I have been thinking, more than is probably healthy, about all the hue and cry over refereeing errors in pro football, particularly on the questions of, first, whether there are more errors than there used to be (or whether instead it just seems that way) and, second, why I don’t really care, despite every
Long Term Disability Benefits
Co-Fiduciary Liability and, In Other News, Thoughts on the Evidentiary Status of Medical Reviewers in LTD Claims
Two small notes today that I wanted to pass on. Each stuck in my mind as the possible foundation for a substantial blog post, but I have found that once items like this start to pile up in number, it can be quicker and more useful to get them out in a shorter post. Sports…
Do You “Work For” Uber?
You know, the Uber decision out of the California Labor Commission is fascinating, even if it isn’t directly on point with the subject of this blog. It immediately brought me back to the first appeal brief I ever wrote, as a young associate, which concerned, at its heart, the question of whether the plaintiff was …
Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Preemption and Liberal Pleading Rules
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I obtained dismissal of a breach of fiduciary duty claim, as well as state law claims, against my clients in an opinion filed on Friday. While long time readers know that I won’t comment substantively on rulings involving my clients, the opinion is worth a read on at least two substantive points involving breach of …
What Are the Costs and Risks to Administrators When District Courts Remand Benefit Denials Back to Them?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have been writing a lot recently about big picture items, from Supreme Court cases over ERISA’s statute of limitations to the ability of plan sponsors to legally control litigation against them, and everything in between. It is worth remembering, however, that ERISA is a nuts and bolts statute that is litigated day in and…
What Rochow Teaches Us About Amara Remedies, and What It Doesn’t
You know, I have been wanting to sit down for weeks – at least – to write about Rochow v. Life Insurance Company of America, initially with regard to the extraordinary remedy initially imposed by the court and then later with regard to the Sixth Circuit’s decision to return to the issue by hearing…
If an Appeal is Filed and Nobody Knows It, Is it an Appeal?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation, Long Term Disability Benefits
There are many variations on the old question that, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did it really fall. I am sure, like me, you have heard many versions of that question that are not fit to be reprinted in a PG-13 rated blog.
But I…
Mike Webster to Dwight Harrison: What they Tell Us About the NFL’s Disability Benefits Plan
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Long Term Disability Benefits
Wow – what more is there to say about this story by Michael Rosenberg of Sports Illustrated on the long and bitter fight by aging, 10 year NFL vet Dwight Harrison to obtain disability and pension benefits? The story itself is a beautiful piece of writing, humane and complex all at the same time.
There…
Thoughts on Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Long Term Disability Benefits
The more I read yesterday’s Supreme Court’s decision in Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance, the more I return to the same position I expressed when the case was argued: that what the rule that is imposed by the Court turns out to be is much less important than that we actually have…
Thoughts on Oral Argument in Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co.
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Long Term Disability Benefits
Well, the oral argument in Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co. is fascinating, in that the Court’s questioning and counsels’ argument all focus on practicalities, in the sense of when should the time period run and how, and when, will any particular rule actually impact, in a negative way, either the plan…