What is ERISA and what effect does it have on my claim?
Most people obtain long term disability coverage as part of an employee benefits plan. Most employee benefits are regulated under a complex government statute called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or ERISA. Look it up sometime, it is huge and unwieldy. This is why few attorneys engage in an ERISA-based law practice. Claimants attorneys who regularly engage in ERISA practice have their own definition: Everything Rotten Invented Since Adam. ERISA sets forth a series of regulations which are rarely enforced by the Department of Labor and which the insurance industry attempts to take full advantage. What is most troubling is the standard of review many courts review insurer claims denials: abuse of discretion which is also termed arbitrary and capricious review. Most people are familiar with the civil jury standard of preponderance of the evidence. This means one party is more persuasive than the other party. In the case of arbitrary and capricious review of claims dec
