Kent Mason Quoted in Bloomberg Law Article on Pension Risk Transfer Litigation Appeal involving Lockheed Martin
- Published Date: September 21, 2026
On September 15, 2026, Bloomberg Law published an article titled, “Lockheed’s Pension Risk Transfer Appeal Tests Retiree Rights,” where Davis & Harman partner, Kent Mason, was quoted discussing recent court decisions on pension risk transfer transactions.
In the article, Mason describes how the Supreme Court addressed the issue of standing in its 2020 decision in Thole v. U.S. Bank. In its decision, the Supreme Court held that pension plan participants lack standing when challenging investment decisions that don’t jeopardize their ability to receive benefits.
A recent case challenging a pension risk transfer transaction by Lumen Technologies was dismissed relying on the Supreme Court’s Thole decision. Mason is quoted that, “The Lumen Technologies court, like several other courts, got it exactly right: if the likelihood of the insurer not paying benefits is not imminent, there is no harm under Thole.”
Mason further discussed a magistrate’s report in a case against AT&T finding that Thole did not apply since the AT&T case involved annuities rather than pensions as in Thole. Mason said that the odd report from the magistrate didn’t explain “why a less valuable promise to pay from an insurer is a harm under his report, but a less valuable promise to pay from an employer is not a harm under Thole.”
The full article can be found here.
