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This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing differences between LTD and LWOP policies, the breadth of discretion available to claims administrators and the always important topic of timely action by insurers in issuing claims decisions. The Saul Ewing Employee...

This month’s Friday Five covers the treatment of job-related stress in assessing an attorney’s disability, the requirements surrounding the qualifications of a medical professional to review a claimant’s medical records in making disability determinations, the requirements for determining disability...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to an alleged conflict of interest leading to discovery, two courts’ opposite treatments of subjective pain complaints, a decision that claims of fraud and misrepresentation were not preempted by ERISA and a court’s deference to an insurer’s...

"Solar energy construction has increased significantly in recent years across the United States, with some forecasters expecting another rise of at least 75% for 2024. This growth in solar projects results in good measure from existing and additional tax credits continued and implemented through the...

This month’s Friday Five explores decisions regarding the transfer of an ERISA action that was filed in a state where an insurer did not maintain sufficient minimum contacts, an award of attorneys’ fees, costs, and prejudgment interest, deference to an insurer’s interpretation of a plan’s provisions...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to the enforceability of contractual statute of limitations provisions described as a “labyrinth,” ERISA claims when the carrier allegedly misrepresents benefits, federal courts retaining ERISA jurisdiction following a related state court case, a court...

This month’s Friday Five explores a decision ordering an IME prior to a ruling on summary judgment motions, the extent claims reporting records can be sealed, the scope of ERISA preemption in the context of removal, and two decisions awarding summary judgment for the defendant despite the plaintiffs...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to petitions for attorneys’ fees, unpersuasive self-reported evidence of disability, and a dilatory attempt to augment the administrative record. The Saul Ewing Employee Benefits/ERISA Litigation Team Western District of Wisconsin Slashes “Eye-Popping”...

This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions that range from the effect on disability benefits when medical records are not provided after two appeals, to a case that examines how an award of death benefits is determined, to a finding that an insurer’s decision to terminate benefits was not...

This month’s Friday Five explores decisions regarding the timeliness of appeals, the support necessary to sustain an LTD termination decision, a court’s discretion to credit and discredit expert opinions, the circumstances under which an insured may be required to prove they were prejudiced by the...

This month’s Friday Five addresses two cases involving disability claims that touch on Covid-19, a Circuit Court ruling for an insurer, a district court ruling that a 20-year-old regulatory settlement precluded an insurer from relying on the opinions of physicians it hired, and a claim for breach of...

The work of subcontractors is largely guided by the written contracts to which they agree, making those contracts important to their company’s success. Ideally, contracts should be balanced, and they should allocate risk to the party able to control the risk, but that is often not the case. Though...

On May 25, 2023, the Illinois legislature passed HB 2878, a colossal 195-page bill, that impacts numerous public procurement laws, including curbing the percentage of retainage that local governments may withhold from contractors on public construction projects in Illinois. On June 22, 2023, the...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to what constitutes a fiduciary function, a finding of disability despite working full-time, an enforcement of suit limitation clause, the circumstances under which reinstatement is an appropriate remedy, and ERISA preemption. The Saul Ewing LLP...

Contractors could start seeing six-figure fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the next few months thanks to sweeping policy changes implemented earlier this year. In a press release and two internal memoranda issued January 26, 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL)...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to a plaintiff’s attempts to seal a complaint seeking disability benefits, an administrator’s uncommunicated decision to discontinue its investigation into certain medical conditions, an administrator’s loss of the deferential standard of review for...

As construction is truly a team sport, a contractor’s success hinges on the contributions of all team members—the laborers and tradesman, the project managers and office personnel, c-suite executives, and, yes, the company’s lawyer. Too often, however, construction companies turn to counsel as a...

This month’s Friday Five explores two recent decisions that discuss limitations on benefits when both physical disability and disability arising from mental illness are alleged, whether remand of a claim by the court constitutes a new appeal or a continuation of the previous appeal, whether an order...