Monica I. Perkowski

Associate

Practices

Litigation and Dispute Resolution | ERISA Litigation | Class Action Litigation and Arbitration | ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plans)

Monica I. Perkowski

+1.404.898.8115

Overview

Monica I. Perkowski is a litigation attorney in Holland & Knight's Atlanta office. Ms. Perkowski focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation matters involving labor and employment issues, disputes under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974, business disputes and product liability and mass torts.

Ms. Perkowski has substantial experience in all aspects of complex litigation, including fact discovery, expert discovery, motions practice, trials and appeals. She has developed expert witnesses, prepared company witnesses for deposition, first-chaired numerous depositions and drafted dispositive motions and appellate briefs.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Perkowski was an associate at a large international law firm in New York, where her practice focused on complex commercial litigation with a particular concentration in pharmaceutical product liability and mass tort matters.

Representative Experience

Defended a lawsuit filed by the secretary for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) against the plan sponsor of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), as well as its board of directors and selling shareholders, alleging violations of ERISA in connection with the formation of the ESOP and sale of stock in the plan sponsor to the ESOP
Defended an agricultural company against claims that it improperly denied retirement benefits under its ERISA-governed pension plan; obtained summary judgment on all claims
Defending plan sponsor and plan fiduciaries against claims for breach of fiduciary duty and violation of ERISA's anti-inurement provision based on the handling of forfeited employer contributions to the 401(k) defined contribution plan to reduce future employer contributions
Defending multiple 401(k) plan sponsors and plan fiduciaries against claims that the plans offered imprudent investments, including by offering target date mutual funds rather than the collective trust versions of the allegedly same funds, charged excessive recordkeeping fees, allowed participants to be charged excessive fees for managed-account services and improperly used forfeited employer contributions to defray the costs associated with future employer contributions
Defending a plan sponsor against a claim that the 401(k) defined contribution plan maintained imprudent investments in violation of ERISA, including the plan's guaranteed interest account
Representing companies in appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Circuits regarding the enforceability of benefit plan arbitration provisions

Represented a pharmaceutical company in lawsuits concerning its intrauterine permanent birth control device in a consolidated federal proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas
Represented a pharmaceutical company as lead appellate counsel in a Pennsylvania mass tort litigation claiming personal injury from the use of a prescription atypical antipsychotic medication
Represented a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company as U.S. national counsel regarding any product liability issues relating to its COVID-19 vaccine
Represented a pharmaceutical company as national counsel in lawsuits in a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) and in state courts across the country concerning its prescription opioid pain medications, including OxyContin
Represented a processor as national and trial counsel in a high-profile environmental toxic tort litigation, including defending individual and class action complaints involving medical monitoring and property damage claims in New York, New Hampshire and Vermont

Defended a healthcare provider against claims that it retaliated against the plaintiff in violation of the First Amendment when it terminated her employment after she revealed Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-protected information; defeated all claims on a motion to dismiss
Representing a healthcare provider in arbitration against a national insurance company on claims that the insurance company breached the provider agreement by failing to reimburse for COVID-19-related services provided to its insureds
Representing a leading North American travel retailer in litigation against a national payroll company in a contract dispute