Kevin J. Greene obtained a key ruling dismissing claims brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in a case involving disputed claims to a deceased priest’s retirement benefits. The plaintiff, a Jesuit order, accused the deceased priest of breaking his vow of poverty in leaving a $1.5 million retirement fund to his sister-in-law. The plaintiff’s contractual and religious-based claims to the retirement funds were dismissed on grounds that ERISA preempts the bid to enforce the vow of poverty, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is inapplicable to the claim that the vow of poverty prevented the priest from changing his beneficiary designation. More information is available here.