Reliance Beats Tenth Cir. Disability Case Over Fees, Offsets

Federal benefits law does not entitle a former mortgage underwriter to attorney’s fees or reimbursement of offsets that Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. deducted from her disability payments, the Tenth Circuit ruled.

Jill Finley suffered a brain injury after going into cardiac arrest in 2007 while working for Provident Funding Associates, LP. Reliance granted her disability benefits in 2008, but temporarily severed them in April 2022. Finley’s mother Nancy Stark sued Reliance in 2024 under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, seeking to recover attorney’s fees incurred while appealing the denial and challenging Reliance’s decision to deduct Finley’s Social ...