The Supreme Court issued an opinion on May 16th entitled Cigna Corp. v. Amara which lends itself to a series of differing interpretations. The Long Term Disability law, ERISA, often has rules which greatly favors insurance companies over individual rights, including very deferential standards of review for the denial of LTD benefits. The Amara case involved errors and misstatements to Cigna employees about the extent of their pension plan rights. While the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals in favor of Cigna, it felt that a different part of the law (29 USC 1132(a)(3) allowed employees to seek equitable relief if no other portion of the statute specifies relief for the particular violation or error.
