Email: tbrett@fdpklaw.com

Tybe Brett has been “Of Counsel” to Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC, since 2006.

Tybe graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College and is a 1979 graduate of Columbia University School of Law, where she was student articles editor of the Journal of Transnational Law.

During law school, Tybe was a law clerk for the Employment Rights Project, where she worked on employment discrimination class actions against two major publishers.  After law school, she worked as a litigation associate at Drinker Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia, PA.  From 1983-1990, she was an associate professor at the University of Maine School of Law, where she founded an Environmental Law Clinic.

Since 1990, Tybe has been in private practice in Pittsburgh.  From 1990 to 1995, she was involved in shaping the law in toxic tort class actions, and successfully represented objecting class members in Keene Corporation v. Fiorelli et al., 14 F.3d 726 (2d Cir. 1993), and In re Joint Eastern & Southern Districts Asbestos Litigation (Findley v. Blinken), 982 F.2d 721 (2d 1992).  She also represented objectors before the district court in the case that culminated in the opinions in Georgine v. Amchem Prods., Inc., 83 F.3d 610, 630 (3d Cir. 1996), aff’d, Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997).

Since 1995, Tybe has concentrated her practice on labor and employee benefits cases.  She has successfully advanced the claims of individual ERISA litigants in a number of cases. See, e.g., Noga v. Fulton Fin. Corp. Employee Benefit Plan, 19 F.4th 264 (3d Cir. 2021); Evans v. Capital Blue Cross, 2022 PA Super 4 (2022); McCann v. Unum Provident, 907 F.3d 130 (3d Cir. 2018); Kushner v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., 2019 WL 4696306 (S.D. Ohio Sep 26, 2019); Erwood v. Life Ins. Co. of N. America, 2017 WL 1383922 (W.D. Pa. Apr. 13, 2017); Strott v. Dimensional Inv., LLC Health & Welfare Plan, 2-15 W: 1299773 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 23, 2015); United Steelworkers of Am. AFL-CIO/CLC v. Rohm & Haas Co., 683 F. Supp. 2d 355 (E.D. Pa. 2010); Haisley v. Sedgwick Claims Mgmt. Servs., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20751 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 2, 2011); Steffy v. Liberty Life Assur. Co., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93515 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 7, 2009);  Babish v. Sedgwick Claims Mgmt. Servs., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18594 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 2, 2009) Kalp v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7957 (W.D. Pa. Feb. 4, 2009);  Jagielski v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62660; 42 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1725 (W.D. Pa. Aug. 24, 2007).

Tybe was appointed Class Counsel in Cottillion v. United Refining Corp., C.A. No. 1:09-cv-00140 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 5, 2013), a case in which she achieved significant rulings on behalf of the class. See, Cottillion v. United Refining Corp, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49913, 56 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2264 (W.D. Pa. Apr. 8, 2013)(awarding summary judgment on Plaintiffs’ anti-cutback claim); Cottillion v. United Refining Corp, 279 F.R.D. 290 (W.D. Pa. 2011) (applying the fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege to matters of plan administration and otherwise limiting application of the privilege in ERISA class action); Andrako v. United States Steel Corp., C. A. No.    No. 2:07-cv-1629, 17 Wage & Hour Cas. 2d (BNA) 756, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23583 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 9, 2011), and in Starbird v. Mercy Health Plans, Inc., Case No. 4:07-cv-1050, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54958 (E.D. Mo. June 29, 2009).

Tybe has authored a number of articles on class actions and on ERISA issues.  See, e.g., US Airways v. McCutchen: Confirming the Scope of Appropriate Equitable Relief Under ERISA Section 502(a)(3), 175 PBD 9/11/2012 (BNA 9/11/12); CIGNA Corp. v. Amara: Protecting Employees From Disclosure Violations Under ERISA, 106 PBD 6/2/11 (BNA 6/2/11); When the SPD and the Plan Conflict, the Conflict Should be Resolved in the Participant’s Favor, 37 BPR (BNA 10/19/10); A Trial Lawyer’s Commentary On One Jurist’s Musings of the Legal Occult:  A Response to Judge Weinstein, 88 NW. U. L. Rev. 592 (1993) (with Thomas W. Henderson, Esq.); Class Actions and Consolidations in Mass Toxic Tort Cases, in ABA Tort and Insurance Practice Section; Managing Modern Litigation: Learning to Live with New Judicial Courts and New Trial Tools (1991) (with Thomas W. Henderson, Esq.); Commentary:  Consolidation of Individual Plaintiff Personal Injury – Toxic Tort Actions, 11 Journal of Law & Commerce 59 (1991) (with Theodore Goldberg, Esq.).  She represented United Policyholders as amicus curiae in US Airways v.McCutchen, 131 S. Ct. 1537 (2013); Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan, No. 14-723; and Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Ins. Co., No. 12-729 (U.S.).

Tybe is the plaintiffs’ co-chair of the ethics subcommittee of the ABA Employee Benefits Committee and regularly speaks on issues related to her employee benefits practice. She participated in the following panel discussions: Ethics Update: ABA Employee Benefits Committee Midwinter Meeting (Webinar March 30, 2022); Employee Benefits for the Employment Lawyer, NELA 2020 Virtual Convention (July 10, 2020); Ethics in Employee Benefits Practices: ABA Employee Benefits Committee Midwinter Meeting (Rancho Mirage, CA, Feb. 7, 2020); ERISA Ethical Issues and Concerns: ABA JCEB ERISA Basics National Institute (Chicago, IL, Oct.17, 2019); Ethics for Employee Benefits Lawyers: ABA Employee Benefits Committee Midwinter Meeting (Nashville, TN, Feb. 9, 2019); Ethics in a Digital World: ABA JCEB Webinar (Nov. 13, 2018); Ethics in a Digital World: ABA Employee Benefits Committee Midwinter Meeting (Clearwater Beach, FL, Feb. 9, 2018); Ethics Updated: ABA Employee Benefits Committee Midwinter Meeting (Austin, TX, Feb. 10, 2017); Webinar: New Civil Procedural Rules and ERISA Litigation, Sponsored by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits and the American College or Employee Benefits Counsel (Sept. 8, 2016).

Tybe is admitted to practice in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Seventh and Eleventh Circuits; United States District Courts for the Eastern Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania; United States District Court for the District of Maine; United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana; United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio; United States District Court for the Western District of New York; United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; and United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

On her own time, Tybe sings with the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh and is involved in promoting environmentally sustainable practices in her community.