Substantial Compliance Doctrine Does Not Apply To Deadlines Imposed By ERISA

Mealey's (June 26, 2019, 3:06 PM EDT) -- CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 25 vacated and remanded a district court’s ruling in favor of a disability insurer after determining that the district court erred in applying the doctrine of substantial compliance to excuse the insurer’s failure to issue an administrative appeal decision by the imposed deadline and to justify the use of the arbitrary and capricious standard of review because the substantial compliance doctrine does not apply to regulatory deadlines imposed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Donald Fessenden v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co., et al., No. 18-1346, 7th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 18885)....