In Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101 (1989), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that benefit claims under the ERISA law should be evaluated under principles of trust law, which allows discretionary authority to be vested in trustees to determine eligibility to receive benefits and to interpret the plan documents. At the […]
A recent ruling from the federal court in Atlanta, Johnson v. Metropolitan Life Ins.Co., 2008 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 42944 (N.D.Ga. May 30, 2008), offered a very interesting and thorough analysis of a disability benefit dispute. In Johnson, the plaintiff, who had worked for Cingular for more than 13 years as a ”field coordinator, global accounts,” suffered from […]
A decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut prevents the review of a doctor’s report in a disability case.
In Caplan v. CNA Financial Corp., 2008 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 28290 (N.D.Cal. April 4), David Caplan, who worked for CNA Financial supervising workers’ compensation claims, suffered a neck injury, which caused severe pain, and spasms that significantly interfered with his ability to work at a computer, his primary job function. Initially, Caplan tried to deal with his […]
Welch v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of America, 2007 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 91796 (D.Kansas Dec. 13, 2007), was before the court on remand from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Welch v. Unum Life Insur. Co. of America , 382 F.3d 1078 (10th Cir. 2004), where the appellate court ruled that consideration had to be given […]
Kaelin v. Tenet Employee Benefit Plan, 2007 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 86063 (E.D.Pa. Nov. 21), has had a long and tortured history. Before this final ruling, the district court had issued two earlier rulings: Kaelin v. Tenet Employee Benefit Plan, 405 F. Supp. 2d 562 (E.D. Pa. 2005), and Kaelin v. Tenet Employee Benefit Plan, 2006 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 14858 […]