A recent ruling issued by a federal court in Philadelphia illustrated a number of issues relevant to disability insurance claims brought under ERISA. In Charles v. UPS Long Term Disability Plan, 2015 WL 6600399 (E.D. Pa. October 29, 2015), after first finding the plaintiff was limited to part time work and thus unable to work […]
Although death and taxes are both viewed as inevitabilities, when it comes to disability insurance benefits, taxes may be avoidable.
According to Revenue Ruling 2004-55 (June 28, 2004), long-term disability insurance premiums paid on an after-tax basis result in a non-taxable benefit. Hence, many employers structure their group long-term disability benefit plans in that manner to provide a nontaxable benefit to their employees in the event they become disabled.
A recent decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals presented a checklist of issues that were found to have demonstrated arbitrary and capricious conduct in the denial of disability benefits. The case of Shaw v. AT&T Umbrella Plan No. 1, 2015 WL 4548232 (6th Cir. July 29), involved Raymond Shaw, a 39-year-old customer […]
To qualify for Social Security disability benefits, a claimant must prove an inability to engage in “any” meaningful work, a standard considered extremely difficult to meet. However, as a recent case shows, the FedEx disability benefit plan imposes qualification standards that are even harder than Social Security’s. In Oliver v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 2015 […]
Paying restitution to victims is an important aspect of the criminal justice system.
In evaluating a disability insurance claim from the perspective of whether the claimant can perform his or her own occupation, what must an insurer consider? That question was recently answered by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In McDonough v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 2015 WL 1684079 (1st Cir., April 15), plaintiff Joseph McDonough […]