Federal Judge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Rules for ERISA-Governed Union Pension Fund in Claim Against Individual Who Accepted Payments Not Owed to Her

In a recent decision dated May 25, 2022, Judge Brian A. Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana entered a default judgment in favor of Plaintiff Baton Rouge Sheet Metal Workers’ Union #21 Pension Fund in a suit against a woman who accepted pension funds not owed to her. Judge Jackson is an appointee of …

What Must an ERISA Summary Plan Description Contain?

Published by The Pellegrin Firm October 18, 2020

According to a provision of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(1), ERISA plan administrators must provide a summary plan description (“SPD”) to beneficiaries and the SPD must “reasonably apprise [plan] participants and beneficiaries of their rights and obligations under the plan” and must be “written in a manner calculated to be understood by the average plan participant.”

Federal Court Rejects Long-Term Disability Insurer’s Irresponsible Denial of Benefits to Medical Provider Addicted to Fentanyl

Published by The Pellegrin Firm, L.L.C. March 10, 2020

All too often, long-term disability insurers look for reasons to deny payment to disabled insureds. This is just as true of insureds with addiction and mental health issues as it is of insureds with physical limitations. In a recent case out of Missouri, a federal judge rejected an insurance company’s denial of benefits to an impaired nurse anesthetist.

New Orleans Federal Judge Remands Surgical Provider’s Lawsuit Against Humana ; Finds ERISA Does Not Preempt State Law Claims

Published by The Pellegrin Firm September 17, 2019

On September 13, 2019, New Orleans federal judge Carl J. Barbier remanded a lawsuit filed by Crescent City Surgical Centre against health insurer Humana to Louisiana state court in Jefferson Parish. Crescent alleges that in 2011 Humana began paying less than what it agreed to pay for services on the Humana provider web portal.

Analysis: Everything Goes Wrong for Beneficiaries in Western District of Louisiana Life Insurance Case

Published by The Pellegrin Firm September 2, 2019

In an August 20, 2019, ruling out of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Judge S. Maurice Hicks sided with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in a dispute against a deceased man’s wife and children over life insurance benefits.

Exhausting Administrative Review in ERISA Cases

Published by The Pellegrin Firm August 20, 2019

In 1974, Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which granted claimants a cause of action in federal court for benefits wrongfully-denied pursuant to employer-sponsored retirement plans, disability insurance, life-insurance plans, and other various types of employer-provided benefits.

When May Fiduciary Claims Under ERISA § 502(a)(3) Be Maintained in Disability Benefit Cases?

Published by The Pellegrin Firm August 13, 2019

This question is one of the “labyrinthine complexities” of ERISA law and practice, as stated by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in last year’s decision, Manuel v. Turner Indus. Grp., L.L.C., 905 F.3d 859 (5th Cir. 2018).

Challenging a Life Insurance Denial

Published by The Pellegrin Firm August 7, 2019

Life insurance disputes are complicated, and beneficiaries will often find that insurance companies will try to find any excuse not to pay what the policy requires. However, life insurance companies must follow strict procedural rules, or they could find themselves having to pay the policy amount plus attorneys’ fees in court. On June 13, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans ruled on the appeal of a woman seeking payment on her husband’s life insurance policy.