ERISA Jury Trial Request Rejected as ‘Beans’ in ‘Texas Chili’

A jury won’t hear an ERISA benefit interference claim from a former employee of a trade show company, after a federal judge likened such a move to the disfavored practice of including beans in Texas chili.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has made clear that “ERISA claims and juries should have the same wall of separation as drinking and driving or Texas chili and beans,” Judge Brantley Starr said in a Thursday opinion. Starr, who sits in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, blocked the employee from seeking a jury trial ...