David Levin focuses on all aspects of employee benefits law. David has more than 30 years of experience assisting clients with ERISA matters and has a particularly extensive background in counseling and litigating on behalf of single and multi-employer pension and welfare benefit plans.
Employee Benefits and ERISA Experience. Early in his career, David was counsel in the Office of General Counsel in the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, where he handled major complex litigation of first impression arising both under ERISA and federal Bankruptcy Law. Since going into private practice, he has been actively involved in counseling of single employer and multi-employer pension and welfare benefit plans.
David's representative experience includes:
· Counseling clients on ERISA fiduciary duties and plan asset/prohibited transaction issues;
· Litigating cases in federal and state courts involving ERISA fiduciary breaches, plan terminations, employee benefits in bankruptcy, tax liability and employee plan-related professional malpractice; and
· Defending employers and plans before the U.S. Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Counseling and Litigation. David recently served as one of the lead lawyers working with Banner Health to substantially review and redesign the health and welfare benefit programs it offers to its employees. The project also involved integrating thousands of employees and many different employee benefit plans (executive plans, retirement plans and welfare plans) as a result of corporate transactions Banner completed during the past few years.
Additional recent experience includes the following:
· Jack C. Leeson v. Transamerica Disability Income Plan, et al. (W.D. Wash.). Motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction granted, pending appeal to the 9th Cir.
· Andres A. Arauz v. Life Ins. Co. of North America, et al. (C.D. Cal.) and AEGON USA, LLC v. Andres A. Arauz (N.D. Iowa). Participant's suit to enjoin use of plan's reimbursement provision and plan's suit to enforce, settled and dismissed after beneficiary's reimbursement to plan for medical claims attributable to third-party accident and portion of plan's attorney fees.
· Paul S. Sohal v. Life Ins. Co. of North America, et al. (N.D. Tex.). Claim for LTD benefits dismissed.
· Margaret Hay v. AEGON USA, Inc., et al. (E.D. Ark.). Claim for LTD benefits dismissed.
David is the senior editor of Employee Benefits Law, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law - 2006 Cumulative Supplement (current through 2004, with additional coverage in 2005 and 2006).
Speaking and Writing. David has written extensively in his field and is a frequent contributor to seminars and professional conferences. He is a regularly featured lecturer at seminars sponsored by employee benefit-related organizations. He speaks on topics including fiduciary litigation, employee benefit plan rights in corporate reorganizations under the Bankruptcy Code, employee benefit plan mergers, pension plan terminations, Department of Labor enforcement, plan audits, withdrawal liability, prohibited transactions and IRS voluntary compliance programs. David is the co-author of Panel Publisher's ERISA Fiduciary Answer Book and serves as senior editor and contributing author of BNA's Employee Benefits Law.
In General. David is a member of the faculty of the National Institute on ERISA Litigation, sponsored by the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits. He is a charter fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (2000) and is a member of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries. David is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits; U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, Western District of Michigan and District of Connecticut; and the U.S. Tax Court.
David is a member of the American Bar Association, for which he served as co-chair of the:
· Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA's Section of Labor and Employment Law (2000-2003);
· Fiduciary Responsibility Subcommittee of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA's Section of Labor and Employment Law (1998-2000);
· Criminal Law Subcommittee of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA's Section of Labor and Employment Law (1996-1998); and
· Plan Termination Subcommittee of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA's Section of Labor and Employment Law (1989-1998).
In 2008, David was named a Best Lawyer in America for 2009 in employee benefits law. David received a bachelor's degree from George Washington University and J.D. from Catholic University Law School, where he was a member of the law review.
Publications
9/7/2011, ERISA Litigation Newsletter
David Levin, Mark Furlane, Joseph Faucher, Michael Vanic
8/31/2005, Legal Developments - Recovery Money Owed to Plans: Subrogation Agreements Can Be Enforced
Journal of Pension Benefits
David Levin
3/7/2005, Single-Employer Plan Termination Issues
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Client Article
David Levin
3/7/2005, Selected Welfare Benefit Claims - Long Term Disabililty Plans
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Client Article
David Levin
3/7/2005, Avoiding Risk as a Service Provider
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Client Article
David Levin
3/7/2005, Bankruptcy and Employee Benefit Plans-ERISA and the Bankruptcy Code
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Client Article
David Levin
6/2/2001, Legal Developments - The Fairy Tale of Fiduciary Liability and Self-Directed Brokerage Accounts
Journal of Pension Benefits
David Levin
5/15/2001, Legal Developments - The Fable of Fiduciary Liability and 404(c) Plan Design
Journal of Pension BenefitsDavid Levin
2/15/2001, Legal Developments - "Serious Consideration" of the Expanding and Contracting Fiduciary Duty to Disclose
Journal of Pension Benefits
David Levin
9/15/2000, Legal Developments - Defining the Limits of Prudence and Fiduciary Responsibility
Journal of Pension Benefits
David Levin
4/3/2000, Legal Developments - ERISA Cause of Action Against Nonfiduciaries-Harris Trust and Savings Bank v. Salomon Brothers, Inc.
Journal of Pension Benefits
David Levin
4/2/2000, Legal Developments - Benefit Payments-Too Much, Too Little, Too Late
Journal of Pension Benefits
David Levin
1/15/2000, Legal Developments - Still No National Pension Policy Protecting Pensions from Creditors, or When You Don't Know Where You're Going, Any Road Will Get You There
Journal of Pension Benefits
David Levin
Speaking Engagements
2/29/2012, Gallagher Benefit Services
"Welfare Plan Litigation: Learning from the Mistakes of Others"
David Levin
10/20/2009, American Bar Association's Annual National Seminar on Health & Welfare Benefit Plans
"Litigating Welfare Plan Claims"
David Levin, Washington, DC
10/20/2009, American Bar Association's Annual National Seminar on Health & Welfare Benefit Plans
"Hot Topics in Health & Welfare Plan Litigation"
David Levin, Washington, DC
10/27/2008, Health and Welfare Benefit Plans: Responding to Change
"Hot Topics in Health and Welfare Plan Litigation"
David Levin, Arlington, VA
8/26/2008, Gallagher Benefit Services Webinar
"ERISA Fiduciaries: Ways to Avoid Costly Litigation"
David Levin
7/23/2008, Gallagher Benefit Services Webinar
Recent ERISA Litigation: What's the Verdict?
David Levin
6/26/2008, HOT Topics in Labor & Employment
Stephanie Gournis, David Levin, Laurie Holmes, Heather Sager, Chicago, IL
10/16/2007, ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits
"Health & Welfare Plan Litigation" and "Litigating Welfare Plan Claims"
David Levin, Arlington, VA
11/9/2006, The 16th Annual National Institute on ERISA Litigation
David Levin