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On Halloween, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $100,000 settlement under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with Doctors’ Management Services (DMS), a Massachusetts medical management company that provides...
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...
On September 14, 2023, the IRS announced an immediate moratorium on processing new Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims due to the surge in questionable or potentially fraudulent filings. According to the announcement, the pause will continue through the end of 2023. The IRS will continue to...
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...
On June 22, 2023, the Oregon legislature passed the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA) SB 619 with a nearly unanimous vote in the senate. The bill was developed over the last four years by the Attorney General's Consumer Privacy Task Force, created to answer the call for comprehensive consumer...
On July 17, 2023, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law the 2023 amendments to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”), the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act (the “LLC Act”), the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act (the “LP Act”), and the Delaware...
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...
Welcome to Saul Ewing’s Public Companies Quarterly Update series. Our intent is to, on a quarterly basis, highlight important legal developments of which we think public companies should be aware. This edition is related to developments during the second quarter of 2023. If you would like to discuss...
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...
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced two (2) different settlements, one with a HIPAA business associate for $350,000 and one with a HIPAA-covered entity pursuant to the OCR Right of Access Initiative for $15,000...
On May 11, 2023, Tennessee became the eighth state to join the most recent trend in state legislation when Governor Lee signed the Tennessee Information Protection Act (TIPA) into law. Tennessee follows other states that have recently enacted comprehensive privacy legislation, starting with...
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...
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions that reflect the precise nature of rules and definitions in the context of ERISA claims. For example, effective dates of CFR code provisions and contractually defined limitation periods can draw specific points on the timeline of a case. Similarly...
On Wednesday, March 15, Iowa’s House Legislature unanimously voted to approve Senate File 262 (SF 262), a comprehensive data privacy bill that unanimously passed the Senate on March 6. The bill will now move to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law (if the Governor does not sign or veto the bill...
This month's Friday Five covers cases relating to issue preclusion, coverage where the policy terms are inconsistent with the parties’ behavior, application of the abuse of discretion standard of review, applicability of a waiver of premium provision and compliance with a mandatory appeals process...