Joel R. Hurt

Joel R. Hurt is a Partner in Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC. For the past 23 years, Joel has represented employees and retirees in more than 50 class action lawsuits throughout the United States for employee benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (or ERISA).

Joel has successfully litigated claims challenging cuts to company-provided retiree health benefits; claims to remedy imprudent investments by 401(k) plan fiduciaries; and claims challenging the denial or underpayment of pension and healthcare benefits. Representative cases include:

Kaiser v. Alcoa USA Corp., No. 3:20-cv-278 (S.D. Ind.) (obtained summary judgment in favor of class of more than 2,500 union retirees that reduction of medical benefits violated parties’ collective bargaining agreements under LMRA and ERISA).
Butch v. Alcoa USA Corp., No. 3:19-cv-258 (S.D. Ind.) (obtained summary judgment in favor of class of 675 union retirees that elimination of life insurance coverage violated parties’ collective bargaining agreements under the LMRA and ERISA).
Vollmer v. Xerox Corporation, No. 6:20-cv-6979 (W.D.N.Y.) (co-lead counsel in retiree healthcare action recovering $7.25 million and premium-free lifetime medical benefits for more than 1,000 salaried retirees).
Comer v. Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc., 2017 WL 5256871 (M.D. Fla. Nov. 13, 2017) (co-lead counsel in retiree healthcare action securing lifetime medical benefits for class of United Steelworker retirees, in which the United States District Judge Steven J. Merryday stated “The action required expertise in ERISA, the Labor Management Relations Act, and Rule 23, and class counsel’s performance evidences a skill rarely demonstrated by the typical class-action litigator in this district.”).
Amos v. PPG Industries, Inc., No. 2:05-cv-70 (S.D. Ohio)(co-lead counsel in retiree healthcare action recovering $7.65 million and benefits for more than 6,000 retirees from five unions).
Cottillion v. United Refining Co., No. 09-140 Erie (W.D. Pa.) (obtained summary judgment in favor of class of pension recipients that reduction in pension benefits violated ERISA’s anti-cutback rule). See 781 F.3d 47 (3d Cir. 2015) (affirming summary judgment to the class).
UAW v. General Motors Corp., No. 2:007-cv-14074 (E.D. Mich.), UAW v. Ford Motor Co., 2:07-cv-14845 (E.D. Mich.), UAW v. Chrysler, LLC, No. 2:07-cv-14310 (E.D. Mich.)(played significant role in class actions in which Feinstein Dole Payne & Kravec served as class counsel for 800,000 retired UAW members, pursuant to which a trust worth $60 billion (estimated present value in 2010) was established to provide lifetime benefits to class members).
Kling v. Fidelity Management Trust Co., Case 01-11939 (D. Mass.) ($10.85 million recovery for breach of fiduciary duty related to investment in employer stock in 401(k) plan).
Kennedy, et al. v. United Healthcare of Ohio, Inc., Case C2-98-128 (S.D. Ohio) ($1.95 million recovery for the miscalculation of benefits under group medical plans).

Joel is active in the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section, serving as Co-Chair of subcommittees within the ABA’s Employment Rights & Responsibilities and Employee Benefits committees. He is active in The Hay-Sell Pittsburgh American Inn of Court, where he has served in various leadership positions, including President and on the Executive Board. Joel is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and the American Bar Foundation, as well as a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association.

Joel is a member of the Union Lawyers Alliance of the AFL-CIO and is proud to have represented the following labor unions and their workers and/or retirees:

United Steelworkers (USW)
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC)
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE)
SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania
Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA)
United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry (UA)

Joel has been selected as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Joel has also been selected to be one of The National Trial Lawyers—Top 100 for being part of a premier group of Civil Plaintiff attorneys in Pennsylvania. The National Trial Lawyers is an invitation-only organization, which extends membership to elite attorneys recognized for superior qualifications, trial results and leadership in their respective state.

Joel frequently writes and speaks on employee benefits topics. He has been a contributing author to two leading ERISA treatises: Employee Benefits Law (4^th edition) (Bloomberg BNA Books) and ERISA Litigation (5th and 6th editions) (Bloomberg BNA Books). His recent papers and presentations include:

Implications of Investment Policy Statements on Employee Benefits, panel presentation at the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employment Rights & Responsibilities Committee 2024 Midwinter Meeting (March 2024)
COVID-19 and Opioids: Legal Implications of Mandating Vaccination and Controlling Employee Use of Opioids, panel presentation at the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employment Rights & Responsibilities Committee 2022 Midwinter Meeting (March 2022)
What’s in a Name? Association Health Plans and Association Retirement Plans: These Cousins Couldn’t Be More Different, panel presentation at the ABA Section of Taxation 2020 Midyear Tax Meeting (January 2020)
Demystifying ERISA for Employment Lawyers, panel presentation at the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employment Rights & Responsibilities Committee 2019 Midwinter Meeting (March 2019)
The State of Employer-Sponsored Insurance: Guidance for Employers and Employees, panel presentation at the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employment Rights & Responsibilities Committee 2018 Midwinter Meeting (March 2018)
The Constitutional Limitations of Public Employee Pension Legislation, Revisited, The Public Lawyer, Summer 2017 (with William T. Payne and Ruairi McDonnell)
The Fiduciary Rule: What Employers, Employees, Plans and Service Providers Need to Know, panel presentation at the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employment Rights & Responsibilities Committee 2017 Midwinter Meeting (March 2017)
Retiree Health Claims after Tackett, panel presentation at the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee 2016 Midwinter Meeting (February 2016)
Response to Collectively Bargained Retiree Health and the Demise of Yard Man – Perspectives from Counsel for Retirees, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee Newsletter, Spring 2015 (with Pamina Ewing).

Joel graduated from Westminster College magna cum laude and is a 2000 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Prior to joining Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC in 2007, he was a litigation associate in the plaintiffs’ class action firm Malakoff Doyle & Finberg.

Joel is admitted to practice before the courts of Pennsylvania; the United States Supreme Court; the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits; and the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois, the Eastern District of Michigan, the Western District of New York, the Northern District of Ohio, the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Western District of Pennsylvania, the Western District of Tennessee, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.