O’Melveny Worldwide

Brian Boyle has spent much of his career counseling many of the nation’s largest retirement and health plan service providers with respect to their investment offerings and service arrangements, and defending them against fiduciary breach claims and other alleged violations of ERISA. In addition, he has represented numerous employers in ERISA litigation challenging the administration of their retirement plans, including participant-directed defined contribution plans. Brian’s clients draw on his detailed knowledge of the business models of financial service providers and his decades of experience handling high-stakes disputes. Brian holds a Chambers Nationwide Band One ranking for handling ERISA litigation.

Brian is a member of the firm’s Financial Services Practice and Health Care and Life Sciences Practice.

  • Successfully defended an outsourced chief investment officer (“OCIO”) at trial on class claims that the OCIO breached fiduciary duties in selecting proprietary investment options for the client plan.
  • Successfully defended a large health insurer at trial on class claims that the insurer violated ERISA and health plan documents in implementing a policy denying “facility fee” reimbursement to office-based surgeries.
  • Represented multiple mutual fund complexes in litigation challenging the presence of proprietary investment options in a 401(k) plan
  • Obtained dismissal of a class action against retirement services providers in nationwide ERISA class action fiduciary litigation challenging the reasonableness of fee structures in thousands of separate 401(k) plan service arrangements
  • Represented a directed trustee and mutual fund investment adviser in multiple, separate ERISA actions seeking to impose fiduciary and non-fiduciary liability for allegedly excessive administrative and investment management fees, and allegedly substandard investment performance
  • Obtained a dismissal of a nationwide provider class action challenging the administration of "pre-approval" requirements in health insurance policies
  • Obtained a denial of class certification and summary judgment on a named plaintiffs' claims in a nationwide ERISA class action challenging the method for coordinating private health plan secondary payments with Medicare benefits
  • Obtained a denial of a class certification in a nationwide class action alleging nondisclosure of "death spiral" in closed book of individual health policies
  • Obtained dismissal of federal RICO claims against mortgage servicer arising out of default mortgage servicing practices

Investment and Retirement Plan Services

  • Represented a mutual fund complex in nationwide ERISA class action litigation challenging procedures for distributing "float" earnings on retirement plan contributions and redemptions
  • Represented a life insurer and its affiliates in nationwide ERISA class action litigation challenging fees collected on insurance separate account investment options
  • Represented multiple plan sponsors in ERISA fiduciary litigation raising claims of imprudence and prohibited transactions in connection with the selection of mutual fund investment options

Health Plan Services

  • Represented a health insurer in multiple nationwide ERISA class action challenging the procedures used for recovery of claim overpayments 
  • Obtained, on appeal, a reversal of a trial court order certifying a class of 250 hospitals on claims that a managed care organization serving as a contractor to the military's TRICARE management activity had underpaid claims for outpatient claims over a 10-year period
  • Obtained a dismissal of a nationwide ERISA class action claims over the administration of out-of-network health insurance benefits
  • Obtained a dismissal of a nationwide class action consumer fraud claims concerning an insurer's marketing and administration of fixed indemnity health policies
  • Obtained dismissal of multiple class actions challenging a health insurer's assertion of subrogation and reimbursement rights against tort recoveries by plan beneficiaries
  • Obtained a dismissal, on jurisdiction and exhaustion grounds, of nationwide class action litigation against a large Medicare Advantage contractor over an alleged misclassification of Medicare Part B and Part D drugs
  • Obtained a denial of class certification in a nationwide class action challenging a health insurers' alleged operation of "silent PPO"
  • Served as lead counsel for a managed care company in a multi-defendant action alleging that managed care companies and full-service hospitals engaged in a group boycott of a new-entrant specialty hospital
  • Served as lead counsel for a large managed care company in In re Managed Care Litigation (MDL No. 1334; S.D. Fla.), encompassing a series of nationwide class actions on behalf of health plan subscribers, and the physicians and other health care providers who serve them
  • Served as national coordinating counsel for a large, investor-owned hospital system in actions challenging pricing practices with respect to uninsured patients
  • Obtained summary judgment for a large managed care company in a statewide purported class action alleging a group boycott of the Medicare HMO program in California
  • Sustained removal to federal court, and obtained a judgment of dismissal on Medicare preemption grounds, on behalf of a health maintenance organization in a purported class action by members of failed independent practice associations seeking direct recoveries against insurers

Consumer Financial Services

  • Obtained a dismissal of claims brought by municipalities against subprime mortgage lenders and servicers for the economic consequences of foreclosure
  • Represented a large mortgage lender in a nationwide settlement of claims by state attorneys general over alleged consumer protection violations in the origination of subprime and pay-option mortgages

Other Representations

  • Obtained partial denial of certification, and elimination of portion of class period, in securities class action litigation against a large government-sponsored enterprise over the withdrawal of the enterprise's financial statements
  • Obtained a denial of class certification on behalf of a series of property and casualty carriers in a purported RICO class action involving alleged pricing irregularities in commercial insurance policies
  • Represented a property and casualty carrier in a purported nationwide class action involving alleged wrongful failure to pay policyholder dividends
  • Obtained a denial of class certification and awards of summary judgment for an automobile manufacturer in a variety of consumer class actions raising purported claims of fraud surrounding the design and sale of sport-utility vehicles
  • Represented an automobile manufacturer in a statewide certified class action involving alleged ignition system defects
  • Obtained a denial of class certification for an automobile manufacturer in purported nationwide and statewide class actions raising across-the-board claims of race discrimination in employment, and obtained summary judgment against the class in the sole action in which certification was granted

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia, California

Court Admissions

  • US Supreme Court
  • US Courts of Appeals, First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, and District of Columbia Circuits
  • US District Court, Central and Southern Districts of California, Colorado, District of Columbia, and Central District of Illinois

Education

  • Harvard University, J.D., 1986: magna cum laude; editor, Harvard Law Review
  • Georgetown University, A.B., 1982: summa cum laude

Honors & Awards

  • Recognized by Best Lawyers in America for Lawyer of the Year and Litigation - ERISA in Washington, DC (2020-2025)
  • Named a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation for Insurance, Product Liability and Recall, Commercial, Energy, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) (2024-2025)
  • Ranked Band One Nationwide by Chambers USA for ERISA Litigation (2022-2024 and prior years)
  • Ranked in the “Hall of Fame” for ERISA Litigation; Recommended for Healthcare and Financial Services Litigation by The Legal 500 US

Professional Activities

Clerkships

  • Honorable Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court
  • Honorable Laurence H. Silberman, US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit 

Member

  • American Bar Association
  • American Health Lawyers Association
  • American Law Institute 

Corporate & Government Experience

Former Assistant to the General Counsel

  • Office of the Secretary of the Army (1986-1991) 

Former Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General

  • US Department of Justice (2003-2005); recipient of the Edmund J. Randolph Award for Outstanding Justice Department Service (April 2005)