Where to File a Lawsuit over Your Denied Long-Term Disability Claim

Employees in Chicago with denied claims for long-term disability benefits rarely ask an important question when interviewing attorneys to handle their claim: if litigation becomes necessary, where should the lawsuit be filed? The answer lies in ERISA’s venue statute and should influence your decision on the location of a lawyer to hire to handle a pre-litigation appeal of a denied claim because you want a lawyer familiar with the court in which your case may proceed, if the appeal is unsuccessful. Under the ERISA venue statute, ERISA § 502(e)(2), an action may be brought in the district where the plan is administered, where the breach took place, or where any defendant can be found. While this seems broad enough to cover any judicial district, Defendants can move to transfer venue for convenience of the parties, making the first two options—where the plan is administered or where the breach took place—the best locations to file the lawsuit, as demonstrated by a recent case.

In Dela Torre v. Nippon Life Insurance Co. of America, No. 22 C 7059, 2023 WL 2868058 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 10, 2023), Dela Torre, a resident of Illinois, stopped working in 2019 and claimed long-term disability benefits from Defendant Nippon Life Insurance Co. of America. Nippon approved the claim, but terminated benefits in 2021. After Dela Torre appealed unsuccessfully, she first filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida under ERISA § 502(a), where her lawyer was located. Nippon moved to transfer venue to the Southern District of New York, which is where the plan was administered. Dela Torre then dismissed the lawsuit and re-filed in the Northern District of Illinois, the District in which she lived and where the breach took place. Nippon moved to transfer venue to the Southern District of New York again.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied Nippon’s request and retained jurisdiction over the case in the Northern District of Illinois. The court noted jurisdiction and venue would also be proper in the Southern District of New York because that is where the plan is administered. But venue was also proper in the Northern District of Illinois, which is where the breach took place. The court was unpersuaded that litigation would be more convenient for the parties in New York. Although Nippon’s medical consultants were on the East Coast, all of Dela Torre’s doctors were located in the Northern District of Illinois, as was Dela Torre. The court thus would not disturb the plaintiff’s choice of venue.

Dela Torre’s case teaches us that the best place to file your lawsuit, if necessary, is the district in which you live. This should also influence you to hire an attorney located in that district, who is familiar with the court. If your long-term disability claim has been denied or terminated, contact an experienced ERISA long-term disability lawyer today.