Funds Not Caged by SEC Names Rule Amendments: Roaming Room Remains -
The SEC recently adopted amendments to its investment company “names” rule that apply to most SEC-registered funds, including underlying funds in which...more
1/11/2024
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Funds ,
Life Insurance ,
Proposed Rules ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Traders ,
Whistleblowers
Regulators Hit Jackpot: Off-Channel Communications -
Several years before announcing the first “off-channel” communications enforcement action, the SEC and FINRA cautioned broker-dealers and investment advisers about...more
10/11/2023
/ Annuities ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Best Interest Standard ,
Breach of Contract ,
Class Action ,
COBRA ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Insurance Products ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Financial Contracts ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Health Insurance ,
Insider Trading ,
Insurance Fraud ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Insurance Regulations ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Investment Management ,
Life Insurance ,
Money Market Funds ,
Mutual Funds ,
NAIC ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
No-Action Letters ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
NYDFS ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Retirement ,
Robocalling ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision in Coinbase Inc. v. Bielski requires that district court litigation in any matter remain in the starting gate while any appeal from a denial of a motion to compel arbitration in...more
10/9/2023
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Coinbase ,
Coinbase Inc v Bielski ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Financial Contracts ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Griggs v Provident Disc Co ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
SCOTUS
Not many general counsels will tell you that their company’s COBRA notice is what keeps them up at night. But recent class action litigation highlights challenges to COBRA notices and issues that can be easily addressed to...more
As technologies like ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools have entered the mainstream, billions of individuals have used such tools for assistance with everyday tasks, both personal and professional. These tools,...more
A plan administrator did not abuse its discretion in concluding that a former employee’s surviving spouse was not entitled to life insurance benefits under an employee benefit plan. In Hayes v. Prudential Insurance Company of...more
For broker-dealers distributing and selling variable annuities, examinations will test for compliance with Reg BI and FINRA Rule 2330 because both standards apply to variable annuity sales. Firms distributing and selling...more
The 2023 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey provides an overview of important issues and practices related to class action matters and management. The annual publication reports on historical trends captured since the...more
More than 25 years have elapsed since the SEC adopted Exchange Act Rule 17a-4(f) governing electronic recordkeeping by broker-dealers. In an effort to update the rule to reflect “technology neutral” concepts, the SEC adopted...more
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Fulkerson v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America that the beneficiary of an ERISA-covered life insurance policy was not entitled to accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D)...more
A 2021 survey by Finder.com reveals that roughly 15% of Americans admit to lying on a life insurance application. While significantly lower than the incidence of lying when procuring other types of insurance (auto, 29% and...more
The 2020 racial and social justice movements across the country were a call to action for businesses nationwide to adopt (or dust off) diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. But the insurance industry has been at...more
Although courts routinely enforce arbitration agreements, they will not compel arbitration of claims outside the scope of the parties’ agreement. That was the outcome in Hawkins v. Cintas Corp., in which two former employees...more
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility suits continue to flood federal court dockets in New York, California, and Florida. Neither Title III of the ADA nor the implementing regulations mention websites. Yet,...more
In recent months, circuit courts across the country have supported insurers’ discretion to deny long-term disability benefits (LTD) under ERISA. Since the beginning of the year, disability plan insurers have prevailed in the...more
Two companion amendments to the California insurance law have received increased attention from the plaintiffs’ bar recently. On January 1, 2013, sections 10113.71 and 10113.72 were enacted to amend the California Insurance...more
Life insurers bid farewell to a fairly moderate year of class action litigation. Although several class actions were filed against life insurers in the last quarter of 2019, the filings were reflective of the litigation...more
In Tran v. Minnesota Life Insurance Co., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that an insured’s death from autoerotic asphyxiation fell under the policy exclusion for deaths resulting from “intentionally...more
The Ninth Circuit, in back-to-back opinion and memorandum decisions in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp., overruled long-standing precedent that ERISA claims are not arbitrable. The plaintiff, a former Schwab employee, filed a...more
10/10/2019
/ 401k ,
Affiliated-Business Arrangements ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Procedural Rules ,
Breach of Duty ,
Charles Schwab ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Contract Terms ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Investment Funds ,
Motion to Compel ,
Retirement Plan
May 21, 2019, marks the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, which upheld the use of class action waivers in employee arbitration agreements....more
7/23/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Life Insurance ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Securities
EXPECTFOCUS® is a quarterly review of developments in the insurance and financial services industry, provided on a complimentary basis to clients and friends of Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, P.A.
...more
5/1/2018
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Best Interest Standard ,
CAFA ,
Class Action ,
COI Rates ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Elder Abuse ,
Failure To Pay ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Life Insurance ,
NAIC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statute of Limitations ,
TCPA
Does the failure to pay an insurance claim constitute elder abuse? Not under Oregon’s elder financial abuse laws. In January, the Oregon Supreme Court, answering a certified question from the Ninth Circuit, held that...more
The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to prospective whistleblowers in Digital Realty Trust Inc. v. Somers (February 21, 2018), making it more difficult to bring a retaliation claim under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and...more
2/23/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
Foreign companies and investors that enter the U.S. market will be governed by numerous state and federal labor and employment laws. When opening a business in the United States, it is therefore critical to work with...more
1/21/2015
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Small Business ,
Startups
On September 17, 2014, the NAIC's Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits (A) Working Group (Working Group) discussed its recommendations to the Life Insurance and Annuities (A) Committee (the (A) Committee) concerning unclaimed...more