Archives
Archives: 1/16/04 to 3/10/04
Hillcock v.Continental Casual Company, No.
02-CV-5126 (N.D.
Ill. March 1, 2004). United States Senior Judge John
A. Nordberg granted Ms. Hillcock's cross-motion for summary judgment. The court determined that
Continental Causal Company's denial of Ms. Hillcock's claim was "arbitrary
and capricious" because it completely ignored the objective medical evidence and
the opinions of Ms. Hillcock's doctors, and because they
did not hire a doctor of their own to review the medical evidence. Even
when disregarding this failure to appropriately evaluate the evidence of record,
Judge Nordberg found that Continental 's decision to deny Ms. Hillcock's benefits was
unsupportable because it was based upon the unproven and unrealistic assumptions
about the nature of Ms. Hillcock's abilities and job duties. Mark D. DeBofsky
and Nathan Q. Rugg represented Ms. Hillcock on behalf of the firm.
posted 3/10/2004
A
Symposium on Employee Benefits Law will take place on Friday, April
2, 2004, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. featuring authors of several articles on the
subject of employee benefits law. Mark DeBofsky will be
presenting and speaking about his article, "The Paradox of the Misuse of
Administrative Law in ERISA Benefit Claims," which will be published in the
upcoming Spring 2004 copy of The John
Marshall Law Review. For information on attending the
symposium, please email events@jmls.edu.
posted 3/8/2004
Rohan v. Barnhart,
No. 03 C 3029 (N.D.Ill. Feb. 24, 2004). After eleven years of
litigation in this case, three hearings before an ALJ, three petitions
to the Appeals Council, three appeals to the district court, two
concessions by the Commissioner that ALJ decisions were inadequate, and
one appeal to the court of appeals, the court finally reversed the
decision of the Commissioner, awarding benefits to Daley, DeBofsky &
Bryant client Mr. Donald Rohan. Fred Daley represented Mr. Rohan
throughout the years of litigation.
posted 3/2/2004
Voluntary Remands for DDB clients. Requests for
Voluntary Review (RVR) by Social Security are a testimony to the
convincing and effective briefs written by Daley, DeBofsky and Bryant
for their clients. In these cases the government declined to brief the
case, but instead agreed to a voluntary remand, ultimately resulting in
an award of benefits going back to 1996 in Bulvan v. Barnhart,
and to 1992 in Kopulos
v. Barnhart, No. 01-C-4881 (N.D.Ill. Aug. 20, 2002).
More recent RVR cases for DDB clients include
Morales v. Barnhart,
No. 2:03-CV-66 (N.D.Ind. Sept. 9, 2003), Gray v. Barnhart, No.
2:03-CV-172 (N.D.Ind), Williams v. Barnhart, No. 2:03-CV-111 (N.D.Ind.),
and Terry v. Barnhart, No. 03-C-3999 (N.D.Ill.). In all RVR cases
after the case has been briefed for district court by Daley, DeBofsky and
Bryant, the government has agreed with our position and decided not to contest
it in court, instead stipulating to a voluntary remand.
posted 3/2/2004
 1/16/2004
(Chicago). Mark DeBofsky will be speaking at 1:15 pm about
7th Circuit ERISA, ADA, and FMLA updates along with Larraine
McNamara-McGraw, and Monica Murphy at a
7th Circuit Employment Law
Seminar sponsored by the National Employment Lawyers Association of Illinois (NELA/Illinois).
posted 2/11/2004
ISBA Employee Benefits Section Council Open Meeting Mark DeBofsky will be speaking about recent
ERISA developments with Mark Casciari from Seyfarth & Shaw, LLP at a
meeting sponsored by the Illinois State Bar Association. The
meeting will be at the ISBA Chicago office located at 20 N. Clark St.
posted 2/11/2004
(Raleigh) Mark DeBofsky will be speaking at a
meeting of the
North Carolina Academy
of Trial Lawyers about ERISA
preemption.
posted 2/11/2004
Social
Security Disability Law Conference, San Diego, California May
12-15, 2003. Mark DeBofsky will be participating in a panel discussion on
litigating long term disability benefit claims. Frederick J.
Daley, Jr. will be speaking with Dr. Julian Freeman on, "Obesity:
the cart, the horse, or the yoke and drawbar linking the two?"
David A. Bryant will be speaking about Residual Functional Capacity.
posted 2/11/2004
 5/20/2004
(Chicago) 18th Annual ERISA Basics National Institute. Mark
DeBofsky will be speaking about
Ethical Issues Relating to ERISA law at the ERISA Basics Seminar
sponsored by the American Bar Association.
posted 2/11/2004
Valencia v. Barnhart, No. 02-C-8464 (N.D.Ill., Jan. 13, 2004).
The Court remanded Mr. Valencia's case to Social Security noting that "there is
no 'accurate and logical bridge' that allows the court to assess the ALJ's
ultimate findings." The ALJ's determination did not consider all limitations
supported by medical evidence in the record. Mr. Valencia was represented by
Fred Daley on behalf of the firm with assistance from law student
Valerie Garcia.
posted 1/28/2004
Garmisa article in Chicago Daily Law Bulletin focuses on DDB Crespo Win.
Steve Garmisa, the author of Trial Notes for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin,
focused on Mark DeBofsky's recent victory in Crespo v. Unum.
Read Article
| Crespo
v. UNUM decision (PDF)
posted 1/23/2004
Samuel v. Barnhart, 295 F. Supp. 2d 926 (E.D.
Wis. Dec. 23, 2003).The Eastern
District of Wisconsin issued a 64 page decision in favor of Daley, DeBofsky &
Bryant's client. The district judge reversed the ALJ's decision and remanded the
case for further proceedings, going against the advice of the magistrate judge.
Fred Daley represented Mr. Samuel with the assistance of law student Suzanne
Blaz.
View Decision (PDF)
posted 1/16/2004
7th Circuit ERISA update,
2/16/2004. Mark DeBofsky will be speaking on ERISA at the 7th Circuit
Conference hosted by the National Employment Layers Association (NELA) -
Illinois. For details contact NELA/Illinois at (312)759-0838.
visit NELA/Illinois
posted 1/16/2004 3:21:11 PM
Medicare Reform: Maybe and MaybeNot?, 2/26/2004. David A.
Bryant will be speaking at the Medicare Reform teleconference hosted by the
American Trial Lawyers Association on 2/26/2004, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET. For
registration information, call ATLA Education at 800-622-1791 or 202-965-3500,
ext. 612.
Teleconference Info
| ALTA
hompage
posted 1/16/2004 3:31:48 PM
Notice: Neither by accessing this site or
by reviewing its contents has an attorney-client relationship been formed or
established; and nothing contained in this site shall constitute the giving or
rendering of legal advice or be construed as a legal opinion, or guarantee of a
particular resolution of a legal problem. This information is provided as a
public service, and is not intended to be a substitute for competent legal
counsel. The information provided is general in nature and may not apply to
your circumstances, particularly if you are not in the State of Illinois. Under
no circumstances should you make legal decisions solely based upon the
information provided on this web site. You should consult an attorney before
making any important decision involving a legal matter.
Copyright 2004 Daley, DeBofsky & Bryant.
|
