ERISA

Represented bank-sponsored ERISA retirement plan in litigation seeking to determine the proper beneficiary of a deceased participant’s 401(k) retirement plan account. Upon the death of an employee, the employee’s mother, who had been named the beneficiary of all of the employee’s other plan accounts but was not found to have been named beneficiary in any of the records of the plan at issue, claimed to be the proper beneficiary of that plan account as well, rather than the last-named beneficiary of record, who had been divorced from the participant almost 40 years before. The plan filed an interpleader action to allow the court to determine the proper beneficiary of the account. The matter was ultimately settled between the conflicting claimants.

Represented ERISA retirement plan in litigation with a participant who claimed he had been improperly denied benefits pursuant to a miscalculation of his years of service. Matter resolved by negotiated settlement.

Represented ERISA health and welfare plan in litigation threatened by health care providers (as assignees of the participant) in response to the plan’s denial of coverage for medical claims under an illegal acts exclusion in the plan. Matter resolved by negotiated settlement.