Noga v. Fulton Fin. Corp. Emp. Benefit Plan, No. 19-3855, __ F.4th __, 2021 WL 5540848 (3d Cir. Nov. 26, 2021) (Before Circuit Judges Ambro, Krause, and Phipps).

Attorneys who represent benefit plan participants have an uphill battle. Because the courts are often deferential to the decisions of plan administrators – using the abuse of discretion standard of review – participants often have to prove not only that the decisions denying their benefit claims were wrong, but also that they were “unreasonably wrong.”

One way a participant can chip away at this standard is to demonstrate that the administrator has a conflict of interest, or that it handled the claim in a way that calls into question its impartiality. However, it can be difficult to know what kinds of procedural errors are worth highlighting, as a substantial mistake in front of one judge can be a harmless error in front of another. In this published opinion, the Third Circuit has given practitioners some guidance on this issue.
Continue Reading Third Circuit Rules That Reliance Standard’s Conflict of Interest and “Irregular” Claim Handling Led to Unreasonable Claim Denial