It’s been a fascinating week in insurance and ERISA news, making it a good week to be the author of an ongoing weekly series on hot topics, articles, posts and the like in these areas of law. Interestingly (to me, anyway), the first three stories directly concern cases and issues I have litigated many times
This is a great, and I think pretty even handed, article by Bloomberg on litigating LTD claims under ERISA. Although the headline and the central thrust of the article are about obtaining LTD benefits for claims of long Covid, the article really does a nice job of explaining the entire LTD claim process and the
At this point in my career, I have litigated just about every type of ERISA claim I can think of, from denied benefit claims to deferred compensation/top hat claims to class actions. I have even made new law in the still developing area of equitable relief under ERISA. I got my start in ERISA litigation
The Department of Labor’s regulation governing ERISA claims and administrative appeals provides a comprehensive structure for the claim process required of all ERISA plans. While there is plenty of room within the context of the regulation for a particular plan to contain its own essentially bespoke claims process, the regulation imposes the broader outline with
There is an interesting article in the Guardian on the subject of structural and policy barriers in the United States to the elimination of poverty, which is addressed in a new book by a MacArthur award winning sociologist. I think the New Yorker has a new article out on the same topic, probably based on
One of the advantages of writing a blog on a particular subject for as long as I have – going on 17 years now – is that you become your own sort of institutional memory, in a way. When I saw this article in Forbes today, discussing barriers that the NFL’s disability system throws up
I am of two minds when it comes to ERISA decisions out of the Second Circuit. My first is to naturally jump to the conclusion that, in the immortal words of Willy Loman, attention must be paid, simply because of the Court. Then I remember the long retired big law partner from my
Here’s an interesting question – what is the territorial reach of claims against insurers alleging violations of Massachusetts’ insurance claims handling statute, Chapter 176D, and seeking recovery for such violations under Massachusetts’ consumer protection statute, Chapter 93A? Massachusetts’ well-regarded Business Litigation department gave the statutes a broad territorial reach, finding that they apply to an
So the other particularly fascinating item – to me, anyway – that popped up in my twitter feed while I was on vacation was this important decision by the Ninth Circuit, Demer v. IBM and MetLife, addressing whether (and, if so, how) the number of reviews done by, and compensation earned by, outside medical
In the musical Hamilton, everyone from Aaron Burr to Hamilton’s wife, Eliza, asks why Hamilton always “writes like he’s running out of time,” and the lyrics assign various pop psychology rationales to his urgency. This morning, though, after listening to the soundtrack again, I realized the real reason – he’s a lawyer! He’s always on