Life, Health, Disability & ERISA Litigation

We represent plan fiduciaries and insurers in ERISA benefit disputes, including pension, health, life, and disability plans, throughout the northeastern United States. We defend benefit claims as well as claims for breaches of fiduciary duty, both in single-plaintiff cases and class actions. Our expertise runs the gamut of benefits issues including disputes over entitlement to benefits and associated removal/ERISA preemption issues, prohibited transaction claims, subrogation actions, bad faith and rescission suits, and complex class actions in both ERISA and non-ERISA contexts. We also represent employers in the defense of withdrawal liability claims by multiple employer pension plans.

We have assumed a lead counsel role in both routine and complex benefits cases in courts throughout the nation, and have represented clients in connection with several important U.S. Supreme Court ERISA cases. We have argued benefits cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals. We have litigated benefits cases in every federal judicial circuit and Canada.

Our team includes the editor and co-authors of the ABA book, ERISA Survey of Federal Circuits, as well as authors of articles and book chapters addressing a range of benefits issues. We are also actively involved in the DRI Life Health & Disability Committee, with group members having served as its chair and program chair. Our team members are also frequent speakers on benefits litigation topics at national meetings and forums, including the annual DRI Life, Health, Disability & ERISA Litigation Seminar.

Representative Experience

The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for our client Standard Insurance Company in a disability benefits case. The court held that Standard was not liable for payments of benefits to treat Chronic Lyme Disease beyond the 24 month limitation period set by the ERISA plan for limited physical and mental conditions.

First Circuit ERISA Win for Standard Insurance Company

In two separate class actions, in which Pierce Atwood separately represented Unum Life Insurance Company and Sun Life Assurance Company, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that using Retained Asset Accounts (RAAs) to pay death benefits claims on group life insurance policies does not violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), where the policies either require or permit payment by RAA.

First Circuit Wins for Life Insurance Companies in ERISA Class Actions