The Chartwell Chronicles: Permanent Disability
Physician Employment Agreements: Focus on Financial Planning
An Overview of New Jersey Workers' Compensation
An Overview of Massachusetts Workers' Compensation
Workers' Compensation Academy: Requests by Defense Counsel – A Defense Analysis of Materials Needed from Carriers and Clients for NJ Workers' Compensation Claims
An Overview of New York Workers' Compensation
Workers' Compensation Academy: Pennsylvania COVID-19 Update: Layoff or Furlough from Light Duty as a Result of COVID-19
This month’s Friday Five discusses cases addressing the effect of continuing to receive benefits during the period of alleged disability, reliance on an employer’s records in making a disability determination, the...more
Tuesday, the North Carolina Court of Appeals released an unpublished opinion addressing temporary partial disability (“TPD”) benefits and the application of the Russell v. Lowes Prod. Distribution factors, which assist...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing differences between the scope of discovery and ability to add documents to the record on a claim for review challenging the denial of LTD...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions addressing the burden of proving accidental death, policy language and “any occupation” disability, an interpleader case where the insurer was not dismissed from the case, the...more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions with issues spanning physician power of attorney to preexisting exclusions and the fiduciary duty of an insurance company....more
Life Policy Lapse Shortly Before Insured’s Death - In Simon v. USAA Life Insurance Co. (Mar. 29, 2024), the insurer denied death benefits under a term life insurance policy, which had lapsed for nonpayment of premium two...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing differences between LTD and LWOP policies, the breadth of discretion available to claims administrators and the always important topic of timely...more
This month’s Friday Five covers the treatment of job-related stress in assessing an attorney’s disability, the requirements surrounding the qualifications of a medical professional to review a claimant’s medical records in...more
In Steigleman v. Symetra Life Ins. Co., 2023 WL 7413668 (D. Ariz. 2023), a court considered whether a package of various welfare benefit insurance policies an individual business owner arranged for herself and her employees...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions regarding the transfer of an ERISA action that was filed in a state where an insurer did not maintain sufficient minimum contacts, an award of attorneys’ fees, costs, and...more
On January 2, 2024, McDermott filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) and the United States Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) in United Behavioral Health v. David K., No. 23-586, in the US...more
On Halloween, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $100,000 settlement under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with Doctors’...more
Howard Dunetz v. Charles H. Sacks, D.M.D., P.C. (WCAB); No. 302 C.D. 2022; filed Oct. 26, 2023; Judge Cohn Jubelirer - The claimant sustained a work injury in May 2007. Subsequently, the status of his benefits was changed...more
The Superior Court addressed a rather convoluted fact pattern in determining whether an injured worker is entitled to a resumption of their temporary total disability benefits even though they have left the time of injury...more
This month’s Friday Five explores a decision ordering an IME prior to a ruling on summary judgment motions, the extent claims reporting records can be sealed, the scope of ERISA preemption in the context of removal, and two...more
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to petitions for attorneys’ fees, unpersuasive self-reported evidence of disability, and a dilatory attempt to augment the administrative record....more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions that range from the effect on disability benefits when medical records are not provided after two appeals, to a case that examines how an award of death benefits is...more
This month’s Friday Five explores decisions regarding the timeliness of appeals, the support necessary to sustain an LTD termination decision, a court’s discretion to credit and discredit expert opinions, the circumstances...more
As you may know, under the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Statute (Section 15) and case law, the respondent/employer is responsible for providing medical treatment to cure and relieve the effects of a workers’ compensation...more
More changes are coming up for California’s State Disability Insurance (SDI) program, which includes Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits. This article offers an overview of those changes to help you understand how they affect...more
This month’s Friday Five addresses two cases involving disability claims that touch on Covid-19, a Circuit Court ruling for an insurer, a district court ruling that a 20-year-old regulatory settlement precluded an insurer...more
Do you know who is responsible for administering your ERISA employee benefit plans, including who has the authority to resolve claims for benefits under each plan? Do your plan documents reflect your actual administrative...more
In Sturdivant v. NC Department of Public Safety (No. COA22-421), the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirms Full Commission Opinion and Award denying extended benefits under N.C.G.S. 97-29 (c)...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The 7th Circuit recently held that insurers and administrators must provide claimants an opportunity to respond to new information relied on for adverse benefit determinations, even if the claim predated...more
On January 30, 2023, the Fourth District Court of Appeal clarified which sorts of retirement benefit payments do and do not count as a “disability allowance” within the context of the reciprocity rules of the County Employees...more