Regulation

Lawyers for President Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to stave off the biggest legal challenge yet to health care reform, his signature domestic policy achievement.

Lawyers for President Obama will on Wednesday seek to stave off the biggest legal challenge yet to health care reform, his signature domestic policy achievement.

Your communications with your attorney are not privileged. Wow, that is a scary thought, isn't it?

Benefit administrators, 401(k) vendors, recordkeepers and benefits professionals regularly recommend that participants in qualified retirement plans periodically review and update their beneficiary designation forms. Qualified retirement plans provide that if a married participant dies without a beneficiary designated, the death benefit will be paid to the participant's spouse, unless the spouse consents in writing to appointing an alternate payee. For a single participant, benefits are paid to their estate if no beneficiary is designated. What could be simpler that merely indicating to whom or to what entity a participant wishes their assets to be transferred in the event of death? Unfortunately, numerous issues arise in connection with the simple task of designating a beneficiary.

Nebraska lawmakers unanimously approved changes to collective bargaining for public workers on May 25 but the debate was not as divisive as in some other states, and the outcome was a compromise.

Attention to unclaimed property issues affecting life insurance companies – including issues relating to unpaid life insurance and annuity benefits – has significantly escalated in recent weeks, due to regulatory actions, media coverage, and public expressions of interest by the plaintiffs’ bar. This Legal Alert discusses those developments and puts them into perspective.

U.S. health insurers will have to justify big premium rate hikes under new rules issued by the U.S. Health and Human Service Department last week.

The Supreme Court explained that the requisite level of harm for a particular case will be dependent upon the applicable equitable theory of relief. If a plaintiff can satisfy one of the standards, it may then be rebutted by the defendant, if the defendant can demonstrate that the inconsistency was a harmless error.

Employers seem to be especially challenged by the duty to accommodate religious beliefs, and the EEOC appears to be particularly interested in pursuing enforcement of the accommodation requirement.

A Rhode Island state court has upheld a statute under which insurance companies that want to wind up their operations can buy policies back from policyholders.