( August 31, 2026, 10:44 AM EDT) -- NEW ORLEANS — Skirting “thorny choice-of-law issues” but expressing doubt that a plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “can tell its insured that no state law applies to him,” the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished opinion affirming denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits on the grounds that the claimant “was not totally disabled” even under de novo review....