Senior Lifestyle Advances Lawsuit Against Claims Administrator

Senior Lifestyle Corp. won an early victory in its lawsuit accusing its health plan claims administrator of wrongly allowing the company’s insurance coverage to lapse.

Senior Lifestyle, an Illinois-based operator of senior citizen communities, sued Key Benefit Administrators for allegedly failing to make payments toward the company’s insurance coverage for catastrophic losses, causing the coverage to lapse. The administrator tried to escape the lawsuit by arguing that it wasn’t a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, but the judge declined to dismiss the case, explaining that Key Benefit’s fiduciary status was an open question (Senior Lifestyle Corp. v. Key Benefit Adm’rs, Inc., 2017 BL 409996, S.D. Ind., No. 1:17-cv-02457-JMS-MJD, order denying motion to dismiss 11/15/17