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January 14, 2026
SEATTLE — Addressing an opposed request for attorney fees totaling $239,390 in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case involving long COVID that was remanded to the administrator for full consideration because of a “substantial” procedural error, a Washington federal judge on Jan. 13 reduced the hours and the blended hourly rate, concluding that the appropriate fee award in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case is $112,050.
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January 14, 2026
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Upholding termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits under a regular-occupation standard for an investment portfolio manager whom surveillance showed had played 20 rounds of golf in three months in late 2024 despite allegedly disabling back problems, a Virginia federal judge concluded that despite there being some support for his claim, the termination “was both the product of a deliberate, principled reasoning process, and supported by substantial evidence.”
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January 09, 2026
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Denying cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record under an abuse of discretion standard, a Tennessee federal judge ruled that a long-term disability (LTD) benefits denial was “procedurally unreasonable” and remanded for reconsideration of the claim filed by the plaintiff, who has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and numerous other ailments.
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January 08, 2026
NEWARK, N.J. — Denying a long-term disability (LTD) claimant’s challenge to a discovery ruling, a New Jersey federal judge rejected his arguments that a magistrate judge erred in determining that his short-term disability (STD) “claim file was not part of the administrative record for his LTD claim” and “in denying extra-record discovery concerning Defendant’s alleged conflict of interest.”
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January 06, 2026
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed judgment for an employer in a job termination dispute with an orthopedic surgeon that hinged on “the meaning of the phrase ‘the procedures for being determined disabled’” in his employment contract, saying in a nonprecedential disposition that under Wisconsin law, the surgeon’s interpretation “is untenable.”
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January 02, 2026
SEATTLE — In separate but similar orders, a Washington federal judge denied dismissal motions filed by the sponsor and claim administrator of a long-term disability (LTD) plan in a case that involves a dispute regarding whether a claimant who paid premiums for more than a year but had not submitted an evidence of insurability (EOI) form was covered.
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January 02, 2026
OKLAHOMA CITY — Observing that the case was not an easy one and that the arbitrary and capricious review standard was determinative, an Oklahoma federal judge affirmed termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits under an any-occupation definition of disability for a former nurse who had received benefits for more than 15 years.
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December 29, 2025
DENVER — In an order issued without explanation nearly five months after the appellant filed a petition for panel rehearing that drew no response from the other party in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declined to revisit its rejection of a bid to make a long-term disability (LTD) insurer pay attorney fees and other costs for an administrative appeal that got benefits reinstated.
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December 19, 2025
NEW ORLEANS — Concluding that favorable factual findings are “a moral victory . . . insufficient to justify an award of attorney’s fees” and that the claimant here ultimately obtained no legal relief, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 18 reversed an award of more than $1.25 million to a former National Football League player who sued for a higher level of disability benefits than he was awarded, prevailed after a bench trial and then saw that favorable ruling reversed in a previous appeal.
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December 18, 2025
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit filed by a pro se former medical center employee who said he was wrongly denied long-term disability (LTD) benefits after long COVID and other issues including depression and anxiety rendered him unable to work has been dismissed by a Virginia federal judge, who ruled that the only claim fails because the center’s LTD plan is a governmental one exempt from ERISA.
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December 17, 2025
PITTSBURGH — Among other things, a nurse who has been diagnosed with a chronic pain condition and is challenging termination of her long-term disability (LTD) benefits has sued seeking a declaration that, at a claimant’s request, an LTD insurer “has an obligation to provide information in its claim files that is relevant to a participant’s benefit claim regardless of whether an adverse decision has been made.”
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December 16, 2025
CINCINNATI — Seeking reversal or at least remand of a decision upholding denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits, a project director who stopped working because of symptoms she attributed to long COVID tells the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in her Dec. 15 opening brief that the trial court used the wrong standard of review and improperly denied her request for discovery and the appellees “acted arbitrarily by failing to consider critical treating-source medical opinions, relying on a materially inaccurate medical reviewer report, and dismissing [her] well-documented subjective symptoms.”
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December 15, 2025
PHOENIX — Saying that a claim that an employer “breached its fiduciary duty by failing to inform” a disability claimant “of the consequences to his benefits of becoming a part-time employee . . . is not a disguised claim for benefits even if it results in a monetary award,” an Arizona federal judge declined to grant the employer summary judgment for failure to exhaust administrative remedies as to that claim.
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December 15, 2025
NEW YORK — Standard of review is the sole issue in an appeal where the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral argument on Jan. 12 regarding a denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits appeal that was upheld under the arbitrary and capricious review standard in the trial court; the parties dispute whether the insurer had discretionary authority and whether it complied with claim regulations.
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December 15, 2025
MIAMI — Finding that it was not arbitrary and capricious for the claim administrator of a long-term disability (LTD) plan to determine that a former software engineer “with a history of chronic back pain and lumbar degenerative disease” was not disabled under an “any occupation” definition, a Florida federal judge upheld termination of the benefit.
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December 11, 2025
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two days after the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a pro se litigant’s petitions for writs of mandamus in a dispute involving long-term disability (LTD) benefits, an Ohio federal judge on Dec. 10 issued an amended ruling designating him a vexatious litigant, dismissing his case without prejudice and imposing sanctions including a $1,500 penalty and a three-part filing restriction, highlighting “his repeated failure to appear” and “his (apparently ongoing) use of AI resulting in fabricated citations.”
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December 11, 2025
TAMPA, Fla. — Saying that the “parties agree to limit the scope of discovery to the issues identified in” Cerrito v. Liberty Life Assurance Co., a Florida federal magistrate judge granted a long-term disability (LTD) claimant’s request for discovery outside the administrative record in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit.
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December 10, 2025
SAN FRANCISCO — Finding that “the reversal of the determination of denial and the remand for consideration with a vocational analysis constitutes a sufficient degree of success to warrant attorney’s fees” in a case challenging termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits under an any-occupation standard, a California federal magistrate judge awarded just half of the nearly $185,000 requested for attorney fees and declined to amend the judgment to award the benefits pending the determination on remand.
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December 05, 2025
BOSTON — A claimant who unsuccessfully challenged a determination that she wasn’t entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits under an any-occupation standard despite being approved for Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) has dropped her appeal in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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December 05, 2025
ATLANTA — Saying in an unpublished per curiam opinion that the multiple physician reviews that a long-term disability (LTD) insurer obtained and the claimant’s “social media activity” and medical records constituted substantial evidence for terminating benefits under a group insurance policy’s any-occupation definition of disability, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the insurer.
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December 03, 2025
BALTIMORE — Addressing three expert challenges in a putative class action concerning NFL disability benefits, a Maryland federal magistrate judge excluded one expert in full and one in part and declined to exclude the third.
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November 21, 2025
By Jamie O’Neill and Abigail Damsky
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November 24, 2025
ATLANTA — Reversing and remanding a ruling against a long-term disability (LTD) claimant, a split 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 21 ruled that it was unreasonable for the insurer to interpret a preexisting conditions exclusion in a way that the majority said means that “treatment for a headache during the lookback period converts any disease or condition that causes headaches into a preexisting condition.”
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November 21, 2025
ATLANTA — Upholding termination of long-term disability (LTD) benefits in a case that turned on a therapist’s notes, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in an unpublished Nov. 20 opinion that although some of the notes are “troubling” because they report passive suicidal ideation, as a whole they do not show that the claimant “was unable to perform her duties as a commercial litigator.”
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November 19, 2025
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Long-term disability (LTD) and residual disability insurers agreed to give up their right to appeal and pay a pediatric dermatologist more than $1 million in retroactive benefits, attorney fees and prejudgment interest under a stipulated final judgment that a Michigan federal judge approved.