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8th Circuit: No Federal Jurisdiction Over Severance Contract
ST. LOUIS - A federal court lacks federal subject matter jurisdiction to consider arbitrability arising under a severance agreement, even though the severance benefits were measured by reference to...
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Independent Review Is Not Arbitration That Bars Review, Judge Rules
PORTLAND, Ore. - A health plan participant is not precluded from seeking judicial review of a denial of benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act based on review by an independent...
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Insurer's Conclusion That Autism Therapy Is Experimental Is Arbitrary, Judge...
DETROIT - A health insurer arbitrarily and capriciously denied coverage for applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy for autism based on the plan's exclusion for experimental treatment under the...
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Plan Did Not Abuse Discretion By Denying Benefits As Experimental, Judge Rules
NEWARK, N.J. - A medical provider failed to demonstrate that health insurers violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by denying benefits for treatment on the basis that it was excluded...
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California Federal Judge Awards Plaintiff Benefits In Denial Of Benefits Case
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Following remand from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a federal judge in California on March 18 awarded a claimant benefits in a wrongful denial of benefits case at the...
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1st Circuit: Plan Improperly Offset Benefits With Veterans Disability Benefits
BOSTON - A disability insurer violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by offsetting a participant's payments under the plan by service-connected disability compensation under the Veterans'...
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7th Circuit: Multiemployer Plan Didn't Abuse Discretion By Suspending Benefits
CHICAGO - A multiemployer pension plan reasonably interpreted its definition of "total and permanent disability" in terminating a participant's disability benefits, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of...
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6th Circuit: Benefit Termination Was Not Supported By Record
CINCINNATI - The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 21 reversed a grant of summary judgment to a group disability insurer, finding that the insurer's reliance on a record review and a review...
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Divided 6th Circuit Upholds Denial Of Disability Benefits
CINCINNATI - An insurer did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying a claim for total and permanent disability benefits, even though it recited an incorrect definition of disability in its...
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Per Diem Allowance Properly Excluded From Benefit Calculation, 5th Circuit Holds
NEW ORLEANS - A disability insurer did not abuse its discretion under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by determining that a traveling nurse's per diem allowance for meals and housing...
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Benefit Denial Was Supported By The Record, 5th Circuit Rules
NEW ORLEANS - The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 2 upheld a grant of summary judgment to an ERISA-governed disability insurer that denied benefits to a claimant with back, neck and leg...
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High Court Will Not Consider Whether ERISA Claim Is Time-Barred
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court on April 1 denied review of a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the limitations period for filing a legal claim provided in a disability plan...
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Failure To Exhaust Administrative Remedies Is Not Excused, 2nd Circuit Rules
NEW YORK - Participants who challenged the amount of benefits due under a top-hat plan were not excused from exhausting administrative remedies before filing a lawsuit under the Employee Retirement...
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6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of ERISA Interference Claim
CINCINNATI - A terminated employee failed to make out a prima facie case of interference with benefits in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act because she did not demonstrate that...
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Umbrella Insurance Policy Is 'Inherently Ambiguous,' Indiana Panel Finds,...
INDIANAPOLIS - An Indiana appeals panel on April 8 found that, due to an umbrella insurance policy's ambiguity, there is coverage for a manufacturer insured as to products-completed operations claims,...
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Judge Trims Claims In Securities Suit Against Credit Suisse, Others
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A federal judge in Kansas on April 8 ruled that dismissal of state and federal securities law claims regarding 12 residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) underwritten by...
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California Judge Denies Summary Judgment For ARCO, DuPont In Nuisance Suit
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A California judge on April 8 issued an order after a hearing denying multiple motions for summary judgment filed by lead paint manufacturer defendants Atlantic Richfield Co. and...
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Colorado Federal Judge Dismisses Dispute Over 'Super Slam' Trademark
DENVER - A big game hunter and purported owner of the "Super Slam" trademark failed to persuade a Colorado federal judge April 9 that an organization that honors the milestones of big-game hunters has...
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Bankrupt Medical Device Maker Gets $30 Million In Post-Petition Funding
WILMINGTON, Del. - The federal bankruptcy judge presiding over the Chapter 11 proceeding of Rotech Healthcare Inc. on April 9 issued an interim order approving $30 million in post-petition financing,...
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7th Circuit Rules Destitute Debtor's Student Loan Obligations Discharged
CHICAGO - A panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 10 ruled that a debtor's student loan obligations were discharged because she is destitute, with no likelihood of changing her...
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