Introduction Chairman Baucus; Ranking Member Grassley; Members of the Senate Finance Committee. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify at today’s hearing. When ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) was passed in 1974, one of the law’s major sponsors, Senator Jacob Javits, hailed it as “the greatest development in the life of the […]
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 […]
A recent ruling issued by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals resolved a controversial issue in Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation: Does ERISA’s venue provision, 29 U.S.C. Section 1132(e)(2), preclude enforcement of a forum-selection clause in an employee benefits plan? The petitioner, George Mathias, the plan beneficiary, the secretary of labor, as amicus […]
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is extremely broad in its scope. It affects both retirement benefits and other employee benefits such as health insurance in the majority of workplaces in the United States. However, there are exceptions – government employees are exempted from ERISA, meaning that benefits involving federal, state and municipal employees […]
A recent decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit illuminates the importance of the standard of judicial review applied to resolution of cases seeking benefits under ERISA. In Ariana M v. Humana Health Plan of Texas, Inc., 2017 WL 1423765 (5th Cir. April 21, 2017), although the court of appeals […]
DeBofsky Law recently received a ruling from Judge Robert Dow, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Harding v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company, 2017 WL 1316264 (N.D. Ill. April 10, 2017), which thoughtfully analyzed the scope of available discovery in an ERISA action adjudicated under the de novo standard of judicial review.