Blog Post

Nov 11, 2016

Evidence From LinkedIn, IMDB Used to Support Denial of Benefits

Click for PDF

Be careful what you ask for. The Plaintiff in a recent case from the Central District of California learned that lesson when the Plan’s re-evaluation of her claim for benefits revealed that she was apparently working as a stunt coordinator and stunt actress, despite having received disability pension payments for nearly ten years. In Hoffman v. Screen Actors Guild-Producers Pension Plan, the Plaintiff sought to convert her disability pension to an “occupational disability pension” to receive the additional benefit of health coverage. The Plan denied her request, finding a lack of evidence that her disability (severe depression) had resulted from her employment as a stunt actress. The Benefits Committee denied her appeal of that decision, and Plaintiff brought suit to challenge that determination. No. 2:16-cv-01530, 2016 WL 6537531 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 2, 2016).

To read the full blog post, click here.