Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP | USA | 28 Aug 2012
In direct contradiction to the recent MetLife case, a different division of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a taxpayer was subject to the double interest amnesty penalty on its increased state tax liability resulting from federal audit changes.
Hodgson Russ LLP | USA | 30 Sep 2011
The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently reversed a district court’s decision by upholding an insurer’s denial of a long-term disability benefit claim
Williams Mullen | USA | 16 Aug 2011
In Faber, et al. v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, No. 09-4901-cv, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 16153 (2d Cir. Aug. 5, 2011), the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has held that retained asset accounts, in which insurance proceeds are retained by the claims administrator for immediate use by the beneficiary, are not plan assets under ERISA.
Steptoe LLP | USA | 25 Apr 2011
Not long ago, the Supreme Court decided that administrators of ERISA-covered plans should not have to consult any source other than documents in their possession (such as the terms of the plan, beneficiary designations, and qualified domestic relations orders duly submitted to the plan) to determine who was entitled to benefits upon a participant's death.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 2 Mar 2011
In its seminal ruling in Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Glenn, 128 S. Ct. 2343 (2008), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that a “structural” conflict of interest exists in situations where the same entity evaluates claims for benefits and pays benefit claims.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 13 Oct 2010
In Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Glenn, 128 S. Ct. 2343 (2008), the Supreme Court held that the structural conflict affecting insurance companies that both decide and pay claims for benefits is a factor for courts to weigh in determining whether the insurance company abused its discretion in denying a claim for benefits, but does not modify the arbitrary and capricious standard of review that......
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP | USA | 18 Aug 2010
Lanette Holmstrom developed a painful nerve condition in her right arm in 2000 and stopped working.
Locke Lord LLP | USA | 3 Aug 2010
Spurred by recent press reports, some regulators have voiced concerns that life insurers may not be disclosing enough information about the nature of “retained asset accounts” (“RAAs”) — a common life insurance industry practice where life insurers retain death benefits in accounts set up on behalf of the beneficiaries until the beneficiaries provide instruction to the insurer regarding......
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren SC | USA | 29 Jul 2010
The Second Circuit recently held that because Taft-Hartley plans are administered by trustees consisting of union and employer representatives, the plans are inherently conflicted when making benefit determinations and this conflict should be considered by federal district courts when reviewing plan determinations.
Alston & Bird LLP | USA | 28 Apr 2010
Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office released a report entitled "Update of Government Assistance Provided to AIG."