Turns out that the key word in the accidental death and dismemberment insurance that many people get through their employers (and which is therefore an ERISA governed benefit) is “accidental.” The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts has an interesting opinion out that details the applicable standards for determining whether a particular
Benefit Litigation
How an Administrator Can Lose The Right To An Offset
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation, Long Term Disability Benefits
This is actually a kind of fascinating, if someone odd, long term disability benefits case out of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. It involves what otherwise would seem to be a remarkably unnoteworthy issue, namely the right of the plan administrator – an insurer who also administered the plan –…
What Critics of The Standard of Review In Cases Involving Structural Conflicts of Interest Are Really Complaining About
There’s a very interesting long term disability decision that was just issued by the District of New Hampshire that is worth a read, not so much for the case itself as for its commentary concerning the standard of review under ERISA in instances where the administrator has been granted discretionary authority by the plan. The…
Reinsurance and LaRue, All in the Same Post
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Instead of posting twice in the same morning, I am going to try to address two distinct substantive issues, one involving reinsurance and the other ERISA, all in the same post, hopefully without turning this post into some sort of Frankenstein monster combination of topics that instead should have been kept entirely separate.
On the…
The First Circuit’s Road Map for Terminating Benefit Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Just a fairly short post on a technical ERISA issue that the First Circuit ruled on a few days ago, namely the steps that have to be followed to terminate or amend a benefit plan, at least with regards to the documentation and formalities needed to do so. In Coffin v. Bowater, Inc., the First…
Another View on Whether a Cashed Out 401(k) Participant Has Standing to Sue for Losses Under ERISA
Judge Tauro, of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, has weighed in lately on some of the more cutting edge and currently unsettled issues in ERISA litigation, such as the impact of ERISA preemption on the powers of a state agency. This week, he ventured into the now hot topic…
Misrepresentations Under ERISA Plans: Is There A Cause of Action?
Here’s an interesting case out of the First Circuit this week concerning an attempt to use an equitable estoppel theory to force a plan to pay supplemental life insurance benefits even though the former employee covered by the plan had not submitted the necessary health forms to qualify for that coverage. The case, Todisco v. …
The Interrelationship of Suits for Benefits and for Breach of Fiduciary Duty Under ERISA
By Stephen Rosenberg on
If it seems like I have been digressing a lot these past couple of weeks off of the primary topics of this blog and into other areas that interest me – such as the billable hour system – or that I practice in, like intellectual property litigation, it is because the courts of the…
The Latest Word Out of the First Circuit on Pre-existing Conditions, Long Term Disability Benefits, and Uncertainty Over the Standard of Review
No one is quicker to post about decisions out of the First Circuit than Appellate Law & Practice, who quickly had this post up on Friday about the First Circuit’s opinion issued that day in a long term disability benefits case where the plan and the administrator prevailed at the District Court, and then again…
Time to Reset the Clocks, at Least When It Comes to Calculating Interest Awards in ERISA Cases
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation
We are in another one of those stretches where the courts of this circuit issue a fair number of ERISA related decisions in a short time span. I always think that, when this happens, it simply points out how ubiquitous are ERISA governed employee benefits. Appellate Law & Practice has the story of one of…