Kimberly A. Jones

Kimberly Jones has devoted her career to representing clients in ERISA and Non-ERISA employee benefits matters in federal and state courts throughout the United States. She has extensive experience defending ERISA plans, plan administrators, claim administrators, insurance companies, multiemployer benefit funds, and employers in a wide variety of employee benefits litigation matters, including life, health, disability, pension and COBRA claims and ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims.

She also defends non-ERISA breach of contract and bad faith claims. Ms. Jones also provides expert counseling and guidance to clients regarding benefit claims and plan design.

Prior to joining Ogletree Deakins, Ms. Jones was an associate at a boutique employee benefits litigation firm where she represented clients in employee benefits matters in administrative, State and Federal proceedings and argued before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Jones is a contributing editor for the treatise, Employee Benefits Law, 3rd Edition (BNA Books), and regularly contributes as a writer to the annual ABA Employee Benefits Committee Mid-Winter Report.

She is Co-Chair of the Employee Benefits Criminal Law Sub-Committee of the ABA Employee Benefits Committee, and has spoken on ERISA topics at several ABA conferences, including ERISA Basics, the Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference, and the ABA Employee Benefits Committee meeting.

Education:

• J.D., cum laude, Chicago-Kent College of Law, 2007
• B.S., summa cum laude, University of Florida, 1999

Admitted to Practice:

• U.S. District Court, Central, Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois Bankruptcy
• U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana
• U.S. District Court, Western District of New York
• U.S. Court of Appeals Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Circuits

Experience:

Kimberly Jones serves as counsel for several large life, health and disability insurers and administrators, multiemployer benefit funds, fiduciaries, employers and self-insured employee benefit plans. Representative experience includes:

• Achieving summary judgment for numerous life, health disability and pension administrators and insurers in lawsuits involving denials of employee benefit claims brought by plan participants and beneficiaries.
• Obtaining numerous dismissals of duplicative fiduciary breach claims brought by plan participants against disability insurers and administrators in lawsuits involving the denial of ERISA disability claims.
• Achieving dismissal of disability pension denial lawsuit as untimely under statute of limitations.
• Representing life insurance companies and self-funded plans in interpleader matters involving competing claims for death benefits.
• Taking and defending depositions in employee benefit claim denials and fiduciary breach claims.

Professional Activities:

• American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section: Employee Benefits Committee; Co-Chair of Criminal Law Subcommittee)
• Defense Research Institute (Life, Health and Disability Committee)
• Federal Bar Association
• Chicago Bar Association (Employee Benefits Section; Young Lawyers Section)