Gibson Dunn has one of the most sophisticated and wide-ranging ERISA and employee benefits practices in the United States.  We have participated in leading ERISA cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and in courts of appeals and trial courts throughout the country.  We currently are handling a number of “Enron” type fiduciary breach cases alleging failure to take action with respect to the declining value of company stock held in 401(k) plans and ESOPs.  We also have extensive experience in compliance matters, including representing insurance companies, banks, and other financial institutions in designing products offered to employee benefit plans.

The firm’s partners include a former Co-Chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA; two former Solicitors of the U.S. Department of Labor, with responsibility for all Labor Department ERISA litigation and legal advice; and three members of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, including a founding member and two charter members.

Planning and Counseling

We assist clients with designing and implementing qualified and nonqualified retirement plans and welfare benefits plans, and deal extensively with the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation, and other government agencies as well as the Congress on matters relating to employee benefit plans.  We also have substantial experience with executive compensation matters, including negotiating and drafting employment agreements, designing stock incentive plans, and implementing “cutting edge” compensation programs domestically and internationally.  We have special expertise in assisting clients with underfunded pension plans and retiree medical liabilities, as well as with the many issues that arise with business mergers and acquisitions.  Most recently, the firm represented the West Coast shipping companies before the PBGC to address billion-dollar pension issues that were critical to ending the labor dispute on the West Coast ports.

Litigation

We have handled numerous ERISA preemption cases, class actions, and important cases involving the U.S. Department of Labor.  Representative matters include:

• Representing Aetna Health, Inc. in a Supreme Court challenge to a Texas HMO liability law.  The Supreme Court, granting our petition for certiorari, agreed to decide whether managed-care companies can be sued in state court for compensatory and punitive damages based on their coverage decisions, or whether such suits must instead be brought in federal court under ERISA.  In June 2004, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that participants and beneficiaries may not sue their employee health benefit plans—or the companies that administer those plans—under state law for matters relating to the plans’ coverage decisions.    Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila, 124 S. Ct. 462 (2003) (granting certiorari);
• Representing before the U.S. Supreme Court the prevailing party in an important ERISA preemption case establishing the right of ERISA plans to make beneficiary determinations without the encumbrance of state law litigation.   Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141 (2001);
• Filing amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in case addressing whether an employer violates ERISA by establishing an early retirement incentive program that pays benefits to retirees in exchange for a release of claims against the employer.  The Court reached the result we advocated.  Lockheed v. Spink, 517 U.S. 882 (1996);
• Representing Hewlett-Packard Company in a nationwide class action challenging Hewlett-Packard’s elimination of an investment option under its deferred profit sharing plan.  The district court granted our motion to dismiss.  Coates v. Agilent Technologies, Inc., et al., No. C 03 0498 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 25, 2003);
• Challenging withdrawal liability determinations by a multi-employer pension fund.  Borden, Inc. v. Board of Trustees of the Bakery and Confectionery Union Industry International Pension Fund, 974 F.2d 528 (4th Cir. 1992);
• Representing an insurance company in an action asserting breach of fiduciary duty and dissipation of plan assets.  The district court’s favorable ruling on defendant’s motion to dismiss was sustained on appeal by the Ninth Circuit.  Ziegler v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, 916 F.2d 548 (9th Cir. 1990);
• Handling class action challenging a $570 million ESOP leveraged buyout.  At trial, the court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss and decision was subsequently affirmed by the Ninth Circuit.  Andrade v. Parsons Corp., 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14932 (C.D. Cal. June 21, 1990); and
• Currently representing numerous clients in courts across the country in lawsuits where it is alleged that fiduciary breaches occurred in connection with the structure and administration of 401(k) plans and ESOPs that were invested in company stock during a decline in the company stock price. 

Publications

Publications by members of our ERISA and employee benefits practice include:

• William J. Kilberg, Enron:  The Studebaker of the 21st Century?, Employee Relations Law Journal (Summer 2002).
• Michael Collins, Defined Benefit Plans: Analysis and Suggestions for Reform, Virginia Tax Review (2001).
• Michael Collins, It’s Common, But Is It Right?  The Common Law of Trusts in ERISA Fiduciary Litigation, The Labor Lawyer (2001).