On July 26, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a ruling in Larson v. United Healthcare Insur.Co., No. 12-1256 click here permitting ERISA plaintiffs to sue insurance companies that underwrite and are responsible for paying benefits when claims are asserted that benefits have been wrongfully denied. This ruling marks a […]
DeBofsky & Associates recently won a ruling on the fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege in an ERISA case.
If a health insurer mistakenly advises a patient that a surgical procedure is covered by its policy – and in reliance on that advice, the patient proceeds with the surgery, can the patient recoup the expenses incurred in undergoing the procedure from the insurance company if the insurer maintains that its prior advice was mistaken?
The enforceability of a forum selection clause was the subject of a recent ruling issued by U.S District Judge Milton I. Shadur in Coleman v. Supervalu, Inc. Short Term Disability Program, 2013 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 13372 (N.D.Ill. Jan. 31, 2013). The case involved Eboni Coleman, a retail pharmacist who worked at a Jewel-Osco store in Illinois. Litigation arose after Jewel-Osco’s parent corporation denied Coleman’s short-term disability benefit claim.
A federal court has allowed an insurance company to argue a previously waived defense in a disability benefits case, deviating from typical procedural rules. In Safer v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co., 2021 WL 2370381 (E.D. La. June 9, 2021), the plaintiff filed a lawsuit after the insurer denied his claim for long-term disability benefits.
During the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming term, the court is scheduled to hear the case of U.S. Airways v. McCutchen, 663 F.3d 671 (3d Cir. 2011), which was the subject of an earlier article of mine (“McCutchen may influence other court decisions,” Nov. 25, 2011). McCutchen will address the complex question of whether equitable principles […]