KMK Law Complex Litigation Blog

Law school; first-year; civil procedure exam question: May a court assert personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant who ships millions of packages into Ohio, and is paid millions of dollars in return by the resident plaintiff? Be careful, 1L’s (and practitioners).

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently denied the defendant's joint summary judgment motion in the case Fish, et al. v. Greatbanc Trust Co., et al., where the defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the plaintiffs' claims were barred by ERISA's 3-year statute of limitations.

In an ERISA case pending in the Northern District of Illinois involving breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction claims, the plaintiffs filed a motion asking the court to allow them to proceed in a representative capacity on behalf of the plan under ERISA section 502(a)(2) rather than require them to certify a class under Federal Rule 23.  The District Court in Chicago denied that motion based on the defendants' opposition, and suggested that the case proceed, not as a class action under Federal Rule 23, but as a "derivative action" under Federal Rule 23.1.