"[The insurer] contends that even if [the employee]'s severance agreement was a 'Sponsored Plan' under the policy, there wasn't a 'Wrongful Act' -- again, an accident or negligence -- on [the firm]'s part: [when it decided to liquidate,] the firm simply chose not to continue making payments it had agreed to make.... Much will depend on the exact policy language here, and how it addresses severance agreements -- if it does at all. Even outside of the insurance field, whether a severance agreement is a 'plan' under ERISA is often in dispute.... [T]he Supreme Court tried to provide some clarity [in one case] by holding that a one-time severance payment after a plant closure was not a plan under ERISA because it didn't have an ongoing administrative component -- but it's not at all clear if that's the only test for a covered plan."  MORE >>