Products April 22, 2013

FRA/Plan Tools Debuts ERISA Blog, Case Index

FRA/PlanTools began a blog for plan sponsors and advisers with original content on the fiduciary obligations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
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The goal is simple, the company said in a release: informative content on ERISA cases, as well as the ERISA Litigation Index, which discusses cases filed in federal court so that advisers and plan sponsors can stay current on litigation activity.

The blog and index are written by David J.Witz, managing director; Thomas E. Clark, Jr., director of fiduciary oversight; and Justin D. Witz, IT director. The firm may, in the future, seek outside contributors.

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Each case in the index will detail:

  • Basic information, such as the name of the district court, case number and the judges’ names;
  • The basic issues being litigated;  
  • The lawyers involved;
  • A copy of the latest operative complaint and significant motions and orders; and
  • Selected commentary about the cases.

Also supplied are docket tracking, with the list of documents filed by attorneys and judges, and other court orders or motions filed so that readers have timely access to information that could affect their fiduciary governance strategies.

Clients of FRA/PlanTools will see additional services added to the firm’s benchmarking, adviser RFP (request for proposal) system and fiduciary governance module as a result of this activity, which is directly tied to Clark’s previous history as an attorney litigating ERISA claims on behalf of plan participants and Witz’ background as an expert witness.

The three current blog postings are: “Tibble v. Edison International—9th Circuit Requests Rehearing Response from Defendants,” “Fidelity is Targeted Again and This Time Regarding Its Own In House Plan” and “7th Circuit decides in favor of Defendant in Leimkuehler v. American United Life Insurance Co.”

The blog and index can be accessed here. Readers can sign up for email subscriptions for blog updates and can email Clark at tclark@fraplantools.com to suggest cases that should be tracked on the ERISA Litigation Index. 

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