"In its motion to dismiss, Dignity relied heavily on four IRS private letter rulings. A predecessor, Catholic Hospitals Healthcare West, obtained the first. The IRS concluded the pension was a church plan from the get-go, a ruling whose validity the plaintiffs challenge... [District Judge Thelton E. Henderson] focused on the requirement that to be exempt, a pension plan must be 'established and maintained ... by a church' or by a church-associated organization created to administer a church pension plan.... That's exactly how the law should be read. It is a withering indictment of chief counsel for issuing private letter rulings that cannot possibly be in the interests of workers in ERISA plans." [Rollins v. Dignity Health, No. C13-1450 TEH (N.D. Cal. Dec. 12, 2013)]  MORE >>