The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled, in Shields v. United of Omaha, that an insurer must make a coverage determination for a plan participant within a reasonable period of time after it began accepting premiums. Law. ERISA assigns to a fiduciary...
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Life Insurance
Employer Cannot Terminate Employee’s Vested Retiree Life Insurance Benefits
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Bellon v. The PPG Employee Life, has ruled that an employer cannot terminate retiree life insurance coverage of employees for whom it had previously vested this coverage through plan provisions. Facts. The...
Insurer Breached Fiduciary Duty to Maintain Effective Benefit Enrollment System
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Skelton v. Radisson Hotel Bloomington, has upheld a district court’s decision that an insurer acted as a fiduciary in determining eligibility and conducting enrollment for an employer’s supplemental life insurance program, and...
Employers Act as Fiduciaries When Managing Premium Payments for Benefit Plan
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Chelf v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, has determined that a district court erred in dismissing a claim for breach of fiduciary duty based on ERISA’s “ministerial function” exception. Specifically, the Sixth Circuit...
New York is About to Force a Lot of Insurer Salary Data Into the Open
New York is About to Force a Lot of Insurer Salary Data Into the Open – Katherine Brustowicz, Life Annuity Specialist, February 4, 2022