Joel Hurt

Philadelphia, PA

Joel Hurt has represented employees and retirees in more than 50 class action lawsuits throughout the United States for employee benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Joel has successfully litigated claims challenging cuts to company-provided retiree health benefits; claims to remedy imprudent investments by 401(k) plan fiduciaries; and claims challenging the denial or underpayment of pension and healthcare benefits. For example, Joel was appointed as class counsel to represent approximately 450 former United Steelworker members (and their spouses) in an action against Gerdau Ameristeel, which resulted in a settlement that provided lifetime health care and life insurance benefits valued at $16 million, and in which United States District Judge Steven Merryday noted: “The action required expertise in ERISA, the Labor Management Relations Act, and Rule 23, and class counsel’s performance evidences skill rarely seen by the typical class-action litigator in this district.”

Joel received his law degree from University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2000, after having graduated Magna Cum Laude from Westminster College in 1996. From 2000 to 2007, Joel served as a litigation associate at Malakoff Doyle & Finberg, P.C., working primarily on claims to remedy imprudent investments by 401(k) fiduciaries and claims to challenge the miscalculation of medical benefits. In 2007, Joel moved to Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC where he expanded his practice to include claims challenging cuts to company-provided retiree health benefits and claims challenging the miscalculation of pension benefits. Joel has served as co-chair of the firm’s employee benefits practice since 2016.