United States Fifth Circuit

In an action brought on behalf of plaintiffs' deceased son against the issuer of the son's health insurance coverage alleging that its denial of coverage for intravenous immunoglobulin replacement therapy caused their son to commit suicide, summary judgment for the insurer is affirmed as defendant proved as a matter of law that it did not breach the duty of good faith and fair dealing in denying the claim for medical benefits as: 1) there was a bona-fide dispute between well-credentialed medical professionals over the medical necessity of the treatment; and 2) defendant employed a thorough, multi-layered process to resolve this dispute, including notification of another layer of appeal, which was not pursued.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/05/2007
• Published 10/08/2007

Judges

• PER CURIAM:, Before JOLLY, DAVIS, and WIENER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Gene Stuart Hagood (argued), Hagood & Neumann, Alvin, TX, for the Henrys.


• For Appellees:
  
• Christopher Benjamin Dove (argued), Locke, Liddell & Sapp, Houston, TX, for Defendant-Appellee.