Archives
Thursday, April 18, 2002
Mark DeBofsky will speak at an
ABA seminar titled "EEO Basics"; it will be held on June 6 and 7
in Chicago. Mr. DeBofsky will be speaking on Age Discrimination
Claims and the Status of Releases in Employment Litigation. For
further information, contact American Bar Association, Section of
Labor & Employment Law (312) 988-5813
posted
by M W |
3:57 PM
Friday,
April 12, 2002
Barry Schultz in conjunction with the law office of Frederick J.
Daley--now Daley, DeBofsky and Bryant--received two 7th
Circuit Ct of App reversals on the same day.
In Borski the Court held that the ALJ improperly used
the Grid to deny a claim where the claimant was not able to stoop
-- which is required for sedentary and light work positions -- and
the claimant needed a sit/stand option. Of special interest was
the Court's assumption that it was the Commissioner's burden at
step 5 to resolve ambiguities in the record.
In Kasarsky the Court held that the ALJ failed to pose a
complete hypothetical when he didn't include the claimant's
frequent deficiencies of concentration, persistence, or pace. The
Court stated, "(e)mployers are entitled to demand that their
employees stick with the job, once they have been trained to do
it; the length of time it takes someone with borderline
intelligence to learn a job is not the same as the ability of that
person to perform consistently once trained. The ALJ's failure to
incorporate the latter kind of failure . . . in the hypothetical
he posed to the vocational expert require us to remand this case
for further proceedings.
posted
by M W |
1:30 PM
The case of Moran v. Rush-Prudential HMO, Inc ., 230
F.3d 959 (7th Cir. 2000); cert. granted 2001 U.S.LEXIS 5207, is
perhaps the most important ERISA preemption case to ever come
before the Supreme Court. It will decide the question of whether
states have the authority to regulate how insurers evaluate claims
or whether ERISA preemption reigns triumphant.
Read the rest of this article by Mark DeBofsky
posted
by M W |
8:23 AM
Wednesday, April 03, 2002
David Bryant will be speaking with Deborah Spector July 18th in
Oak Brook for the National Business Institute on "Handling a
Social Security Case in
Illinois".
On April 6th he will address the WILG Board Meeting at the
Fairmont Hotel in Chicago and give a Medicare subrogation update
with Bob Tarren.
April 29th he will be at the Bellagio room in Maggiano's
discussing "Workers' Compensation Settlements, Medicare Interest,
and Set Aside Trusts."
posted
by M W |
1:56 PM
Mark DeBofsky's latest article is
Great-West v. Knudson?The Death Knell of Fiduciary Liability
Claims? , which he recently prepared for an
ABA
publication and for an upcoming CBA seminar.
posted
by M W |
9:17 AM
Monday, March 11, 2002
Read Mark DeBofsky's
new article for the upcoming ATLA convention .
posted
by M W |
9:06 AM
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: In April 2002, DeBofsky & DeBofsky will be merging its practice with the Law Offices of Frederick J. Daley and David A. Bryant & Associates to form the new law firm of Daley, DeBofsky & Bryant with offices located at One N. LaSalle St., Suite 3800, Chicago, Illinois 60602 (312) 372-5200. Please watch this website for further announcements.
Mark DeBofsky's upcoming speaking engagements:
March 14, 2002 The Ten Most Important Lessons Learned from this Past Year s Employee Benefits Cases, Chicago Bar Association, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois. For further information, call 312-554-2000
March 21, 2002 The Basics of Disability Programs Private Disability Insurance and Social Security, Chicago Medical Society, Medical-Legal Issues for the Primary Care Physician/ Midwest Clinical Conference 2002, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois. For further information, call 312-670-2550.
April 19-20, 2002 Annual Symposium on Patient Protection, Patient Advocate Foundation, Loyola University School of Law, One E. Pearson, Chicago, Illinois. For further information call, 757-873-6668
April 25, 2002 Recent Supreme Court Rulings on Employee Benefits Great West v. Knudson; Rush-Prudential v. Moran, Chicago Bar Association, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois. For further information, call 312-554-2000
May 8-11, 2002 Panel Discussion on Disability Insurance Benefits, National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives, Atlanta, Georgia. For further information, call 800-431-2804
July 21, 2002 So You re Stuck with ERISA, Now What? Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Atlanta, Georgia. For further information, contact 202-965-3500
posted by M W | 10:09 AM
People Who Get Benefits Can Earn More in 2002
If you're younger than 65 and you work while getting Social Security survivors or retirement benefits, you'll be able to
earn more money this year and keep all of your benefits. You can earn up to $11,280 (up from $10,680 in 2001). After you earn $11,280, $1 is withheld
from your benefits for every $2 you earn. If you will reach age 65 during 2002, $1 will be withheld for every $3 of earnings above $30,000 until your
birthday month. After your 65th birthday, you can receive your full benefit amount no matter how much you earn. To learn more about working and
collecting Social Security benefits, visit the Retirement Planner .
MEDICARE PREMIUMS RISE
If you're covered by Medicare Part B (insurance that helps pay for doctors' fees and other medical services and supplies), your monthly premium is now
$54, instead of the $50 you paid in 2001. If you didn't sign up for Part B when you were first eligible for Medicare, you can sign up during the annual
General Enrollment Period that runs from January 1 to March 31. You may have to pay 10 percent more if you could have enrolled earlier, but didn't. For
more information, visit Medicare's website .
posted by M W | 7:26 AM
Friday, February 15, 2002
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has launched a new
program designed to help people with disabilities go to work.
Read the press release.
posted by M W |
9:07 AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Regula v. Delta Family-Care Disability Survivorship Plan, 2001 WL
1111616 (9th Cir.
9/25/2001)
Areas affected: Disability insurance; employee benefits.
Regula is an extremely significant case regarding several crucial
issues involved in disability benefit determinations under the
ERISA law. Those issues include:
- standard of review (what rules of decision are used by a court
in reviewing ERISA benefit claims)
- scope of review (how a court goes about conducting a review)
- weight of evidence
Read more about Regula v. Delta
posted by M W |
12:56 PM
Mark DeBofsky's recently published articles, available in PDF
format.
"Bringing an ERISA Claim: A Step-by-Step Guide" originally
appeared in the January 2000 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal and
reprinted in the December/January 2000-2001 issue of Advocate (The
Journal of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles).
"A Physician's Guide to Disability Insurance" appears in the
December 2000 edition of The Journal of Medical Practice
Management. Reprints available from the publication or through
DeBofsky and DeBofsky.
"The Nuts and Bolts of Lawyers' Disability Insurance" Chicago Bar
Record 36 (May 2000) - reprints available from DeBofsky & DeBofsky
or from the Chicago Bar Association,
321 S. Plymouth Ct.,
Chicago,
IL 60604.
posted by M W |
12:53 PM
Mark DeBofsky is listed as a chapter editor in the recently
published second edition of Employee Benefits Law, along with the
2000 Supplement. Further information on ordering a copy may be
obtained from Daley, DeBofsky and Bryant or from either the
American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law or
the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc..
posted by M W |
12:52 PM
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