Benefits & ERISA Law

You Say Securities, I Say ERISA

I have to admit I have found the Workplace Prof blog tough sledding since the site's founding blogger, Paul Secunda, took retirement from the site, apparently to spend more time in the snow in Wisconsin. Without Paul, the blog has trended heavily towards labor law and lacks the type of frequent, insightful commentary about ERISA that was a hallmark of the Secunda regime.

I mention this today because the blog has a guest/drop in post from Paul, commenting on a Wall Street Journal law blog story about the decline in securities class action litigation. Paul comments that one reason for this that was overlooked in the story may well be the discovery of the class action plaintiffs' bar over the past few years of ERISA as a better tool for prosecuting such claims and as an excellent stand-in in many cases for securities suits. This is something I have discussed frequently over the years on this blog, but I have to admit, until Paul, the law professor formerly known as the Workplace Prof, mentioned it in his post, it had not jumped out at me as something relevant to the Wall Street Journal piece. But there you have it - more anecdotal evidence for the idea that ERISA is displacing securities actions in many circumstances.

Full post as published by Boston ERISA Law Blog on July 22, 2009 (boomark / email).