Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent 10th Circuit decision holding that in order for the abuse of discretion standard to apply in litigation the claims administrator must provide participants with actual notice of discretionary...more
Ninth Circuit Affirms Decision Rejecting Suit Seeking Early Retirement Benefits - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s decision rejecting a plaintiff’s lawsuit seeking to overturn...more
In Nichols v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 924 F.3d 80 (5th Cir. 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that when an LTD policy funding an ERISA plan defines "regular occupation" as the way the...more
In Gorbacheva v. Abbott Laboratories Extended Disability Plan, et al., 29 U.S. App. LEXIS 36542 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 10, 2019), the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's award of attorneys' fees to an ERISA claimant as...more
Managing your plan’s claims procedures to avoid successful challenges requires careful attention to all of the requirements in the regulations and in the applicable plan’s or policy’s terms and continual review in light of...more
Even when a claims administrator approves a claim for disability benefits, its job is not done. That principle was again demonstrated in the recent case Owings v. United of Omaha Life Insurance Co., No. 16-3128 (10th Cir....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a strong decision for insurers, the Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the administrator, rejected plaintiff’s conflict of interest argument, and found that it was not arbitrary for the...more
Yesterday, in a 5-2 opinion, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio Industrial Commission had abused its discretion when it awarded concurrent benefits to an injured worker (State ex rel. Ohio Presbyterian Retirement...more
Be careful what you ask for. The Plaintiff in a recent case from the Central District of California learned that lesson when the Plan’s re-evaluation of her claim for benefits revealed that she was apparently working as a...more
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
Insurance for long term disability – payments to an insured who is prevented from earning his or her income due to long term disability – is a fruitful field for litigation for many reasons. Though the insurance may be...more