News & Analysis as of

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) › Abuse of Discretion › Plan Administrators

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Ninth Circuit Affirms ERISA Plan Administrator’s Decision, Validates Use of Industry Guidelines and Medical Evidence

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

On March 5, 2019, Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued his opinion in Wit v. United Behavioral Health, in which he attempted to significantly change how...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The 10th Circuit’s New Interpretation of What is Mandated under ERISA’s Notice Requirements May have Far Reaching Effects On Plan...

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Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent 10th Circuit decision holding that in order for the abuse of discretion standard to apply in litigation the claims administrator must provide participants with actual notice of discretionary...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

Employee Benefit Plan Review – From the Courts

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Ninth Circuit Affirms Decision Rejecting Suit Seeking Early Retirement Benefits - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s decision rejecting a plaintiff’s lawsuit seeking to overturn...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The LHD/ERISA Advisor: Fifth Circuit Defines Meaning of "Regular Occupation" Under LTD Policy

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In Nichols v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 924 F.3d 80 (5th Cir. 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that when an LTD policy funding an ERISA plan defines "regular occupation" as the way the...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The LHD/ERISA Advisor: Ninth Circuit Reverses Award of Attorneys' Fees

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In Gorbacheva v. Abbott Laboratories Extended Disability Plan, et al., 29 U.S. App. LEXIS 36542 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 10, 2019), the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's award of attorneys' fees to an ERISA claimant as...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Ninth Circuit Concludes Domestic Partner Entitled To Benefits

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The Ninth Circuit concluded that a plan fiduciary abused its discretion in denying survival benefits to a pension plan participant’s domestic partner. In so ruling, the Court explained that the plan’s choice of law provisions...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Ninth Circuit Rules that a Domestic Partner Under California State Law Was a Spouse for an ERISA Plan

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In an unpublished decision dated May 16, 2019, the Ninth Circuit held that a plan administrator abused its discretion by denying surviving spouse benefits under an ERISA retirement benefit plan to a participant’s domestic...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Categorical Conflict of Interest Does Not Alter Standard of Review of Benefit Denials

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive... on

The Second Circuit held that plaintiffs’ allegations that the defendant suffered from a “categorical potential conflict of interest”—because it both funded the plan and was the claim’s decision-maker—did not affect the...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Eighth Circuit Upholds ESOP Administrator's Decision on Death Benefit Claim

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• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a U.S. District Court's application of deferential standard to the review of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) administrator's decision based on broad...more

Jackson Walker

Fifth Circuit Upholds ERISA Disability and Life Benefit Denials

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In two decisions issued last month, the Fifth Circuit upheld ERISA plan denials of disability and life benefits, confirming its deferential approach in most ERISA benefit cases....more

Womble Bond Dickinson

The Fourth Circuit Opens the Door to Extrinsic Evidence in Considering a Claim for Employee Benefits

Womble Bond Dickinson on

Executive Summary: The Fourth Circuit expands the scope of admissible evidence in an ERISA employee benefits case. The very first principle applied in a lawsuit for benefits from an ERISA-governed employee benefit plan...more

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