Defendant Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (Connecticut General) appeals from the district court’s decision to enter judgment on the administrative record in favor of plaintiff Kurt Johnson, as beneficiary, on his claim for benefits under an ERISA-governed group supplemental life insurance policy obtained by his wife, Kristen Johnson, less than two years before her death.1 Connecticut ... More...   $0 (04-07-2009 - OH)

The plaintiff, Dr. Lois Kramer, initiated this ERISA action against defendants Paul Revere Life Insurance Company and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company, claiming wrongful termination of long-term disability benefits and seeking reinstatement of benefits under policies issued by the defendants. Applying de novo review to Provident Life’s determination that the plaintiff was no longer ... More...   $0 (04-08-2009 - MI)

Geraldine Nicholas appeals the district court’s denial of her motion to compel arbitration of her contract dispute with KBR, Inc., the successor corporation of her deceased husband’s former employer, M.W. Kellogg Co. Nicholas contends that the district court improperly ruled that she waived her right to arbitrate her dispute with KBR. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the distr... More...   $0 (04-16-2009 - TX)

The Lilly Health Plan appeals the order of the District Court entering judgment on behalf of a claimant who sought severance benefits pursuant to an ERISA-governed plan. Applying the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Glenn, 128 S.Ct. 2343 (2008), we conclude that the plan administrator’s decision to deny benefits was not an abuse of discretion. We will, t... More...   $0 (04-14-2009 - PA)

In this appeal, we consider whether a Plaintiff who agreed to stay litigation brought pursuant to the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), and participate in a voluntary claim reassessment process with a Defendant insurer, is entitled to recover attorney’s fees for work done in that process. We conclude that the claim reassessment process at issue in t... More...   $0 (03-31-2009 - FL)

Plaintiff, a Broken Arrow company, AG Equipment, Inc., alleged that AIG Life Insurance Company (through its claims handling unit, Medical Excess, Inc.) breached its contract and acted in bad faith by refusing to pay on a claim made by AG Equipment in the amount of $467,775.89 for cancer treatment for its in-house counsel. AG Equipment Company contracted with AIG Life to provide stop loss coverage ... More...   $0 (03-29-2009 - OK)

When Sharon Mondry sought reimbursement from her workplace insurance plan for the speech therapy her son was receiving, she was advised that the therapy was not covered by the plan because it was “educational or training” and “not restorative.”

For the next sixteen months, Mondry repeatedly asked both the plan and claims administrators to supply her with the plan documents containin... More...   $0 (03-05-2009 - WI)

After the Tribune Company Long Term Disability Benefit Plan (“the Plan”) terminated the disability payments that Lisa M. Leger had been receiving since 1990, Ms. Leger filed this ERISA action under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B) for payment of benefits due. The district court granted the Plan’s motion for summary judgment, and Ms. Leger appealed. For the reasons set Ms. Leger also applied f 1 or... More...   $0 (03-09-2009 - IL)

Plaintiff-Appellant Dr. Richard Lafleur sued Defendant-Appellee Louisiana Health Service and Indemnity Company (Blue Cross) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), for recovery of wrongfully denied health insurance benefits. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Blue Cross. Because Blue Cross failed to substantially comply wi... More...   $0 (03-25-2009 - LA)

In paying Larry Carden monthly benefits under a long-term disability plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), Aetna Life Insurance Company, the insurer and administrator of the plan, offset workers’ compensation benefits that Carden received for an illness unrelated to his disability. Aetna relied on its reading of the plan’s offset provisions and the pla... More...   $0 (03-11-2009 - SC)

Kelly Te’O, as personal representative of the estate of Marvin Anderson, appeals from the district court’s entry of judgment in favor of defendants on Mr. Anderson’s claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). See 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

I. Background

Mr. Anderson worked for ... More...   $0 (02-11-2009 - UT)

We consider in this appeal whether the Plaintiffs can recover attorney’s fees generated by a distinguished member of the Oregon Bar who assists a member of the California Bar in litigating a case before the federal district court in the Central District of California (Central District), but who (a) is not a member of the California Bar, (b) does not physically appear before the Central District,... More...   $0 (02-17-2009 - ca)

Carrie A. Mallory appeals the district court’s1 order directing that benefits from an ERISA-regulated life insurance plan be turned over to the probate estate of Eugene Wilson for distribution by the Missouri state court. Specifically, she challenges the district court’s finding, after a bench trial, that in August 2005 Wilson lacked the mental capacity to make a valid beneficiary designation.... More...   $0 (01-29-2009 - MO)

Poly-America Medical and Dental Benefits Plan (the Plan) appeals from the district court’s denial of its motion to compel arbitration. We reverse and remand for entry of an order compelling arbitration.

I.

James G. Franke has been employed by Up-North Plastics Inc., an affiliate of Poly-America, L.P., since 2001. Through this employment, Franke enrolled in the Plan, which is govern... More...   $0 (02-05-2009 - MN)

Even before the stock market began its precipitous fall in early October 2008, litigation over alleged mismanagement of defined contribution pension plans was becoming common. This type of litigation received a boost when, in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc., 128 S.Ct. 1020 (2008), the Supreme Court held that “a participant in a defined contribution pension plan [may] sue a fiduciary ... More...   $0 (02-13-2009 - WI)

Plaintiff-Appellant Karen Burnett appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Defendant-Appellee Southwestern Bell Telephone (“SWBT”) on her retaliatory discharge claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2611 et seq., and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq. We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.... More...   $0 (02-03-2009 - KS)

With leave of this court, the defendant-appellant, UnumProvident Corporation ("Unum"), appeals from the district court's interlocutory order certifying the plaintiffs' breach-of-fiduciary-duty action as a class action. We now REVERSE.

BACKGROUND

The case was begun when fifteen individual claimants filed seven class actions in six federal district courts1 located in six different cir... More...   $0 (01-12-2009 - TN)

This class action securities fraud lawsuit arises out of improper accounting by Royal Ahold, N.V., a Dutch corporation, and U.S. Foodservice, Inc. ("USF"), a Maryland-based Ahold subsidiary. The misconduct of Ahold and USF is not disputed in this appeal; at issue is the liability of Ahold’s accountants, Deloitte & Touche LLP ("Deloitte U.S.") and Deloitte & Touche Accountants ("Deloitte Netherla... More...   $0 (01-05-2009 - WV)

Sherry Pressley appeals from the district court’s dismissal, for being time-barred, of her claim against The Prudential Insurance Company of America ("Prudential") for its failure to respond to a request for information, in contravention of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 ("ERISA"). See Pressley v. Tupperware Long Term Disability Plan, No. 4:05-cv-01... More...   $0 (01-30-2009 - SC)

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974(ERISA), 88 Stat. 829, 29 U. S. C. §1001 et seq., generally obligates administrators to manage ERISA plans “in accordance with the documents and instruments governing” them. §1104(a)(1)(D). At a more specific level, the Act requires covered pension benefit plans to “provide that benefits . . . under the plan may not be assigned or alienate... More...   $0 (01-27-2009 - TX)

This is a copyright infringement case involving rap music. At issue is a song entitled “The Weedman,” created by Plaintiff-Appellant Redwin Wilchcombe (“Wilchcombe”), and incorporated on an album entitled “Kings of Crunk” by Defendants-Appellees (“Appellees”).1 The district court dismissed Wilchcombe’s claim for breach of fiduciary duty pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure... More...   $0 (01-22-2009 - GA)

¶1 Respondent/Appellant, James Lee Elliott (Husband), seeks review of a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) entered by the trial court to effectuate the property division in the decree dissolving Husband's marriage to Petitioner/Appellee, Ellyn Diane Elliott (Wife). We affirm, holding the QDRO did not alter the property division.

¶2 The decree provided in relevant part:

(PBGC... More...   $0 (01-12-2009 - OK)

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield (“Blue Cross”) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, USAble Corporation (“USAble”), brought this action against Little Rock Cardiology Clinic, P.A., and Little Rock HMA, Inc. (jointly, “the health care providers”), seeking to enjoin a civil action between the parties pending in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County, Arkansas.1 The district court2 granted th... More...   $0 (01-07-2009 - AR)

Theresa Willcox brought this action against Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston (Liberty Life) pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), alleging that Liberty Life had wrongfully denied her claim for long term partial disability benefits. Both sides moved for summary judgment, and the district court1 granted Willcox’s motion after concluding that Liberty Life ... More...   $0 (01-15-2009 - MN)

This appeal originated as a number of lawsuits against Amsted Industries, Inc., its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and Amsted officers, by participants in Amsted’s ESOP, charging violations of ERISA, breaches of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and conversion. Those cases were initiated in district courts in Alabama, Illinois, and Florida, but on August 22, 2001, the Judicial Panel on M... More...   $0 (01-14-2009 - IL)