Third Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro, Jr., yesterday "urge[d] Congress or the Supreme Court to revisit what Judge Becker called ‘an unjust and increasingly tangled ERISA regime.’" Eichorn v. AT&T Corp., No. 95-5461 (3d Cir. May 31, 2007) (quoting DiFelice v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare, 346 F.3d 442, 453 (3d Cir. 2003) (Becker, J., concurring)). Concurring with denial of rehearing en banc, Judge Ambro noted that the Eichorn plaintiffs presented evidence of intentional interference with their pension rights but that Supreme Court interpretations of ERISA both foreclosed money damages under the federal statute and preempted state law remedies. "It is time for Congress or the Supreme Court to reconsider the interplay between the extent to which make-whole monetary relief is available under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3) and the preemption of state-law causes of action that could accord that relief."
Barry Barnett
