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Insurance & ERISA Litigation Blog
Employees Must Follow ERISA Plan Documents in Designating Retirement Plan Beneficiaries or Risk Losing Critical Rights
Have you properly designated your intended beneficiaries for your retirement plan at work? What about for your savings plan, life insurance policy or other employee benefit plans you have through…
Standing Spine(dex) Adjustment – Ninth Circuit Finds Healthcare Providers Have Article III Standing in Denial of Benefit Claims Under ERISA
A universal part of the American medical experience is paperwork. Everyone is familiar with visiting a healthcare provider for the first time, filling out history forms and signing pages of…
Robert McKennon and Scott Calvert Publish Article: “Expanding Equitable Remedies in ERISA Cases”
The January 8, 2015 edition of the Los Angeles Daily Journal featured Robert McKennon and Scott Calvert’s article entitled: “Expanding Equitable Remedies in ERISA Cases.” In it, Mr. McKennon and…
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…
Ninth Circuit Expands the Availability of Equitable Remedies in ERISA Cases, Approving Surcharge as a Viable Remedy
Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Russell, 473 U.S. 134 (1985), the courts have grappled with the issue of the extent to which equitable…
CBS’ 60 Minutes Segment “Denied” Highlights Insurers’ Wrongful Denial of Mental Health Claims
On Sunday December 14, 2014, CBS’ 60 Minutes program contained a segment entitled “Denied” which highlights that insurers routinely deny, based on lack of medical necessity, treatment for patients with…
Recent Federal Cases Applying the State and Federal Mental Health Parity Acts: What Do They All Mean?
The Federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MH Parity Act”) requires, at a minimum, that the financial requirements and treatment limitations for mental health benefits set by group…
Too Little Time – Court Finds ERISA Plan’s Contractual Limitation Period Unreasonably Short and Unenforceable
One hundred days is not a reasonable amount of time to give a plan participant to file a lawsuit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). This…
Third-Party ERISA Administrator Abused Discretion by Denying Medical Coverage: A Tale of What Not to Do
Sometimes an administrator so unashamedly abuses its discretion in handling an insurance claim that its actions constitute a textbook example of “what not to do” for other administrators and the…
Recent Federal Court Decisions Give Teeth to California’s Ban on Discretionary Clauses in ERISA Plans
A virtually insurmountable concrete wall was once an apt analogy for the effect of discretionary clauses in ERISA Plans on claimants attempting to challenge a plan administrator’s unreasonable interpretation of…
