Aetna Denied Arbitration in Aramark Health Plan 5th Cir. Appeal

A dispute over Aetna Life Insurance Co.'s handling of health plans covering tens of thousands of Aramark Services Inc. employees will stay in court after the Fifth Circuit rejected the insurer’s bid for arbitration.

The arbitration provision in the companies’ contract includes a carve-out for equitable claims, which includes the claims Aramark raised against Aetna seeking “make-whole relief” for a fiduciary breach under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held. And the contract didn’t “clearly and unmistakably” require that an arbitrator decide the threshold question of whether the dispute was subject ...