Aetna Faces Certified Class Over Disability Benefit Clawbacks

A lawsuit accusing Aetna Life Insurance Co. of illegally demanding reimbursement from disability recipients who also recover for personal injuries was certified as a class action covering at least 48 people, a Pennsylvania federal court ruling indicates.

Aetna argued the class was too small to be certified, because it had to be limited to people with the same health plan and people not subject to certain plan-based deadlines to sue. Judge Chief Matthew W. Brann of the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania largely disagreed, saying the relevant plan language is substantially similar across the plans in ...