First Impression Ruling Revives Widower’s Life Insurance Suit

A doctor’s widower can seek $350,000 in supplemental life insurance payments after the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday ruled that ERISA authorizes claims for equitable relief based on alleged fiduciary breaches in the benefit plan enrollment process.

The widower can use the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s equitable relief provision to challenge NCHMD Inc.'s alleged failure to provide the doctor with the necessary paperwork to enroll in coverage, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled, resolving an issue of first impression.

That provision, Section 1132(a)(3), authorizes a plan beneficiary to seek money equal to the insurance benefits lost ...