Two attorneys of the firm wrote an article concerning a critically important decision by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding how ERISA cases should be handled in the federal courts. The New York Law Journal published the article, which is part of a series of ERISA articles published in the Journal by Quadrino Schwartz.
ERISA is a federal law that governs certain insurance claims when they are made under group insurance policies purchased by an employer, for the benfit of employees. Quadrino Schwartz has been a leader in the development of the law in this area.
In the article, Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Hack detailed the troubled history regarding ERISA court decisions addressing the conflict of interest that insurance companies have when they administer and decide group disability claims. The U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the issue in Metlife v Glenn, a decision released in July 2008, in which the Court ruled that the conflict is assumed to exist and that judges must take the conflict into account when deciding disability cases. The Court also ruled that a court must consider the insurance company’s history of bias and whether their financial personnel were in communication with claims personnel regarding the insurance company’s profits or savings concerning claims decisions.
The decision in Glenn is already having an impact upon ERISA cases pending in the federal Courts and Quadrino Schwartz is leading the way in breaking new ground in this area of the law.
Evan S. Schwartz
Founder of Schwartz, Conroy & Hack
800-745-1755
ESS@schwartzlawpc.com