Midyear Banking Review
If I won my case, why do I need to worry about an appeal?
In DeBold v. Liberty Life Assur. Co. of Bos., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120153 (D. Mass, June 28, 2021), a district court held that an ERISA plan administrator could reduce an insured's monthly long-term disability (LTD) benefit...more
In Adkins v. Life Insurance Company of North America, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37847 (E.D. Wash., March 1, 2021), a Washington district court blocked a plaintiff’s attempt to conduct discovery into the claim review history of an...more
In Western v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, 798 F.App'x 154, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 8362 (9th Cir. March 17, 2020), the Ninth Circuit affirmed Unum Life's determination that an aerospace engineer diagnosed with...more
North Carolina District Court Permits Plan’s Lawsuit Against Third Party Administrator to Continue A federal district court in North Carolina has ruled that a plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini discussed a case centered around three IRA accounts and the duty that UBS had to the beneficiary following the death of the client/IRA account holder. Prior to the client’s death,...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini examined a case of alleged breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duty against a bank acting as the indenture trustee related to a foreclosure action on defaulted mortgage revenue...more
The stories of an employer and a long-term disability insurer and claims fiduciary for an ERISA plan, defendants in two recent cases, ring so true. In the first case, the insurer was designated as claims fiduciary for an...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