United States Eighth Circuit

In a dispute involving a claim for short-term disability benefits, district court's grant of summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff was not denied a full and fair review of her claim for short-term disability benefits as plaintiff's claim that she was entitled to review and rebut the peer reviews before the denial of her second-level appeal was not supported by the statute; 2) the court did not err in concluding the denial of plaintiff's short-term disability claim was not arbitrary and capricious as the decision was supported by substantial evidence; and 3) court did not err in finding plaintiff's claims for long-term disability benefits should be dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/15/2009
• Published 04/15/2009

Judges

• SMITH, Circuit Judge., Before MURPHY and SMITH, Circuit Judges, and LIMBAUGH, District Judge.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James G. Schulze, argued, Little Rock, AR, appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Thomas L. Henderson, argued, Memphis, TN, David F. Rudolph, on the brief, for appellees, Aetna Life Insurance Company et al., David F. Schmidt, argued, Chicago, IL, for appellee, Washington Group International Long Term Disability Plan.