Insurance & ERISA Litigation Blog
ERISA Penalties: When Can Plan Administrators Be Fined for Failing to Timely Produce the Administrative Record?
When insurance companies deny long-term or short-term disability, life or health insurance claims, it is vital that the plan participants and their beneficiaries be able to receive the claim file…
How do disability benefits from Social Security, the State or from Workers’ Compensation affect your claim?
Most group long-term disability policies and employer-sponsored long-term disability plans include a provision called “Offsets,” “Other Income Benefits,” “Income Which Will Reduce Your Disability Benefit,” “Deductible Sources of Income” or…
Ninth Circuit Affirms Rule that Ambiguous Policy Terms Must Be Construed Against Insurer in ERISA Disability Insurance Cases
The “reasonable expectations of the insured” doctrine has been around for decades in California. The state Supreme Court started toying with rules that became its foundation after the turn of…
Ruling Limits Insurance Company’s Ability to Collect SSDI Overpayments
When and under what circumstances an insurer paying long-term disability benefits may collect retroactive benefits paid to an ERISA plan participant under the Social Security Act has been the source…
“9th Circuit OKs Multiple Claims for Relief under ERISA.”
The June 8, 2016 edition of the Los Angeles Daily Journal features an article written by Robert McKennon of the McKennon Law Group entitled: “9th Circuit OKs Multiple Claims for…
National Investigation Uncovers Systemic Practice Among Life Insurers Depriving Beneficiaries of $5 Billion!
Four years ago we blogged about Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s (“MetLife”) inconsistent use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File database to deprive beneficiaries of $40 million in life…
Department of Labor Proposes New, Claimant-Friendly ERISA Regulations for Disability Insurance Claims
From time to time, the U.S. Department of Labor promulgates new regulations governing disability insurance benefit claims and health insurance benefit claims that are governed by the Employee Retirement Income…
Mistreated by Your Insurer? Insurers May Not Be Able to Hide Behind ERISA Preemption to Defeat Claims for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Insureds obligingly pay premiums on their life, health and disability insurance policies and dutifully provide updated information upon request by their insurers, but often do not enjoy the same courtesy…
With Discretionary Language Even Barred in Self-Funded ERISA Plans, is This the Death of The Abuse of Discretion Standard of Review In California?
Recently, we explained that District Courts within the state of California, applying California Insurance Code section 10110.6, ruled that, even if an insurance Plan contains language giving discretion to a…
ERISA Disability Insurance Claimants Take Note – Discovery Is Allowed In De Novo Review Cases
Well-intentioned policymakers enacted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) over forty years ago to provide for the protection of participants’ employee benefits in part by establishing a…