The Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) conflict of interest rule, informally coined the “fiduciary rule,” sparked much debate when the regulations were proposed in 2015, and finalized in 2016, to expand the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). However, the fiduciary rule was continuously challenged in the courts, and … Continue Reading
In Ariana M. v. Humana Health Plan of Tex., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 5227, *5, 2018 WL 1096980 (March 1, 2018) (“Ariana M. II”), a majority of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in an en banc decision, recently overturned its quarter century old holding in Pierre v. Connecticut General … Continue Reading
On May 22, 2017, Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Alexander Acosta announced in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that the DOL would not issue another delay of the “fiduciary rule,” and that it was set to generally become effective on June 9, 2017. As we now know, certain provisions of the fiduciary rule … Continue Reading
A recent decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Jones v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., No. 16-1714, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8112 (8th Cir. May 8, 2017), provides another signal that those of us defending against benefit claims increasingly may have to contend with simultaneous equitable claims for breach of fiduciary duty. Though the law … Continue Reading
For more than twenty-five years, the law of the Fifth Circuit has been that health and disability benefit denials based on factual determinations (e.g., whether a beneficiary is disabled or whether a treatment is medically necessary within the meaning of a plan) are reviewed by courts under an abuse of discretion standard, regardless of whether … Continue Reading
Lee v. Verizon Commc’ns, Inc., — F.3d –, 2016 WL 4926159 (5th Cir. Sept. 15, 2016), held that a defined benefit pension plan participant does not have Article III standing to challenge the plan’s alleged violation of ERISA, in the absence of “concrete injury” to himself. The case is a putative class action growing out … Continue Reading
Hunter v. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., 829 F.3d 357, 358 (5th Cir. 2016), involved the interpretation of parties’ rights and obligations regarding a pension plan following a corporate acquisition. Its discussion of the extent to which an employer can obligate itself not to change a plan, even when benefits are not vested, is noteworthy.… Continue Reading
In Gomez v. Ericsson, Inc., 828 F.3d 367, 369 (5th Cir. 2016), the central question was whether ERISA governed Ericsson’s Standard Severance Plan and Top Contributor Enhanced Severance Plan of 2010. The issue arose because, after plaintiff was laid off and signed a standard release, he wiped the hard drive on his company laptop before … Continue Reading
In Burrell v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America, — F.3d –, 2016 WL 1426092 (5th Cir. Apr. 11, 2016), plaintiff argued that the plan did not give discretionary authority to Prudential, because the plan merely defined “Claim Fiduciary” as the person or entity “designated in the Plan (including the Summary Plan Description, Insurance Contracts or … Continue Reading
In Humana Health Plan, Inc. v. Nguyen, 785 F.3d 1023 (5th Cir. 2015), Humana entered into a Plan Management Agreement (“PMA”) with the API Enterprises Employee Benefits Plan. The PMA stated that API had the right to make all discretionary decisions about the plan’s administration and management. The PMA authorized Humana to provide “subrogation/recovery services” … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
In Smith v. Regional Transit Auth., 756 F.3d 340 (5th Cir. 2014), the Fifth Circuit rejected its prior precedent, and held that the governmental plan exemption (and presumably other, similar exemptions) does not impact subject matter jurisdiction. The court noted that the “Supreme Court has repeatedly instructed that we must avoid conflating the question of … Continue Reading
Providing for “coordination of benefits” means including a provision in an insurance policy that address what should happen if more than one insurer covers the same claim. Virtually every primary insurance policy will say that, if other insurance exists, the other policy will pay first. Of course, when there are two policies providing coverage, each … Continue Reading
Every so often a bit of legal synchronicity seems to occur. Sometimes its personal, like when you have several cases with the same uncommon issue, or multiple cases in the same rarely visited court. In 2013, there appears to be a larger force at work that has caused three circuits to address the question whether … Continue Reading
In a post from last year, I reported on how the Fifth Circuit had issued a decision In ACS Recovery Servs., Inc. v. Griffin, 676 F.3d 512, 514 (5th Cir. 2012), in which it held that an ERISA plan beneficiary and his lawyer had created a perfect settlement structure in which no one ever had … Continue Reading
In Koehler v. Aetna Health, Inc., 683 F.3d 182 (5th Cir. 2012), the Fifth Circuit criticized a health insurer for having an SPD that mirrored the plan, and held that Cigna v. Amara did not prevent the terms of the SPD from impacting plan interpretation. The plaintiff, a participant in an HMO, suffered from sleep … Continue Reading
ERISA claim practitioners generally have the concept of exhaustion of administrative remedies engrained in our thought process. They know well that claimants are required to exhaust their administrative remedies before they can sue over a benefit determination. Given the focus on this exhaustion requirement, it may surprise some to know that, in many circuits, the … Continue Reading
The Second Circuit recently issued a decision on autoerotic asphyxiation (which I will call AEA because typing autoerotic asphyxiation really difficult). The decision doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s as good an excuse as any to write about this never-boring topic. For those of you that have led a highly sheltered life (or were … Continue Reading
An ERISA Plan Administrator’s subrogation rights are not the easiest thing in the world to determine. I’m not talking about the situation where the plan is making current payments to the beneficiary and wants to offset some prior liability or overpayment. That’s easy. What is complicated is when the plan has made a full payment, … Continue Reading
