A court recently found that Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston made a decision “apparently devoid of reasoning” in denying a claim for disability benefits under a long-term disability policy. In Yost v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston, 6:19-CV-1132, 2021 WL 2263017 (M.D. Fla. June 3, 2021), the plaintiff, a nurse anesthetist, filed a lawsuit after Liberty denied her claim.
There is currently a circuit split as to whether district court rulings remanding Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) employee benefit claims to plan administrators are appealable. In Young v. Prudential Ins.Co. of America, 2012 U.S.App.LEXIS 3387 (11th Cir. Feb. 21, 2012), the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that a remand order is […]
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently granted disability benefits to a former employee of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who had been turned down for coverage twice.
The recent 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in U.S. Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen, 2011 U.S.App.LEXIS 22883 (3d Cir. Nov. 16, 2011) dealt with the question of whether the equitable doctrine of unjust enrichment could be used to mitigate an ERISA benefit plan’s claim for reimbursement. McCutchen involved a claim brought by a medical […]
An issue that never seems to go away is where courts should draw the line between an employee benefit plan and insurance coverage purchased by an individual through an arrangement made available by an employer.
One of the most confusing aspects of ERISA litigation is the determination of when a cause of action accrues. As the defendant learned to its detriment in’ Withrow v. Bache Halsey Stuart Shield Inc. Salary Protection Plan, 2011 U.S.App.LEXIS 17526 (9th Cir. August 23, 2011), the failure to effectively trigger an accrual of a cause of action prevented a statute of limitations from running for about 25 years. The case involved a stockbroker, Valerie Withrow, who became employed by Bache (now Prudential Securities) in 1979