Life, Health, Disability & ERISA

We defend life, health, and disability insurers in litigation involving

• Allegations of extra-contractual liability and bad faith conduct
• Difficult jurisdictions
• Complex long-term disability and health claims
• Rescissions based on misrepresentations in applications
• Enforcement of exclusions
• Alleged improper sales practices
• Early mediation and dispute resolution
• Putative class actions

LH&D Team with deep industry experience 

• Seasoned litigators who can handle difficult discovery and jury trials for insurers
• Regulatory lawyers with DOI experience
• Associates, paralegals, and support staff to effectively manage claims
• Enterprise-wide electronic discovery counsel
• Lawyers active in national industry and bar organizations and cutting-edge programming

We have handled the spectrum of policy and annuity products 

We have represented dozens of life, health, and disability insurers as well as long term care insurers, supplemental insurers, and fraternal benefits societies in matters involving a wide variety of LH&D insurance products

• Term life, whole life, variable life
• Variable and indexed annuities
• Long term disability policies
• Health insurance policies
• Accidental death and disability policies
• Long-term care policies
• Supplemental insurance
• Individual policies and employer-sponsored group policies
• Certificates issued by fraternal benefits societies

Efficiently manage claims and defend claims-handling practices 

We understand that proper claims management requires efficiency and control of legal spend, in addition to proper advice and strong advocacy.  We also understand the importance of managing high-risk exposure matters, ensuring that our in-house contacts are regularly updated to avoid surprises, and ensuring general counsels and business-side leaders are apprised of potential risks.  We have helped our clients navigate difficult discovery battles, unfavorable jurisdictions, and attacks on their sales practices and claims-handling practices.

Our LH&D Team can help you manage your policyholder disputes 

• Defending and resolving litigation and pre-suit claims seeking life, health, and disability benefits
• Mediating early or pursuing other early settlement negotiations to minimize legal expense
• Interpleading funds to avoid multiple liability under life insurance policies or annuities
• Preparing corporate witnesses to appear in deposition or trial to defend sales practices and claims handling practices
• Handling trials before judges and juries
• Retaining experts in claims-handling practices, functional capacity, medicine, and damages
• Investigating claims pre-suit and pre-decision and providing legal opinions
• Rescinding policies with declaratory judgment actions based on material misrepresentations or lack of insurable interest
• Preparing litigation plans and budgets to ensure proportionality with defense costs and risk exposure and to ensure client cost expectations are understood and satisfied
• Multistate litigation coverage to ensure consistent handling of repetitive issues
• Regulatory responses to complaints filed with departments of insurance

Following is a selected sampling of matters and is provided for informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in any future matter.

• Won dismissal on pleadings of putative class action against life insurer for alleged violations of Telephone Consumer Protection Act by appointed agent
• Won summary judgment dismissal of punitive damages claim in lawsuit alleging bad faith denial of long-term disability benefits
• Served as trial counsel for four-day trial of intoxication exclusion in defense of claim for accidental disability benefits
• Served as liaison counsel for MDL involving sales practice claims against national life insurer
• Successfully obtained recovery of substantially all of insurer client’s attorneys’ fees in many different interpleader actions
• Won dismissal of long-term disability claim, based on fact that insured was not employed at the time of the onset of disability, and successfully defended the dismissal on appeal
• Won appeal involving policyholder argument that exclusion should not apply because policy was never delivered
• Obtained $200,000 judgment against agent for trademark infringement of insurer
• Obtained favorable ruling from Maryland Insurance Administration in response to complaint relating to life insurance benefits
• Obtained ruling imposing preliminary injunction freezing a portion of death benefit proceeds improperly paid to putative beneficiary pending outcome of lawsuit
• Voluntary dismissals obtained in a number of life insurance matters though cooperation and existing relationships with opposing counsel
• Defended disability insurer in bad faith lawsuit involving enforcement of 24-month mental disorder limitation
• Asserted the Railway Labor Act as depriving federal court of jurisdiction over ERISA pleaded claims due to existence of collective bargaining agreement with arbitration requirement
• Prosecuted numerous rescissions based on material misrepresentations in jurisdictions with the intent to deceive standard
• Won summary judgment dismissal of claims based on alleged delay and bad faith claims processing of death benefit under long term care policy
• Successful defense under ERISA of decisions by a number of plan administrators to deny long term disability benefits under employer sponsored plans