News

Updated with: SAG-AFTRA Health Plan statement: The day after former SAG president Ed Asner’s death, a federal judge indicated Monday that she is inclined to allow the class action lawsuit that bears his name to proceed against the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan and its trustees.

Earlier today, U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder issued a tentative decision (read it here) that denied the Plan’s motion to dismiss the case. A virtual hearing was then held to allow attorneys from both sides – seven in all – to make arguments about why she should or should not uphold her tentative decision, which will allow for discovery to proceed once it’s made final.

At the end of the hearing, Snyder said that she will look at a few points that the defendants’ attorneys made today, but cautioned that she does “not expect” to make any major changes to her tentative decision.

Critics of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan’s recent changes have made good on their promise to take the plan’s trustees to court, filing a class action lawsuit accusing the trustees of violating labor laws protecting pension and health benefit plans.

The lawsuit, obtained by TheWrap, was filed on behalf of 10 SAG-AFTRA members, including Ed Asner, current national board member of SAG-AFTRA and former Screen Actors Guild president, and David Jolliffe, 2nd VP for SAG-AFTRA’s Los Angeles local, which has vocally opposed the health plan changes since they were first announced in August. The other plaintiffs are senior performers Michael Bell, Raymond Harry Johnson, Sondra James Weil, Robert Clotworthy, Thomas Cook, Deborah White, Donna Lynn Leavy and Audrey Loggia, the widow of actor Robert Loggia.

The lawsuit accuses the Health Plan of violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Erisa) by raising the earnings requirements for members to qualify...

The SAG-AFTRA health plan is at the center of a putative class action brought by a group of actors who say premiums have skyrocketed and medical coverage is being stripped from elderly guild members under the guise of a Covid-19-related restructuring, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in California federal court.

The actors — led by the iconic Ed Asner — are suing the SAG-AFTRA Health Fund and its board of trustees for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties. Guild members Michael Bell, Raymond Harry Johnson, Sondra James Weil, David Jolliffe, Robert Clotworthy, Thomas Cook, Deborah White and Donna Lynn Leavy are ...

The SAG-AFTRA health plan is at the center of a putative class action brought by a group of actors who say premiums have skyrocketed and medical coverage is being stripped from elderly guild members under the guise of a Covid-19-related restructuring, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in California federal court.

The actors — led by the iconic Ed Asner — are suing the SAG-AFTRA Health Fund and its board of trustees for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties. Guild members Michael Bell, Raymond Harry Johnson, Sondra James Weil, David Jolliffe, Robert Clotworthy, Thomas Cook, Deborah White and Donna Lynn Leavy are ...