5th Circuit OKs Mental Health Benefits Denial In Reversal; Judge Questions Standard

Mealey's (September 24, 2021, 10:55 AM EDT) -- NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 22 issued an unpublished per curiam opinion in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case reversing a federal judge in Louisiana’s ruling that overturned a plan administrator’s decision to deny benefits for part of months-long mental health treatment that followed a beneficiary’s fifth suicide attempt; a concurring opinion questioned “whether our current standard for reviewing benefit denials under ERISA is justifiable.”...