-
August 28, 2026
ATLANTA — Issuing an unpublished Aug. 27 opinion affirming a ruling against a pro se claimant whose long-term disability (LTD) benefits were terminated under an any-occupation definition of disability, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said it was reasonable for the insurer “to rely on the findings of four medical professionals, in conjunction with the independent medical examination and the two vocational assessments, to find that [she] no longer met the definition of disabled under the policy because she could perform sedentary jobs in her area.”
-
August 28, 2026
CHICAGO — Saying the appeal required “a straightforward application of one Supreme Court precedent, and a careful analysis of another,” the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a suit that sought a declaration that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempted two parts of a state regulation implementing the Arkansas Pharmacy Benefits Manager Licensure Act.
-
August 28, 2026
NEW YORK — Granting final approval of a settlement that a class of employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participants said “will deliver more than $22.5 million in total economic value through a combination of cash, loan reductions, and liquidity provisions,” a New York federal judge awarded $6.2 million for attorney fees and $727,406.93 for litigation expenses and $35,000 for settlement administration expenses as requested — but denied a request for two $10,000 service awards for the named plaintiffs.
-
August 28, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — The most advanced of the appeals springing from a wave of pension risk transfer (PRT) cases filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is in the Fourth Circuit, where oral argument with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) participating as amicus curiae is scheduled for Sept. 16.
-
August 28, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS — Dismissal with prejudice has been granted pursuant to the parties’ stipulation in Minnesota federal court in a case over cost-sharing for medical services associated with preventive treatment that reduces the risk of HIV infection.
-
August 27, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid an ongoing wave of private enforcement lawsuits concerning health plans’ tobacco surcharges, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and other federal agencies on Aug. 26 said they recognize that “enforcement relief and additional clarification may be necessary to mitigate uncertainty for wellness programs that provide a reward to increase healthy choices and behaviors and lower healthcare costs.”
-
August 27, 2026
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed certification of a mandatory class in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over retiree healthcare benefits but reversed a ruling in which it concluded that the lower court had wrongly “judicially estopped” the defendants “from disavowing any obligation to provide lifetime healthcare benefits to pre-1993 retirees based on statements” made in a separate case.
-
August 26, 2026
PASADENA, Calif. — Ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts a promissory estoppel claim but not a negligent misrepresentation claim, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revived the latter state law claim in a reimbursement dispute that concerns surgery done by an out-of-network provider for an individual who had an employer-sponsored health plan.
-
August 26, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — Affirming rulings against the appellant on all other points — including a decision under which he was required to pay attorney fees totaling $122,951 — the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a claim in which he sought statutory Employee Retirement Income Security Act penalties for a retirement plan’s failure to produce an administrative services agreement (ASA) at his request.
-
August 25, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has stayed issuance of its mandate for a July 30 ruling in a putative class case pending resolution of a certiorari petition that the appellants say they have already filed. In the petition, the appellants argue that the panel ruling deepens a 7-1 circuit split concerning the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, with the Fourth Circuit’s recent Trauernicht v. Genworth Fin. Inc. ruling standing alone on one side of the conflict.
-
August 24, 2026
TAMPA, Fla. — Granting summary judgment on the administrative record for the insurer in a suit where a claimant challenged termination of her long-term disability (LTD) benefits under an any-occupation definition of disability, a Florida federal judge said in part that because a second occupation that she could perform had been identified, “even assuming that Defendant should not have relied on ampoule sealer, Plaintiff has not shown that the asserted obsolescence of that occupation undermines Defendant’s ultimate determination.”
-
August 24, 2026
CHICAGO — Initial briefing before the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has concluded in an appeal of a decision that upheld termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits under a “regular care of a physician” requirement, with the insurer arguing that the claimant is seeking “to prevent the district court’s enforcement of the Plan terms” and the claimant countering that the insurer “offers no authority holding it can disclaim its way out of regulations and plan requirements for its communications, because none exists.”
-
August 24, 2026
DETROIT — Denying a request for $22,050 in attorney fees and costs in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits, a Michigan federal judge assessed the factors outlined in Sec'y of Dep't of Labor v. King and concluded “that an award of attorney fees would not be reasonable”; that decision applied to both what the judge said was the claimant’s untimely application for appellate fees and her timely application for fees on remand.
-
August 21, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — Saying in part that “the relevant position for the disability analysis under the ‘any occupation’ standard is an executive-level sales management position or a comparable position,” a California federal judge ruled that an insurer wrongly terminated long-term disability (LTD) benefits for a claimant she concluded was disabled due to “cognitive deficits caused by her asymmetric hearing loss.”
-
August 21, 2026
CINCINNATI — Affirming dismissal of a suit that medical providers filed against the sponsor and the administrator of a self-insured health plan, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that under a 1991 decision that one panel member explicitly criticized, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act expressly preempts “third-party healthcare providers’ negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims when those claims arise out of an ERISA-plan administrator’s oral assurances about the terms of coverage or reimbursement under an ERISA-governed plan.”
-
August 20, 2026
ATLANTA — Saying in part that “some of the most objectively imprudent investments will lack an apples-to-apples comparison precisely because they are such objectively bad fiduciary decisions,” the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revived an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action focused on target-date funds (TDFs) that are proprietary to the investment manager of the retirement plan at issue.
-
August 19, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS — Declining to dismiss claims against two defendants accused of improperly denying a claim for short-term disability (STD) benefits, a Minnesota federal judge said in part that “it is unclear who the relevant decisionmaker was or on what basis the STD benefits were denied”; he also ruled plausible the allegations that one of those defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by not furnishing a third-party administrative services (TPA) agreement and the entirety of a “Wrap Document.”
-
August 19, 2026
CINCINNATI — Saying in an unpublished opinion that the lower court made an error but its ruling stands because the appellant “has not demonstrated irreparable harm, even when his arguments are viewed under the proper light,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prohibited termination of the appellant’s employment and interference with his disability and health insurance benefits.
-
August 18, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — Pursuant to a joint stipulation in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case in which he had resolved a choice-of-law dispute, a California federal judge dismissed the case with prejudice.
-
August 17, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Aug. 17 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the U.S. government’s motion for leave to participate in oral argument and for divided argument in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case that the court is scheduled to hear Oct. 6; the government is among the amici curiae urging affirmance that a putative class suit challenging purportedly underperforming retirement plan investments in hedge funds and private equity was correctly dismissed for failure to allege a “meaningful benchmark.”
-
August 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Granting a motion for $227,348.40 in attorney fees and costs in a long-term disability (LTD) case in which the plaintiff was awarded $31,016.65, a California federal judge said in a minute in-chambers order that he “will not further reduce the recoverable fees based on Plaintiff’s partial success, especially given the intertwining nature of the successful and unsuccessful issues.”
-
August 13, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — In an en banc ruling to which some judges partially dissented, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed universal vacatur of two challenged provisions of an agency rule implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that concerned qualifying payment amount (QPA) issues; however, the appellate court also reversed universal vacatur of a third provision.
-
August 13, 2026
PASADENA, Calif. — Adding an unpublished memorandum disposition to the short list of appellate rulings in disability benefits cases involving long COVID, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that a former underwriter who says he was disabled by cognitive impairments and other symptoms he attributes to long COVID “failed to meet his burden of proof” in seeking long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
-
August 07, 2026
CHICAGO — Agreeing with the lower court that “an attempt to change the rights of a surviving spouse by a person acting under a Wisconsin grant of a power of attorney” failed because “Wisconsin law required a specific, express grant of power that the power of attorney did not contain,” the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a summary judgment ruling in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case that meant the roughly $1.2 million proceeds of two pension plans would go to the decedent’s 12 children instead of to his 36 grandchildren.
-
August 07, 2026
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Claiming that he was the subject of religious discrimination because his employer did not grant his request to include “a fossil-fuel-free investment option” in its 401(k), an employee of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. sued the company in New York federal court.