Federal District Court Judge Finds Long-Term Disability Insurer May Take Setoff for Social Security Retirement Benefits

Published by The Pellegrin Firm January 5, 2019

In a ruling dated December 27, 2019, a federal district court judge affirmed The Hartford’s decision to offset a disabled Atlas Air, Inc. employee’s long-term disability benefits with Social Security Retirement benefits.

Social Media Posts Come Back to Bite Plaintiff in ERISA Long-Term Disability Case

Published by The Pellegrin Firm December 3, 2019

Posting on social media can be dangerous if you have filed or are thinking about filing a long-term disability claim. It is now standard operating procedure among long-term disability insurers to check a claimant’s social media history in the hopes of finding anything that may contradict a claimant’s allegations of disability.

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).

Long-Term Disability: Surveillance, Social Media, and Short Bursts of Activity

Published by The Pellegrin Firm August 11, 2019

Living while receiving long-term disability benefits from an insurance company can feel stifling. If the insurance company is paying tens of thousands of dollars to a claimant yearly, it may find it cost effective to invest in surveillance – either through social media or in person – to find a reason to terminate benefits.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Ruling on LTD Calculation Challenge Time Limits

In the recent case of Faciane v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, No. 18-30918, __F.3d__, 2019 WL 3334654 (5th Cir. July 25, 2019), the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit followed other federal courts of appeal and several district courts within the Fifth Circuit in finding that the time limit for challenging an ERISA LTD administrator’s benefit calculations in court begins upon notice of the benefit calculation.