Justia ERISA Opinion Summaries

Llenos hung a noose from a basement ceiling beam, stood on a stool with the noose around his neck, and stepped off. Llenos died as a result. When Tran came home, she found her husband’s body. Though his death was initially reported as suicide, the medical examiner concluded from sexual paraphernalia on Llenos’s body that he died performing autoerotic asphyxiation, a sexual practice by which a person purposefully restricts blood flow to the brain to induce a feeling of euphoria. Llenos was covered by basic and supplemental life insurance policies, providing $517,000 in coverage, and including Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) policy riders providing an additional $60,000 in coverage. Minnesota Life paid $517,000 but denied Tran’s claim for the additional $60,000 in AD&D coverage, concluding that Llenos’s death was not “accidental” and fell under an exclusion for intentionally self-inflicted injury. Tran filed suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1132(a)(1)(B). The district court awarded Tran judgment, reasoning that the insurer had conceded the death was accidental. The Seventh Circuit reversed, finding that autoerotic asphyxiation was the ultimate and the proximate cause of Llenos’s death. Strangling oneself to cut off oxygen to one’s brain is an injury. When that injury kills, it is “an intentionally self-inflicted injury which resulted in death,” regardless of whether it was done recreationally or with an intent to survive. View "Tran v. Minnesota Life Insurance Co." on Justia Law

Pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, T&W regularly contributed on behalf of its employees to the Suburban Teamsters of Northern Illinois Pension Fund. In 2014 T&W ceased operations and cut off its pension contributions, prompting the Fund to assess withdrawal liability of $640,900 under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1396. The Fund sought to collect payment by mailing a notice of the withdrawal liability to T&W and affiliated entities. Those efforts were ignored. The district court ordered T&W and several other individuals and entities under common control to pay the withdrawal liability. The defendants argued that their due process rights were violated when the Fund initiated collection by mailing notice to some but not all of them. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Certain defendants forfeited all defenses to liability, including the defense that they were not members of a controlled group, by failing to arbitrate after receiving the Fund’s notice of withdrawal liability. Other defendants had no credible claim of surprise (at being a member of a controlled group) to sidestep ERISA’s arbitration requirement. Each defendant was a trade or business under common control with another party who received the notice and was liable under ERISA’s controlled group provision; each became jointly and severally liable for payment View "Trustees of the Suburban Teamsters of Northern Illinois Pension Fund v. E Co." on Justia Law

Dr. Griffin provided medical care to T.R., a participant in a Central States health plan. Before receiving treatment, T.R. assigned to Griffin the rights to “pursue claims for benefits, statutory penalties, [and] breach of fiduciary duty ….” Griffin confirmed through a Central representative that the plan would pay for the treatment at the usual, reasonable, and customary rate, then treated T.R. and submitted a claim for $7,963. Griffin later challenged the benefits determination, requesting a copy of the summary plan description and documents used to determine her payment. Six months later, Central responded that iSight, a third party, used “pricing methodology” to determine the fee and telling her to negotiate with iSight before engaging in the appeals process that the plan required before a civil suit. Griffin missed a call from iSight, returned the call, and left a message that she “would not take any reductions.” iSight never called back. Central provided a copy of the summary plan description, but no fee schedules or tables. Griffin sued under ERISA, 29 U.S.C. 1132(a)(1)(B), (a)(3), alleging that Central did not pay her the proper rate under the plan; breached its fiduciary duty by not adhering to plan terms; and failed to produce, within 30 days, the summary plan description she requested, nor iSight’s fee schedules. The court dismissed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part. Griffin adequately alleged that she is eligible for additional benefits and statutory damages. View "Griffin v. Teamcare" on Justia Law

Hennen worked as a sales specialist for NCR, 2010-2012, and was covered by long-term disability insurance under a group policy provided by MetLife. She sought treatment for a back injury. When physical therapy and surgery failed to resolve her injury, Hennen applied for long-term disability benefits. Acting as plan administrator, MetLife agreed that Hennen was disabled and paid benefits for two years. The plan has a two-year limit for neuromusculoskeletal disorders, subject to exceptions, including on for radiculopathy, a “Disease of the peripheral nerve roots supported by objective clinical findings of nerve pathology.” After MetLife terminated Hennen’s benefits, she sued under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. 1001 (ERISA), arguing that MetLife’s determination that she did not have radiculopathy was arbitrary and capricious. The district court granted MetLife summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit reversed. MetLife acted arbitrarily when it discounted the opinions of four doctors who diagnosed Hennen with radiculopathy in favor of the opinion of one physician who ultimately disagreed, but only while recommending additional testing that MetLife declined to pursue. View "Hennen v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co." on Justia Law

Cehovic’s employer offered its employees an insurance benefit plan through ReliaStar. Cehovic had two ReliaStar policies: a basic policy with a death benefit of $263,000, and a supplemental policy with a death benefit of $788,000. Both listed his sister, Cehovic‐Dixneuf, as the sole and primary beneficiary. After Cehovic died, his ex‐wife claimed that she and the child she had with Cehovic were entitled to the death benefits from the supplemental policy. The district court granted summary judgment for Cehovic‐Dixneuf. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires administrators of employee benefit plans to comply with the documents that control the plans, 29 U.S.C. 1104(a)(1)(D). For life insurance policies, that means death benefits are paid to the beneficiary designated in the policy, notwithstanding equitable arguments or claims that others might assert. The supplemental policy is governed by ERISA even though Cehovic paid all of its premiums without any direct subsidy from the employer. Cehovic’s employer performed all administrative functions associated with the maintenance of the policy. The plan description made clear that the supplemental life insurance policy would remain part of the employer’s group policy, but could be converted to an individual policy in certain situations. Nothing in the record shows that Cehovic executed a conversion. View "Cehovic-Dixneuf v. Wong" on Justia Law

Linda worked for Children’s Hospital for 37 years, covered by its employer-funded Pension Plan. In 2015, Linda faced recurring cancer, and, at age 60, retired. The Plan describes a normal retirement pension, an early retirement pension, a deferred vested retirement pension, and a pre-retirement surviving-spouse death benefit. The surviving spouse benefit is available to a participant’s spouse when the participant dies “before the Participant’s annuity starting date.” No other benefit provides that it is available to beneficiaries if the participant dies before payments start. Early retirement pensions “commence with a payment due on the first day of the month next following” the date of termination and the election of benefits. A 10-year annuity is available and allows the participant to designate a beneficiary for the remainder of a 10-year period, but if the participant dies before distributions begin, the designated beneficiary will be a surviving spouse. Linda chose the early retirement pension, through a 10-year annuity. She designated her daughter, Kishunda, as her beneficiary. Linda retired on August 26. Her first pension payment was set to commence on September 1. She died on August 29. Kishunda was denied her mother’s pension and sued under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. 1132(a)(1)(B). The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment, upholding the administrator’s interpretation of the Plan as not arbitrary; only spouses are entitled to benefits under the Plan when a participant dies before the start of her pension. View "Estate of Jones v. Children's Hospital and Health System, Inc. Pension Plan" on Justia Law

In 2012 Northern changed its defined-benefit pension plan under which retirement income depended on years worked, times an average of the employee’s five highest-earning consecutive years, times a constant (traditional formula). As amended, the plan multiplies the years worked and the high average compensation, by a formula that depends on the number of years worked after 2012 (PEP formula), reducing the pension-accrual rate. Northern provided people hired before 2002 a transitional benefit, treating them as if they were still under the traditional formula but deeming their salaries as increasing at 1.5% per year, without regard to the actual rate of change. Teufel sued, claiming that the amendment, even with the transitional benefit, violated the anti-cutback rule in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001–1461, and, by harming older workers relative to younger ones, violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. 621–34. The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of the suit. Nothing in the traditional formula guaranteed that any salary would increase in future years; ERISA protects entitlements that make up the “accrued benefit” but does not protect anyone’s hope that the future will improve on the past. Nor does the PEP formula violate the ADEA. Benefits depend on the number of years of credited service and salary, not on age. View "Teufel v. Northern Trust Co." on Justia Law

In 2009, ManWeb, an Indianapolis industrial construction company, paid $259,360 for the assets of Frieje, a smaller Indianapolis construction company specializing in cold‐storage facilities. Freije was a party to a collective bargaining agreement (CBA); ManWeb was non‐union. Freije contributed to a multi-employer pension fund and was required to pay withdrawal liability of $661,978 when it ceased operations (Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), 29 U.S.C. 1381). ManWeb did not contribute to the Fund after its purchase of Freije nor did it challenge the assessment. The Fund sued Freije and added ManWeb as a defendant based on successor liability. The Seventh Circuit concluded that ManWeb had notice of Freije’s contingent withdrawal liability, which was included in the Asset Purchase Agreement. On remand, the district court again granted ManWeb summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit vacated. MPPAA successor liability can apply when the purchaser had notice of the liability and there is continuity of business operations. In the totality of relevant circumstances, ManWeb’s purchase and use of Freije’s intangible assets (name, goodwill, trademarks, supplier and customer data, trade secrets, telephone numbers and websites) and its retention of Freije’s principals to promote ManWeb to existing and potential customers as carrying on the Freije business, weigh more heavily in favor of successor liability than the district court recognized. View "Indiana Electrical Workers Pension Benefit Fund v. ManWeb Services, Inc." on Justia Law

In 2009, ManWeb, an Indianapolis industrial construction company, paid $259,360 for the assets of Frieje, a smaller Indianapolis construction company specializing in cold‐storage facilities. Freije was a party to a collective bargaining agreement (CBA); ManWeb was non‐union. Freije contributed to a multi-employer pension fund and was required to pay withdrawal liability of $661,978 when it ceased operations (Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), 29 U.S.C. 1381). ManWeb did not contribute to the Fund after its purchase of Freije nor did it challenge the assessment. The Fund sued Freije and added ManWeb as a defendant based on successor liability. The Seventh Circuit concluded that ManWeb had notice of Freije’s contingent withdrawal liability, which was included in the Asset Purchase Agreement. On remand, the district court again granted ManWeb summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit vacated. MPPAA successor liability can apply when the purchaser had notice of the liability and there is continuity of business operations. In the totality of relevant circumstances, ManWeb’s purchase and use of Freije’s intangible assets (name, goodwill, trademarks, supplier and customer data, trade secrets, telephone numbers and websites) and its retention of Freije’s principals to promote ManWeb to existing and potential customers as carrying on the Freije business, weigh more heavily in favor of successor liability than the district court recognized. View "Indiana Electrical Workers Pension Benefit Fund v. ManWeb Services, Inc." on Justia Law

Dragus, who managed information technology for convention vendors, experienced severe neck pain for several years. He underwent a three-level cervical spine fusion, which failed to resolve his pain. Over the next two years, Dragus underwent physical therapy, steroid injections, and a surgical procedure that severs nerve roots in the spinal cord. Physicians also prescribed a pain medication, which caused memory impairment and hand tremors. Dragus went on short-term disability to participate in a full-time pain management program. Within two months of Dragus’s return to work, the pain returned, resulting in excessive absences. Dragus sought long-term disability benefits through a Reliance group policy and applied for Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits. Reliance denied Dragus’ application, stating that reports by medical experts did not indicate a physical or mental condition at a level of severity that would make Dragus unable to perform the material duties of his regular occupation. Dragus requested reconsideration. Reliance obtained additional medical opinions and independent review by a psychiatrist and occupational medicine specialist. Dragus was allowed to correspond with the specialists. Reliance affirmed its denial. Dragus filed suit under ERISA, 29 U.S.C. 1132(a)(1)(B)). The court denied Dragus’s motions for discovery outside the claim file record and to supplement the claim record with a fully favorable SSDI decision and granted summary judgment in favor of Reliance. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The policy grants Reliance discretionary review; Reliance’s decision was not arbitrary. View "Dragus v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co." on Justia Law