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Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) › Discretionary Clauses

Saul Ewing LLP

The Friday Five: Five Current ERISA Litigation Highlights - July 2022

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This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to interpretation of regulatory deadlines, the enforceability of discretionary clauses, circuit courts going both ways on appeals from summary judgment rulings in favor of plans,...more

Littler

Congress Considers Banning Discretionary Clauses in ERISA Plans

Littler on

On May 12, 2022, the “Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act” was introduced in the House of Representatives by Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA).  Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced a companion bill in the Senate. The bill seeks...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Choice-of-Law Plan Provision Enforced As A Matter of Federal Common Law

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The Tenth Circuit recently concluded that, as a matter of federal common law, a choice-of-law provision in a long-term disability insurance policy, which was part of the plaintiff’s employer’s ERISA plan, must be enforced...more

Kilpatrick

A Recent 5th Circuit ERISA Decision is Not as Far Reaching as it Appears

Kilpatrick on

To reduce the cost of maintaining an ERISA plan and reduce the expense of ERISA litigation, it is helpful to have courts both apply a deferential standard of review and limit the review to the administrative record. If an...more

Robinson+Cole ERISA Claim Defense Blog

Fifth Circuit Joins Sister Circuits by Overruling Default Deferential Standard of Review

Robinson+Cole ERISA Claim Defense Blog on

In Ariana M. v. Humana Health Plan of Tex., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 5227, *5, 2018 WL 1096980 (March 1, 2018) (“Ariana M. II”), a majority of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in an en banc decision,...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Applies Texas Ban on Discretionary Clauses in Insurance Contracts

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive... on

A federal district court in Louisiana upheld a Texas state law prohibiting insurers from granting themselves discretion to interpret benefit plans when deciding benefit claims. These so-called “discretionary clauses” are...more

Benesch

Ninth Circuit Clarifies State Laws Regulating Insurance Do Not Void Discretionary Clauses In Self-Funded ERISA Plans

Benesch on

The Ninth Circuit recently held discretionary clauses in a self-funded plan were valid and that California Insurance Code § 10110.6, banning discretionary clause relating to insurance, was preempted by ERISA when applied to a...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Ninth Circuit Holds that ERISA Preempts State Insurance Law Bans on Discretionary Clauses for Self-Funded ERISA Plans

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Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently confirmed that ERISA preempts state insurance law bans on discretionary clauses for self-funded ERISA plans....more

McDermott Will & Emery

The Future of Discretionary Clauses in California Life and Disability Insurance Agreements

McDermott Will & Emery on

On May 11, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court ruling, and upheld a California law that invalidates a plan provision that assigns the final determination on benefit payout...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Grounding Deferential Review in California – No Preemption for Discretionary Clause Ban

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: In a decision with wide ranging implications, the Ninth Circuit has ruled that a discretionary clause in an employer drafted plan document is subject to, and invalidated by, California’s insurance...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Fifth Circuit: Discretionary Ban Does Not Mandate De Novo Review

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In Ariana M. v. Humana Health Plan of Texas, Inc., No. 16-20174 (5th Cir. Apr. 21, 2017), the Firth Circuit concluded that Texas’ ban on discretionary clauses in certain insurance policies did not require a de novo review of...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

The ERISA Litigation Newsletter - October 2016

Proskauer Rose LLP on

Editor's Overview - This month, we look at the implications of the two federal district court cases from California that applied the ban on discretionary clauses typically found in ERISA plans to self-insured plans. The...more

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