Taming The ERISA Monster

Created to protect pension funds from unscrupulous employers, ERISA is a federal law that has become a favorite strategic weapon in the battle by insurance companies to deny policyholder claims. Simply invoking ERISA in a lawsuit frequently restricts the evidence the court can review, eliminates a trial by jury, and seriously jeopardizes the insured’s rights to have a court force insurance companies to pay their claims.

We won a groundbreaking decision regarding ERISA and its applicability to group disability insurance policies when, for the first time, a Federal judge ruled that ERISA’s applicability to a case is not an automatic slam-dunk, and that a jury should determine whether or not ERISA applies. We challenged this long-standing industry practice and won, and our success will have an impact on how future ERISA cases are handled.