ERISA Litigation

Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice delivers service in a unique way.  We have structured our practice to give our clients an immediate advantage. Our approach combines our extensive technical skill and experience, our background as an advisor and consultant to enterprises regarding their benefit needs and strategies – akin to those of the major consulting firms – and the direct experience of our employee benefit lawyers in litigating employee benefit disputes. The result is that our clients enjoy the value of all three of these capabilities for each hour of service we provide.

Not only do we understand legal compliance, but also national trends and how they interplay. The result is a simplified explanation of complex issues, and a direct approach to solving problems that takes into account compliance, business needs and litigation prevention. This leads to a strong, effective working relationship, where, with Benesch’s advice and counsel, clients will know how to best proceed and minimize litigation risks.

Our approach is comprehensive and involves our commitment to responsive, first-rate service. We assign matters to qualified individuals whose experience level is commensurate with the complexity of the given matter, resulting in efficient and cost effective results for our clients.

The background and years of experience of our team are particularly well suited for our client’s needs. As a firm that focuses much of its time on general representation of growing companies and organizations, by necessity and through experience, we have dealt with virtually every aspect of the administration and operation of employee benefit plans. This work includes all of the methods of designing, revising and updating these plans and working with literally hundreds of our clients’ TPAs on a multitude of issues from negotiating administrative service agreements to working with them on correcting retirement plan operational failures. 

Here is a sample of our broad ERISA representative experience:

• Serve as outside ERISA counsel to various public companies and Fortune 500 companies where we advise on all aspects of the company’s retirement plan and health and welfare plan compliance matters and assist with fiduciary counseling needs, including qualified retirement plan corrections.
• Serve as outside ERISA claims counsel to a Fortune 500 company where we advise on all aspects of the company’s disability, pension and health and welfare claims administrative procedures.
• Under the significant pressure of increasing medical costs, we worked with the client to assess medical data and structure, evaluate the medical plan program and implement changes. The result was a savings to the client of 18% in annual medical costs.
• Worked with a client to develop a Request for Proposal for a new retirement plan provider, which resulted in a material savings to participants annually. At our recommendation the document preparation work was outsourced to the new service provider saving our client more than $60,000 in legal fees over three years.
• Pursued a substantial claim on behalf of a corporation against a major third-party health care benefits administrator for breach of fiduciary duty, prohibited transactions, improper payment of benefits, and overcharging of fees. Resulted in a significant favorable settlement for our client.
• Served as ERISA counsel to steel-related manufacturing concern with seventeen (17) defined benefit pension plans, ten (10) defined contribution plans and multiple layers of related trusts, comprising more than thirty (30) distinct retirement plan summary plan descriptions.
• Served as ERISA counsel to a public company in divestitures of several subsidiaries, including transfer of defined benefit plan assets, as well as transition of services arrangements involving self-funded medical benefits.
• Advised client following an acquisition, regarding significant defect in an acquired retirement plan. Consultants had suggested a correction and an IRS filing that would cost the client a six figure dollar amount. We became involved, determined a better course of action and new approach. The result was a favorable full resolution with the IRS, saving our client more than $100,000 of correction costs and fees.