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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    ERISA

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Thursday, August 22, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$347.00

This CLE course will guide employee benefits counsel in defending against wrongful denial of benefits claims involving ERISA plans. The panel will explain the administrative process required under ERISA before litigation may proceed. The panel will also discuss how courts are addressing critical procedural and substantive issues, including standing, contractual time limits, exhaustion of administrative remedies, discovery, standards of review, deference to the administrator's decision, attorneys' fees, and preemption.

Faculty

Burriss Eliot
Shareholder
Miscellaneous
Mohl David
Shareholder
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Mr. Mohl helps clients navigate the complex regulatory landscape of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, the Affordable Care Act, COBRA, HIPAA, and various federal and state laws affecting employee benefits. His practice covers the design, implementation and administration of employee benefit plans as well as the defense of plans and plan fiduciaries in government investigations. Mr. Mohl has significant experience representing fiduciaries in complex ERISA litigation disputes in both arbitration and class action lawsuits. He also has experience representing Taft-Hartley plans, focusing on the unique challenges that face multiemployer plans and contributing employers.

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Description

ERISA litigation remains steady, including cases brought by plan participants, beneficiaries, and providers challenging denials of benefits. Defending benefits denial cases involves several procedural and substantive tactics.

Counsel must be vigilant in identifying removal opportunities and leveraging other practical defense approaches. Potential tools in the defense attorney's arsenal include lack of standing, preemption, failure to exhaust administrative remedies, expiration of the statute of limitations, and claims-based limitations defenses.

Effective plan design, careful structuring of the administrative process, and informed guidance to those who administer claims can significantly increase the precision of claims administration and maximize the likelihood of success in benefits denial litigation. Advanced preparation by counsel may result in fewer disputes over discovery, conflicts of interest, standards of review, and deference accorded the administrator's decision, and may even reduce attorneys' fees.

Listen as our authoritative panel of ERISA litigators provides counsel with best practices for navigating key issues in defending benefit denial suits. The panel will also discuss key case law developments in benefits suits.

Outline

  1. Exhaustion of administrative remedies
  2. Standing
  3. Standard of review
  4. State law preemption and removal
  5. Statute of limitations and other procedural issues
  6. Scope of conflict discovery and other discovery practices
  7. Attorneys' fee awards and remedies

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • How can plans preserve and maximize their procedural and substantive defenses through plan design?
  • What has been the impact of recent case law on the review of claim administrators' determinations?
  • What are best practices for preparing during the administrative process for responding to conflict discovery and protecting the administrative record?