Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Gregory Mayer v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 20-1281 · judgment August 12, 2021


Certiorari denied · February 22, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

  1. Is a state law prescribing de novo judicial review for challenged benefit determinations, regardless of any discretion the Plan grants to the administrator, preempted by ERISA? If not, does enforcing such a state law with regard to the court challenge of a beneficiary who resides outside of the state in which the Plan was delivered violate the Commerce Clause (as the Second Circuit ruled below)?

  2. Should lower courts assessing challenged benefit determinations enforce choice-of-law provisions contained in an ERISA Plan and, if so, which of the differing approaches employed by the circuits should a lower court apply?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Michael James Confusione
Hegge & Confusione, LLC

For respondent
Patrick W. Begos
Robinson & Cole LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 22 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 12 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/18/2022.
  3. Jan 05 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company to respond filed.
  4. Dec 09 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 13, 2022)