Is exhaustion of administrative remedies in challenging Employee Retirement Income Security Act-governed benefit denials required as a precondition to filing a lawsuit? A concurring opinion in Wallace v. Oakwood Healthcare Inc.[1] by U.S. Circuit Judge Amul Thapar of the Sixth Circuit raises provocative questions about the administrative exhaustion doctrine in ERISA cases and suggests that other […]
A process server comes to your door and delivers a summons, and something called a complaint for interpleader. What does that mean? How do you respond? For most people in that situation, the answer is to put the papers in a drawer and hope the matter goes away. But if you do that, you may […]
The subject of pre-emption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is challenging, as illustrated by multiple Supreme Court rulings that have attempted to address pre-emption issues. The general rule is that any state law which relates to employee benefit plans is pre-empted if the law conflicts with the administration of an ERISA claim. However, […]
While it’s generally accepted that Employee Retirement Income Security Act benefit claimants are not entitled to jury trials, rarely does anyone question the reason why. A recent ruling from a federal court in New York, Cunningham v. Cornell University, 2018 WL 4279466 (S.D. N.Y., Sept. 6, 2018), convincingly explains why jury trials should be permitted […]
A recent ruling issued by a federal court in Oregon addressed the question of when a litigant can maintain a case anonymously or under a pseudonym. In A.G. v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, 2018 WL 903463 (D. Ore., Feb. 14, 2018), the plaintiff, who had been an associate attorney at the law firm […]
A recently issued appellate court decision illustrates the complexity of ERISA preemption. Williby v. Aetna Life Ins. Co, 2017 WL 3482390 (9th Cir. August 15, 2017) involves the interplay between ERISA’s preemption provision and the savings and deemer clauses found in 29 U.S.C. § 1144.The underlying matter concerned a claim for short-term disability benefits under […]