Published by The Pellegrin Firm September 27, 2020

In a recent ruling, U.S. District Court judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans denied a plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of whether the disability insurance policy he was suing on was governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”). ERISA is a federal law that governs insurance policies that are part of group plans sponsored by private employers. In most litigation, the standard of review is more plaintiff-friendly under state insurance law than under ERISA. In addition, state law provides for remedies and penalties that ERISA does not.