Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

By: Mark S. Thomas and Robert W. Shaw
Williams Mullen (North Carolina and Virginia, USA)

The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a plan administrator’s interpretation of a long term disability plan and affirmed the denial of a disabled physician’s claim for benefits

in Fortier v. Principal Life Insurance Company, No. 10-1441 (4th Cir. January 11, 2012).  The court sided with the plan administrator’s determination that certain business expenses that the physician deducted on his federal income tax return were also deductions for the purpose of calculating the physician’s income in a disability benefit plan determination, which had the effect of substantially reducing his calculated predisability income and eliminating his group disability benefits. Click here to read entire article.