Stites & Harbison, PLLC

In an opinion that raises as many questions as it answers, the Sixth Circuit foreclosed two methods of calculating how delivery drivers paid the minimum wage should be reimbursed for the costs associated with using their vehicles for work under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Rejecting both the drivers’ assertion that they should be reimbursed using the mileage rate published by the IRS, and the employers’ argument that drivers should receive a “reasonable approximation” of their costs, the Sixth Circuit held in two consolidated appeals in Parker v. Battle Creek Pizza, Inc., Nos. 22-2119, 22-3561, 2024 WL 1068871 (6th Cir. Mar. 12, 2024), that drivers’ actual costs must be reimbursed to avoid a minimum wage violation and remanded both cases to their respective district courts with little guidance as to how to calculate those costs. Robin McGuffin and Harlee Havens take a close look at the ruling in this Stites & Harbison Client Alert.

In a published opinion issued on March 27, 2024, the Sixth Circuit applied for the first time the waiver standard announced in the Supreme Court’s 2022 opinion, Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., 596 U.S. 411 (2022), in affirming the denial of a motion to compel arbitration due to the defendant’s extensive participation in the litigation.

In December 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, L.P., Case No. 23-124. Purdue Pharma is the drug manufacturer of the prescription opioid, OxyContin, an alleged contributor to a major public health crisis involving loss of life due to overdose. Chrisandrea Turner takes a look at the case in this Stites & Harbison Client Alert.

In recent years, we have seen more and more ERISA class action claims against retirement plan sponsors and committees for breach of fiduciary duty. In the past, such claims were generally only made against very large plans but we are starting to see claims against smaller plans. The primary allegation is often that the fiduciaries failed to seek the lowest fees available or put another way the fiduciaries were “asleep at the wheel.” By one report, 463 lawsuits have been filed over the last eight years claiming fiduciaries failed to obtain the lowest available fees. Lexington office attorney Andy Jacobs takes a look at the issues in this Stites & Harbison Client Alert.