Employee Benefits (ERISA) Litigation

Adam’s employee benefits litigation practice draws on his years of experience litigating claims for breach of fiduciary duty and disability, health, and pension benefits under ERISA, the federal law governing most
employee benefit plans, as well as his years of experience working for and administering employee benefit plans.  These plans include one of the largest union pension plans and union health and welfare plans in the country. Adam knows how employee benefit plans operate, how their administrators think, and how to beat them.

Employment Law and Litigation

Adam’s employment law practice is focused on resolving and if necessary litigating claims related to wage and hour disputes, employment contracts, agreements not to compete, and severance agreements. Prior to founding The Garner Firm, Adam represented numerous Fortune 500 companies in employment-related litigation and related matters at a major international law firm. He has successfully litigated countless employment discrimination, wage and hour, and employment contract-related disputes and negotiated many severance agreements, non-compete agreements, and employment policies. He understands how employers think, he knows where the pitfalls are in negotiating an employment-related legal dispute, and he knows how to achieve his clients’ goals.

Nationally Recognized

In addition to representing clients, Adam is a regular speaker and author on topics related to employment law and employee benefits law. For the last several years, Adam has served as a Contributing Author,  Chapter Editor, and Senior Editor of the highly regarded treatise Employee Benefits Law, which is published by Bloomberg BNA.  He is also a Subcommittee Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee and the Chair-Elect of the ABA’s Torts, Trial, Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Health and Disability Insurance Committee.

Speaking Engagements

• “From Long-COVID to Compliance with Regulations: Trends in Health and Welfare Administration and Disability Litigation,” ABA Joint Committee on Employee benefits Plans Employee Benefits Law Update: A Year in Review Webinar Series, March 2022
• “Pension and Welfare Plan Overpayments – What Plans and Participants Need to Know,” ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Plans Webinar, February 2022
• “ERISA Litigation and Attorneys’ Fees,”  ABA Torts, Trial, Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Health and Disability Committee Webinar, August 2020
• “Multiemployer Pension Plans: Selected Topics,” ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee, Mid-Winter Meeting, February 2020
• “Attorneys’ Fees in ERISA Litigation ,” ABA Torts, Trial, Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), 46th Annual Midwinter Symposium on Insurance and Employee Benefits, January 2020
• “Life Happens: Impact of Divorce, Disinheritance, and Murder on Life Insurance Claims,” ABA Torts, Trial, Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), 45th Annual Midwinter Symposium on Insurance and Employee Benefits, January 2019
• “Remedies,” ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits ERISA Basics National Institute, October 2018
• “Spousal Rights Under ERISA Plans: QDROs, and QMCSOs,”  ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits ERISA Basics National Institute, October 2018
• “Subrogation and Reimbursement Claims,” ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits ERISA Basics National Institute, October 2018
• “Benefit Claims Litigation: Discovery, Experts, Standard of Review and Discovery and Dispositive Motions,” ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Advanced ERISA Benefits Claims Litigation Seminar, May 2018
• “Administrative Appeals Review – Health Claims,” ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Advanced ERISA Benefits Claims Litigation Seminar, May 2018
• “Recent Developments in Life Insurance Litigation: Contestable Claims, Misrepresentations, Rescissions, STOLI, and Class Actions,” ABA Torts, Trial, Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), 44th Annual Midwinter Symposium on Insurance and Employee Benefits, January 2018
• “Spousal Rights Under ERISA Plans: QDROs, and QMCSOs,”  ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits ERISA Basics National Institute, October 2017
• “Subrogation and Reimbursement Claims,” ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits ERISA Basics National Institute, October 2017
• External Review Pros & Cons: Perspectives of the Plan and Claimant,” ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee, Mid-Winter Meeting, February 2016
• “Sweet (ERISA) Mystery of Life (Insurance),” ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee, Mid-Winter Meeting, February 2014
• “Multiemployer Health Plans and the Affordable Care Act,” BNA webinar, November 14, 2013
• “Employment Laws Made Simple,” NBI Seminars, March 21, 2012
• “Multi-Employer Pension Plans: Withdrawal Liability,” IOMA (BNA) webinar, 2011
• “The HIRE Act: Benefits and Possible Pitfalls for Employers,” HRHero.com teleconference, 2010
  “Changes to COBRA After ARRA,” Labor and Employment Law Developments
  in Uncertain Times, 2009
• “Employment Records Retention Requirements Under Federal and Maryland Law,” Records
  Retention and Destruction, Lorman Education Series, 2007 and 2008

Recent Reported Decisions

• Bansept v. G&M Auto., 557 F. Supp. 3d 584 (E.D. Pa. 2021)
• Dwyer v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am., 548 F. Supp. 3d 468 (E.D. Pa. 2021)
• Edwards v. Albert Einstein Med. Ctr., 533 F. Supp. 3d 215 (E.D. Pa. 2021)
• Dwyer v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am., 470 F. Supp. 3d 434 (E.D. Pa. 2020)
• Bansept v. G & M Auto., 434 F. Supp. 3d 253 (E.D. Pa. 2020)
• Solkoff v. Pennsylvania State Univ., 435 F. Supp. 3d 646 (E.D. Pa. 2020)
• Sadowski v. Tuckpointers Local 52 Health & Welfare Tr., 281 F. Supp. 3d 710 (N.D. Ill. 2017)