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Statute of Limitations for Contract Actions Applied to an ERISA Appeal of a Denial of Benefits.
Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
June 13, 2008

As the result of a January, 2000 motor vehicle accident, Ms. Sonya Pettaway began receiving long-term disability insurance payments from an employment-related policy. When her benefits were terminated in August, 2004 by the plan administrator, she filed an internal appeal. The internal appeal was denied in September, 2005, and two years later she filed a lawsuit, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging unlawful termination of her disability benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

The Defendants eventually moved to dismiss the complaint based upon the applicable District of Columbia three-year statute of limitations for contract actions (ERISA having no limitation in its provisions). The District Court held...

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Third Party Mangers Can Be a Fiduciary Under ERISA
Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
June 04, 2008

U.S. District Court Judge Harold Ackerman ruled in Wayne Surgical Center v. Concentra, that the Plaintiff, Wayne Surgical Center, can pursue a claim, under ERISA that the Defendant failed to pay required reimbursement for patient treatments. The Defendant had argued that third-party administrators are not the proper defendants, since the insurance companies control the health plans and pay the reimbursements. Judge Ackerman essentially ruled that...

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