Back-to-Back Victories for AXA Equitable in ERISA Class Action
CHICAGO (August 28, 2006) — The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment for McDermott Will & Emery client AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company in a class action filed by insurance agents challenging the sales performance requirements for agents to qualify for employee benefits. The court opinion establishes a new test for deciding what statute of limitations applies in federal jurisdiction cases when the material events occurred outside the forum state. The court adopted McDermott's argument that the correct statute depends on where and how the benefit plan is operated. The McDermott team representing AXA in this case included partners Nancy Ross, Bill Boies, Miller Baker and David Fuller, counsel Rory Little and Jerry Holmes, and associate Jeffrey Mikoni.
The Seventh Circuit ruling follows another major class action victory for client AXA Equitable in the Southern District of New York on the issue of age discrimination in cash balance pension plans. Plaintiffs argued that a cash balance retirement plan discriminated against older workers because interest would be compounded and accumulate over more years for younger workers than for older workers. The McDermott team won the dismissal of the age discrimination claim and favorable rulings on benefit plan notices and delivery issues going back to 1988. This decision is the first ruling for an employer on the age issue in the Second Circuit and is significant for companies that want to provide employees with cash balance plans without facing claims that such plans are age discriminatory. The McDermott team representing AXA on this case included partners Bill Boies, Nancy Ross, Terri Chase, Steve Pavlick and Al Nesburg.
