糖心直播

Our new book, ERISA Disability Claims and Litigation (2021), authored by New York City ERISA attorneys Scott Riemer and Jennifer Hess of 糖心直播, offers expert knowledge to successfully file, appeal, and litigate ERISA disability claims. Published by James Publishing, this latest edition discusses updates to ERISA policies, best practices and procedures when handling claims, and more. 

Below, the authors discuss the most common questions they get about their new book.

Introduction

Timing is critical for ERISA long term disability litigation 鈥� and a factor claimants often overlook or misunderstand. Failure to file your ERISA litigation at the correct time can have dire consequences for you and your disability benefits.

If you file too early, the court often will dismiss your case, thus costing you valuable time and money spent on preparing your litigation. You may have an opportunity to correct the error of filing too early, as detailed below. However, there are much more serious and permanent consequences if you file your lawsuit too late. If you file after the statute of limitations, your claim will likely be dismissed, and you will be permanently unable to recover your benefits in court.

If you file an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (鈥淓RISA鈥�) long term disability lawsuit, your success will depend heavily on which legal standard of review the court applies.  The standards are anything but equal.  The one used in your case can have a substantial impact on your success.

In an ERISA New York disability litigation against Aetna, Riemer Hess successfully argued the Court should review the case under the plaintiff-friendly de novo standard 鈥� substantially increasing the Plaintiff鈥檚 chances of prevailing.  The Court, in following the Second Circuit Court of Appeals鈥� ruling in Halo vs. Yale Health Plan, stripped Aetna of its discretionary authority because it failed to to strictly adhere to the ERISA claims regulations, and its violations were neither inadvertent nor harmless.

"George鈥� had been a loyal employee of a major bank for over ten years, when the division he worked for was sold off to a competing company and his employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) was partially terminated due to the sale. Strongly believing that he was being unfairly deprived a fair share of the earnings on his investment in the ESOP, he sought expert legal advice.