Discretionary Authority

Roganti v. Met. Life Ins. Co., 786 F.3d 201 (2d Cir. 2015), involved a dispute over the effect an arbitral award for improper employment practices had on pension benefits. The opinion is useful for generalizing into the pension context many of the rules underpinning the arbitrary and capricious standard of review as applied to benefit claims. The court’s generalization of those rules, in turn, can be helpful in benefit claims.
Continue Reading Evidence Supporting a Claim Can Be Insufficient, Even if Undisputed

In Becker v. Williams, — F.3d –, 2015 WL 348872 (9th Cir. Jan. 28, 2015), the plan participant called the plan administrator to change the beneficiary of his pension plans from his ex-wife to his son. His employer sent him beneficiary change forms, but he never completed them in the years before he died. After his death, both the son and ex-wife claimed the benefits, and the employer interpleaded.
Continue Reading Beneficiary Designation Forms Are not Plan Documents; Change of Beneficiary By Phone Was Sufficient

In Brake v. Hutchinson Tech. Inc. Grp. Disability Income Ins. Plan, 774 F.3d 1193 (8th Cir. 2014), the court determined that, where a policy insuring a South Dakota resident was issued in Minnesota to a Minnesota employer, and provided that it was governed by Minnesota law, then a South Dakota regulation precluding discretionary clauses

In Johnson v. United of Omaha Life Ins. Co., 775 F.3d 983 (8th Cir. 2014), the court determined that the district court erroneously reviewed the administrator’s determination under the de novo standard, instead of the arbitrary and capricious standard. It ruled that it did not need to decide whether procedural irregularities still could result in a change of the standard of review.
Continue Reading Eighth Circuit Leaves Open Possibility That Procedural Irregularities Can Preclude Discretionary Review

In Rice v. ReliaStar Life Ins. Co., 770 F.3d 1122 (5th Cir. 2014), the police responded to a 911 call about the decedent, Rice, sitting in his car, in his garage, with a gun to his head, threatening suicide. After various failed efforts by the police to get him to surrender, he walked toward the police, refused to drop his gun, said “I want to commit suicide,” and was shot and killed.
Continue Reading Insurer Reasonably Denied AD&D Claim Following “Suicide By Cop”

In George v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 776 F.3d 349 (5th Cir. 2015), a case of first impression, a divided Fifth Circuit panel decided when a disability is “caused by or contributed to by” a mental illness. The plaintiff was a helicopter pilot who was disabled due to pain suffered at the site of a leg that had been amputated before he started the job in question. He also suffered from depression and PTSD. The insurer determined that he could perform sedentary work, but that his mental illnesses would prevent him from working. Thus, the insurer concluded that the mental illness “’contributed to’ his overall impairment status,” resulting in the application of the mental illness limitation in the policy.
Continue Reading Court Provides Narrow Interpretation for Mental Illness Limitation

In Butler v. United Healthcare of Tennessee, Inc., — F.3d –, 2014 WL 4116478 (6th Cir. Aug. 22, 2014), the court addressed what appeared to be a relatively straightforward health care benefit question, complicated by what the court described as a severely recalcitrant claim administrator.
Continue Reading Three Strikes and You’re Out: Health Plan’s Decision Was Arbitrary and Capricious Be-cause It Repeatedly Refused To Abide By Remand Orders

In Hall v. Met. Life Ins. Co., 750 F/3d 995 (8th Cir. 2014), the plaintiff’s husband participated in a life insurance plan, in which he named his son as beneficiary. After he married plaintiff, he executed a change of beneficiary form, but it was not filed until after he died. Shortly before his death, he executed a will that purported to designate plaintiff as beneficiary of the life benefit. Met Life denied plaintiff’s claim, and the court upheld the determination.
Continue Reading Administrator is Entitled to Require Strict Compliance With Plan Procedures

In Waldoch v. Medtronic, Inc., 757 F.3d 822 (8th Cir. 2014), the plaintiff argued that the plan’s grant of discretionary authority was overridden by procedural irregularities in plan administration, compelling use of the de novo standard of review. To counter that argument, Medtronic submitted an affidavit with supplemental evidence demonstrating its claims

Ingravallo v. Hartford Life & Acc. Ins. Co., 2014 WL 1622798 (2d Cir. Apr. 24, 2014), doesn’t break any new legal ground, but it is nonetheless noteworthy for several reasons. It is rare that the Circuit reverses a District Court’s determination; here, it reversed and directed entry of judgment for Hartford. Second, it contains excellent findings regarding the adequacy of a claim administrator’s evaluation of a SSDI award, surveillance, and medical evidence.
Continue Reading Nice Second Circuit Decision Illustrating Appropriate Administrative Review