A federal judge in Philadelphia has reinstated to an active docket a case involving whether the parents or former wife of a deceased female Cozen O’Connor partner are entitled to her profit-sharing plan benefits.
U.S. District Judge C. Darnell Jones II had placed Cozen O’Connor v. Tobits on the suspense docket in September 2012 to await decisions in relevant cases dealing with the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. The Tobits case has the potential to reach the issue of whether a pension plan regulated under a federal law can recognize a same-sex marriage for purposes of determining beneficiaries to the plan.
