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Insurance Company Tries To Bury Court Decision

Posted on Jul 23, 2009

Yet another example of insurance companies trying to cover their butts.

US District Court in Charlottesville denied Aetna's motion to vacate some rulings that didn't go their way. The cases are already settled and Aetna has already paid out, so you might ask what they're up to.

Well, Aetna doesn't want these rulings to effect their other cases and potential cases. If they can get the court to vacate the rulings, they still lose the case, but the courts opinions and judgments can't be used as precedent in any future cases.

Rather than  fixing their plans or attempting to salvage some semblance of humanity and change their procedures, the insurance company has elected to try to sweep this one under the rug. Basically they're throwing the ruling into the closet and locking it up where it can't be cited to show how Aetna's plans have previously been interpreted.

In this case the two sides settled and the plaintiff granted the defense the right to vacatur. So the plaintiff said you could throw it out. But that's not how it works, guys! Courts are public and so are the laws they uphold and the opinions they create. Allowing insurance companies to buy-out a plaintiff with the condition that the case be vacated is basically them buying the repeal of a law.

Once again the court gets it right though. And Judge Moon says it best that "the integrity of the judiciary... outweighs the defendant's private interest in vacating the court's opinions."

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Ben Glass is a Fairfax, Virginia attorney who specilizes in Long-Term Disability insurance claims dealing the ERISA.

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