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Peters v. Aetna Inc., No. 19-2085, __ F.3d __, 2021 WL 2546412 (4th Cir. June 22, 2021) (Before Circuit Judges Agee, Floyd, and Thacker)

In this case, the Fourth Circuit covers the whole shebang of ERISA: standing, fiduciary status, party in interest status, restitution, surcharge, disgorgement, and declaratory and injunctive relief for both an individual and a class. This opinion, which reads like an ERISA treatise, serves as a reminder of the many layers that exist within ERISA and its equity-based common law. What is not layered is the issue at the core of the suit: money.  
Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Largely Rules for Plaintiffs in Class Action Challenge to Aetna/Optum Billing Practices

Last week, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Wong v. Flynn-Kerper, No. 19-56289, __F.3d__, 2021 WL 2307485 (9th Cir. June 7, 2021) (before Circuit Judges Friedland and Bennett, and District Judge Frederick Block), is a meandering tale of deceit, greed, and incompetence with respect to Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) administration. But the moral of the story is clear, as the Ninth Circuit joined the Fourth Circuit in barring the defensive use of equitable estoppel when estopping the plaintiff would contradict an ERISA plan’s express terms.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Holds That a Party, Whether a Plaintiff or a Defendant, Cannot use Equitable Estoppel to Contradict the Express Terms of an ERISA Plan in Litigation with the Plan

Wolf v Life Ins. Co. of N. America, No. 3:20-cv-05684-BHS, __ F. Supp. __ (W.D. Wash. May 25, 2021) (Judge Benjamin Settle).

This week’s notable decision is a victory for the plaintiff, represented by Kantor & Kantor, in the Western District of Washington. The plaintiff was the father and life insurance beneficiary of 26-year-old Scott Wolf, who had recently died in a car accident. While speeding the wrong way on a one-way access road along a highway, he hit a speed bump, which flipped his car into an adjacent bay, where he drowned. Mr. Wolf had alcohol in his system at the time of his death. He was wearing a seatbelt and had his hazard lights on at the time of the accident.
Continue Reading Court Awards Accidental Death Benefits in Auto Accident Case, Finding Death Was Not “Substantially Certain” to Occur