Pfizer Exec Wants SCOTUS to Expand Court Choice in Benefit Suits

A former Pfizer Inc. executive who sued the company over his retirement package asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether companies can unilaterally limit the courts in which benefit lawsuits can be filed.

Forum selection clauses—plan provisions dictating the court in which workers can sue for benefits—contravene the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s special venue provision and its policy of giving workers “ready access” to the federal courts, Jeffrey Robertson told the justices in a petition docketed April 25. Whether these clauses can be enforced is an issue that’s been “percolating long enough” in the lower courts, and the ...