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 recent decisions with issues spanning physician power of attorney to preexisting exclusions and the fiduciary duty of an insurance company....more
6/7/2024
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Disability ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Health Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Power of Attorney ,
Reimbursements
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
4/5/2024
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Denial of Benefits ,
Disabilities ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Insurance Industry ,
Long Term Disability Insurance ,
Medical Records ,
Plan Administrators
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to an alleged conflict of interest leading to discovery, two courts’ opposite treatments of subjective pain complaints, a decision that claims of fraud and misrepresentation were...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
2/2/2024
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Denial of Benefits ,
Disabilities ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Insurance Industry ,
Life Insurance ,
Long Term Disability Insurance ,
Overpayment ,
Transfer of Venue
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
12/1/2023
/ Denial of Benefits ,
Disabilities ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Insurance Industry ,
Medical Leave ,
Plan Administrators ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wrongful Termination
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
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
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to potential impacts of COVID-19, full and fair review of the claim file, an attempt to use an insurer’s internal policy against itself, and a “second bite at the apple” by...more
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to interpretation of ambiguous policy terms, evaluation of claimant’s expert witness, inclusion of law firms as appropriate parties from whom plan administrators may seek...more
This month’s Friday Five addresses cases considering: (1) whether monetary relief in the amount of lost benefits is an available remedy for breach of fiduciary duty; (2) the validity of an ex-spouse’s beneficiary designation...more
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
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to a claimant’s second chance when a lawyer misses a court deadline, whether certain voluntary benefits fall within a broader ERISA plan, a court deciding that an insurer was...more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions tackling a myriad of issues, including: (1) whether reclassification of a claimant’s health status constitutes an adverse benefit determination; (2) whether remand is the...more
This month’s Friday Five discusses cases that focus on what information properly constitutes the administrative record before the court on which a decision must be based. One case explores the ERISA Records Rule which limits...more
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to an incarcerated individual’s entitlement to benefits, the relevance of post-decision evidence, hearsay objections to documents in the administrative record, the requirement of...more
ERISA cases related to life insurance policies and related benefits were the focus of a number of reported decisions at the end of 2017 and continuing into the new year. This month’s issue of The Friday Five highlights four...more