. in a former worker's sexual harassment suit cannot testify at trial because his opinions are unreliable and irrelevant and do not offer any expertise to assist a jury, a Washington federal judge held Sept. 12...

SAN FRANCISCO - A district court correctly concluded that a disability claimant is not entitled to long-term disability benefits because the claimant failed to prove that her disability had a physical component that would not be excluded under the plan's mental-health limitation, the Ninth Circuit...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 11 refused to reconsider its finding that a woman was totally disabled under the terms of her Employee Retirement Income Security Act-governed long-term disability plan and that the plan administrator did not satisfactorily...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio federal judge on Sept. 11 granted a motion for certification filed by a class of nurses who allege that their employer erred by automatically deducting 30 minutes from their pay per day for a meal break even though the nurses often had to work during those breaks (Lynnett Myers...

NEW ORLEANS - A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 12 affirmed a summary judgment ruling for an employer that was by a mother who alleged that her now deceased son was discriminated against when he was fired shortly after a cancer diagnosis (Verna J. Floyd v. Chilly's L.L.C. of Alabama...

SAN FRANCISCO - A California federal judge on Sept. 14 awarded attorney fees and incentive awards following the $60.8 million settlement reached between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and a class of drivers who brought wage claims against their employer, but in amounts below those requested by the plaintiffs ...

PHILADELPHIA - A majority of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 15 held that an ambiguous pension plan accords the plan administrator discretion to interpret the plan terms and the mere existence of a conflict of interest is not sufficient enough to raise skepticism of the administrator's...

HOUSTON - A health plan beneficiary is owed full coverage for a gastric bypass surgery and a follow-up surgery and care required after she experienced complications, a Texas federal judge ruled Sept. 14, finding that the beneficiary's evidence that she has experienced nausea and vomiting placed her...

DENVER - A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 14 upheld a ruling for a New Mexico County Board of Commissioners being sued for various wage violations by hourly employees, except as to a 911 dispatcher's claims that she should be paid for pre-shift briefings, finding that the briefings...

SAN FRANCISCO - A California federal judge on Sept. 14 awarded a disability claimant more than $100,000 in attorney fees after determining that the award was warranted because the claimant achieved "some degree" of success on the merits (Robert Bosley v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., No...

CHICAGO - A decision by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to fire a more than 20-year employee shortly after he disclosed a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis did not constitute disability discrimination, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Sept. 18 (Jeff Monroe...

NEW YORK - The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 18 affirmed a ruling in which a district court found that a motorman who was injured while working aboard a vessel must arbitrate his claims against his employer in the Philippines pursuant to his employment contract (Rodrigo R. Pagaduan v...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A critical care emergency medical transport company is entitled to further jurisdictional discovery into the individuals involved in denying its health insurance claim and where a defendant defends suits, a federal magistrate judge held Sept. 18 (Med Flight Air Ambulance Inc. v. MGM...

TAMPA, Fla. - A Florida federal judge on Sept. 18 certified a class of home health workers who sued their former employer under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act claiming that they were fired without notice and denied pay (Toni Molina, et al. v. Ace Homecare LLC, et al., No...

CHICAGO - An Illinois federal judge granted conditional certification in a wage-and-hour lawsuit filed by individuals paid to catch chickens who allege that their piece-rate pay violates the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (Jimmy R. Nicks, et al. v. Koch Meat Co., Inc., et al., No. 16-6446, N.D. Ill...

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A South Carolina federal judge on Sept. 19 trimmed claims challenging above-market leases and excessive executive compensation, but otherwise denied motions to dismiss filed by Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. Inc. (PWCC), its former executives and two other individuals sued by former employees...

SHERMAN, Texas - A Texas federal judge on Sept. 19 refused to dismiss a plaintiff's breach of fiduciary claims arising out of a health care plan's denial of coverage for autism treatments because the fiduciary claims are not disguised benefits claims and the plaintiff alleged sufficient facts...

TRENTON, N.J. - A plaintiff's failure to respond to a motion to dismiss her class suit accusing the Princeton University trustees of mishandling the university's retirement plan did not entirely doom her suit as a New Jersey federal judge, on Sept. 19, ruled that the plaintiff partially stated...

DALLAS - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Feb. 20 filed a complaint against Shepherd Healthcare in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleging that the Texas medical practice violated federal law when it fired an employee due to her requests to be excused from a...

TRENTON, N.J. - The fact that an insured assigned rights after incurring medical expenses does not change the enforceability of an anti-assignment provision in an Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 case, a federal judge in New Jersey held Sept. 21 (Kayal Orthopaedic Center P.C., et al...

CHICAGO - An Illinois federal judge on Sept. 21 granted preliminary approval of a $4.8 million settlement to be paid by an employer to its janitors around the county for time they spent working before their scheduled shifts (Brice Ikby Binissia, et al. v. ABM Industries, Inc., et al., No. 13-1230, Veronica...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A Pennsylvania federal court jury on Sept. 21 found that Zimmer Biomet Inc. did not wrongfully discharge a sales representative and found that the sales representative instead breached his duty not to disclose information about Zimmer and its customers and owes his former employer $125...

BILLINGS, Mont. - A Montana federal judge on Sept. 20 granted a disability claimant's motion for summary judgment after determining that Montana's mental health parity law requires the plan to provide the claimant with the same benefits for her mental illness as it would if her disability were...