Joshua Bachrach (Partner-Philadelphia, PA) and Angela Heim (Of Counsel-Philadelphia, PA) represented a group long-term disability insurer in an appeal related to the denial of benefits. As a result of the plaintiff’s administrative appeal and before the lawsuit was filed, the client reversed the claim denial. The plaintiff still filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma seeking attorney’s fees for the appeal. The plaintiff also challenged the client’s reduction of benefits under the policy based on her receipt of social security benefits, claiming financial hardship. The district court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim, which was appealed to the Tenth Circuit. In a published decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in our client’s favor. The Tenth Circuit joined seven other circuits in concluding that fees under ERISA’s fee-shifting statute are unavailable for pre-litigation proceedings. The court also rejected the plaintiff’s “backdoor route” seeking fees as equitable relief. As for the plaintiff’s claim related to the social security offset, the Tenth Circuit held that there was no need to consider the merits of it because she failed to exhaust her administrative remedies as courts have required under ERISA, the claim was time-barred, and the argument was waived because it was not pursued in the district court. Finally, the Court of Appeals rejected the claim that the plaintiff was entitled to equitable relief because our client failed to provide documents to her. Because she did not allege any separate harm related to this conduct, the court agreed with the district court that she was not entitled to any relief. The Tenth Circuit concluded its decision affirming the judgment of the district court by stating that “Plaintiff is receiving all the benefits to which her policy entitles her.”