by Michael T. Graham, Elizabeth A. Savard and Patrick D. Ryan
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s holding in Kirkendall v. Halliburton, Inc. reaffirms that a benefit plan’s claims procedures must be drafted clearly and in language to be understood by a reasonable participant. If participants are permitted to avoid a plan’s administrative claims process, there are significant impacts on a plan’s defense of a lawsuit, including application of a de novo standard of review to a benefit determination rather than the deferential arbitrary and capricious standard.
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