American Family Worker Status Battle Won’t Go Before SCOTUS

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Dec. 9 it won’t hear a case asking whether American Family Insurance Co. wrongly denied benefits to about 7,200 insurance agents by incorrectly treating them as independent contractors instead of employees.

The dispute centered on how much authority appeals courts have to second-guess trial court judges when they apply the legal test for determining employee status set forth in in Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Darden. According to the agents, most appeals courts defer to a district judge’s weighing of the Darden factors, but the Sixth Circuit’s January decision in favor of American Family ...