By definition, anyone who applies for short-term and long-term disability benefits is in a vulnerable situation. They are sick or injured and unable to work. And they are counting on their disability benefits to help meet their financial needs. Undeniably, it is unbearably hard to fight a debilitating illness or injury and battle with their insurance company at the same time […]
Deciding disability benefit cases can be challenging for federal courts, but in Dwyer v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am., 2021 WL 2853250 (E.D. Pa. July 8), a federal judge in Pennsylvania was able to cut through the confusion and issue a decisive ruling in favor of the plaintiff […]
The COVID-19 pandemic which began in early 2020 has caused over 500,000 deaths in the United States by March 2021, along with over 28 million cases of infection. For most individuals who have contracted COVID-19, the symptoms they have experienced have been relatively mild, but a huge number of COVID patients have required […]
The plaintiff, Nerses Meguerditchian, was initially employed by FedEx in 1991 as a technician who repaired vehicles and ground equipment operated by the company. In 2011, the plaintiff injured his back while working on a vehicle, but participated in FedEx’s temporary return to work program following his injury until April 2011 when he ceased working […]
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.
Because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) statute lacks a specific limitation provision applicable to benefit claims, but the courts nonetheless enforce contractual limitations periods incorporated in benefit plans, courts frequently struggle with the question of when limitations periods accrue.