To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld an award of attorneys’ fees payable by a health plan sponsor to the plan administrators that the plan sponsor had sued. See Central Valley Ag Cooperative, et al. v. Leonard, et al., Nos. 19-3044 and 20-1378, Eighth Circuit (Feb. 1, 2021). The plan sponsor aggressively pursued meritless Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) claims. IN DEPTH Central Valley Ag Cooperative, an agricultural cooperative, sued several defendants that provided marketing and administrative services to Central Valley’s self-funded health plans. Beginning in 2015, a third-party administrator, The Benefits Group (TBG), would receive participants’ medical bills and forward certain bills to a reviewing company, Anasazi Medical Payment Solutions, Inc. (AMPS). AMPS would then review the bills and recommend to TBG how much of the original bill should be paid. TBG sent the recommendation to Central Valley, and Central Valley made the final decision on whether to pay the recommended amount or some other amount. Central Valley would instruct TBG to make payment on Central Valley’s behalf. As payment for its services, AMPS received 30% of the total amounts saved on bills. Of that 30%, AMPs paid 7.5% to TBG for its services in administering the plan.