Court Prioritizes Plan Participant’s Last Wishes in Life Insurance Dispute Governed by ERISA

In a recent decision, the New-Orleans based United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision in an ERISA life insurance case where an insured’s formal beneficiary paperwork was incomplete but the insured’s intentions are unmistakably clear. The ruling in Morgan v. Barrera, No. 21-20497, 2025 WL 1234567 (5th Cir. Apr. 21, 2025), confirms that …