This appeal presents a single issue: whether the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., preempts the Georgia Arbitration Code, Ga. Code Ann. § 1, et. seq., inasmuch as the Georgia Arbitration Code expressly excludes from its coverage arbitration provisions in insurance contracts. We conclude that it does not: by virtue of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1012(b), the Federal

At issue in this case are the duties of disinterest and disclosure of an examiner appointed to facilitate a reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The issues arise from the appointment of J. Baxter Schilling to serve as the examiner in the reorganization of Big Rivers Electric Corporation, which was unable to meet obligations on $1.2 billion in debt and whose September 1996 bankru

Defendant appeals by delayed leave an order of the trial court directing him to pay over to plaintiff $95,000 in life insurance proceeds he received upon the death of his former wife, Cheryl Rowley, where she failed to change the beneficiary designation on her life insurance policy after the couple's divorce. The court concluded that a provision in the consent judgment of divorce, releasing al

This is an appeal from a district court order granting final summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, William M. Shaw, in this ERISA action against the defendant, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company ("Connecticut General"), seeking long-term disability benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. After thorough review of t

We granted review to determine whether the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq.) preempts a mechanic's lien action (Civ. Code, § 3110) brought by laborers to recover unpaid contributions to their employee benefit plans. ERISA preempts state laws that "relate to" employee benefit plans. (29 U.S.C. § 1144(a).) In 1991, we held that ERISA pr

Jean Heggy appeals the trial court's denial, in part, of her motion for summary judgment and granting, in part, of summary judgment in favor of American Trading Employee Retirement Account Plan ("American"). American appeals the denial, in part, of its motion for summary judgment. Jean's motion for rehearing is overruled. This court's opinion issued on July 10, 2003, is withdrawn, and this o

Wallace Hogle appeals the trial court's entry of a Qualified Domestic Relations Order ("QDRO"). He raises a single issue on appeal, which we restate as whether the trial court properly entered, some twenty years after the parties' marriage was dissolved, a QDRO which transfers to Wallace's former wife, Shirley Hogle, benefits from Wallace's pension plan in order to satisfy a California judgment

Does Oklahoma's cause of action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing allowing for recovery of consequential and (when appropriate) punitive damages, as adopted in Christian v. American Home Assurance Co., 1977 OK 141, 577 P.2d 899, apply only to contracts of insurance such that it can be said to "regulate insurance" as that term is used in Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Ded

Jones is a limited partner of PPM III Partnership L.P. (PPM III), a Tennessee limited partnership. Defendants include Wells Fargo Bank, as trustee of the Lauren L. Reager, M.D. Pension Plan Trust (Reager Trust); Lauren L. Reager (Reager), an individual and beneficiary of the Reager Trust; Public Properties Management, Inc. (Public), a corporation that is the managing general partner of PPM III

This case presents us with the question of whether a plaintiff may seek equitable relief under Section 502(a)(3) of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3), when the doctrine of res judicata bars his Section 502(a)(1)(B), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), claim for recovery of benefits due under a welfare benefits plan. The district court found that

James McDonald began working for Western-Southern on October 11, 1976. His last position with the company was as a district sales manager in charge of the Columbus, Ohio, office. As an employee of Western-Southern, McDonald was a participant in the Western and Southern Life Insurance Company Flexible Benefits Plan. The Plan provided LTD benefits for covered employees who were determined to suf

{1} This is an appeal by McDonald's Corporation ("McDonald's") from a jury verdict awarding Russell Rich $5,000,000 in compensatory damages on his claim of employment discrimination following trial before Visiting Judge John J. Angelotta. McDonald's claims that Rich presented insufficient proof that AIDS was a disability within the meaning of discrimination statutes; that the judge erred in not

Bank of America, formerly known as NationsBank of Texas ("the Bank"), and its former employee, Mark Thomason, appeal a jury verdict holding them jointly liable for fraud and breach of contract and awarding damages of $380,101.75 to Billy Lewis. Lewis cross-appeals, arguing that the jury instructions improperly limited the scope of compensable damages. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U

Plaintiff/Cross-Appellee Jon Kidneigh and Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee Barbara Kidneigh brought suit seeking disability benefits pursuant to 29 U.S.C. §§ 1132(a)(1)(B) and (g), the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), along with state law claims for bad faith and loss of consortium. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), and we affirm in part and reverse i

Plaintiff-appellant Nancy Matías-Correa appeals the district court's entry of summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees Pfizer, Inc. ("Pfizer"), and Medical Card System, Inc. ("MCS"), in a suit in which Matías alleged that the termination of her disability benefits violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461. We affirm.

I. Factual

This case invites us to fit a complex set of corporate pegs into a series of unfamiliar holes drilled by international conventions and federal statutes. But the pegs are square, the holes are round, and the fit is inexact. Given the facts of this case, the obvious bar to arbitrability is the abecedarian tenet that a party cannot be forced to arbitrate if it has not agreed to do so. The defendan

Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company argues that the District Court incorrectly held arbitrary and capricious its determination that Stephen Lasser was not disabled within the terms of his disability insurance policy. We conclude that the Court did not err and therefore affirm.

I. Background

Dr. Stephen Lasser is an orthopedic surgeon who was employed by Townsquare Orthopedic Ass

Defendants-Appellants Aventis Pharmaceuticals and Helen Hefner appeal the orders of the district court1 requiring them to pay the plaintiff, Linda Brown, $8030 in statutory penalties for a violation of COBRA notification, $11,550 in statutory penalties under ERISA for failure to supply summary plan documents after a written request, and a certificate of life insurance for $39,000 minus the

In 1995, Ms. Kathy Lefler and other plaintiffs (Class) brought this class action against United HealthCare of Utah, Inc. (United), a health maintenance organization, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)(2), seeking to recover benefits due under an employee welfare benefit plan, 29 U.S.C. §1132(a)(1)(B)(3), and for other equitable relief, 29 U.S.C. §1132(a)(3). The C

The Wrights were divorced in 1993. Judy Wright was awarded a portion of Thomas Wright's retirement benefits from the El Paso Fireman and Policeman's Pension Fund. In July 2001, Appellee petitioned for enforcement and clarification claiming that Appellant had failed to pay the amounts she was entitled to pursuant to the divorce decree and a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) and seeking

Ms. Horn worked full-time as a customer service representative for Avis Rent A Car Systems, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On January 1, 1999, certain operations of Avis, including the division in which she was employed, were acquired by and merged into Cendant. In October 1998, in preparation for the merger, Linda Dovers, the Tulsa Administrative Manager of Human Resources, attended a benefits pres

Plaintiff Gayle D. Shields filed a cause of action in an effort to recover survivor benefits under her deceased husband's retirement plan. She brought her claims against QSP, Inc., the Reader's Digest Association, Inc. ("Reader's Digest"), the Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Retirement Plan (the "Plan"), and the individual members of the Employee Benefits Committee that administered the Plan

Lopes began working at Fischbach Corporation in 1969. He eventually became a Signal Project engineer, supervising the installation of signal and electrical equipment. While employed at Fischbach, Lopes was enrolled as a participant in the MetLife-sponsored Fischbach Group Insurance Plan ("the Plan"). The Plan provides for long-term disability benefits for the first twenty-four months of disabil

William Feger appeals the final judgment dissolving his marriage to Nancy Feger and challenges the distribution of marital assets, the denial of his request for alimony, the denial of his request for all of his attorney's fees, and the award to the mother of sole authority to make decisions concerning the minor child. Nancy Feger cross-appeals the court's denial of her special equity in the

Appellant Catherine Liston is a former officer of UnumProvident Corporation ("UP"), an insurance company incorporated in Delaware. Prior to its June 1999 merger with Provident Companies, Inc., the UNUM Corporation had adopted an officer severance plan ("the plan") to provide benefits for officers whose jobs were "eliminated" as a result of a "change in control" of the company. The benefits coul