Law Commons^™

Erisa’S Fiduciary Fantasy And The Problem Of Mass Health Claim Denials, Katherine T. Vukadin

University of Richmond Law Review

Over 100 million Americans face healthcare debt. Most of those in debt have health insurance, with the debt often springing from services people thought were covered. Before and even after receiving care, those seeking coverage must run a gauntlet of obstacles such as excessive pre-authorization requests, burdensome concurrent review of care, and retrospective review, which claws back payment after a treatment is pre-authorized and payment made. Increasingly, this procedural tangle leaves people with unwarranted and unexpected medical bills, quickly spiraling them into debt.

Who polices health insurers’ claims practices? What keeps insurance companies from designing overly burdensome pre-authorization requirements or …

Grandma Got Arrested: Police, Excessive Force, And People With Dementia, Rashmi Goel

University of Richmond Law Review

Recent events have shone a light on the particular vulnerability of people with dementia to police violence. Police are arresting people with dementia and using excessive force to do it—drawing their firearms, deploying tasers, and breaking bones.

To date, little attention has been paid to the burgeoning number of people with dementia, one of society’s most vulnerable populations, and their experiences with the criminal justice system. This Article examines how dementia leads people to engage in activity that appears criminal (shoplifting (forgetting to pay), and trespass (wandering), for instance) and the disproportionate response of police. In several cases where people …

Conditional Purging Of Wills, Mark Glover

University of Richmond Law Review

The laws of most states unconditionally purge a testamentary gift to an individual who serves as an attesting witness to the will. Under this approach, the will is valid despite the presence of an interested witness, but the witness forfeits all, some, or none of her gift, depending on the particularities of state law. While the outcome of the interested witness’s gift varies amongst the states that adhere to this majority approach, the determination of what the interested witnesses can retain is the same. The only consideration is whether the beneficiary is also a witness; whether her gift is purged …

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, Hunter M. Glenn, Allison A. Tait

University of Richmond Law Review

Between legislative and judicial activity, there have been a number of noteworthy developments and changes to the rules governing trusts and estates. Several of these developments turn on questions related to the role of fiduciaries, what responsibilities they have with respect to reporting as well as asset management, and when they can be removed. These questions concerning fiduciaries implicitly address the rights of beneficiaries and the protections available to them. New developments also will have multiple repercussions for estate planners and wealth managers. New planning strategies in response to changes in the law of undue influence may become important to …

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. William Gray Jr., Katherine E. Ramsey

University of Richmond Law Review

The 2018 Virginia General Assembly enacted legislation to conform the interpretation of wills with trusts, revised the recent trust decanting and augmented estate statutes, and provided a procedure for resolving doctor/patient disputes over appropriate medical care. It also confirmed the creditor protection available for life insurance and annuities, and addressed certain entities’ eligibility for real and personal property tax exemptions, annual disclosures of charitable organizations’ administrative and charitable service expenses, virtual nonstock corporation member meetings, bank directors’ stock holdings, the disposition of unused tax credits at the taxpayer’s death, and fiduciary qualification without surety. The Supreme Court of Virginia handed …

Grow Up Virginia: Time To Change Our Filial Responsibility Law, Sylvia Macon

Law Student Publications

This comment discusses the background and development of filial responsibility laws in England, the United States, and Virginia in Part I. Part II explains the purpose behind implementation of such laws while Part III discusses the problems enforcing the filial responsibility law may cause. Lastly, Part IV explains why past reasons for keeping the law are no longer valid.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. William Gray Jr., Katherine E. Ramsey

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Managers' Obligations To Employees With Eldercare Responsibilities, John A. Pearce Iii, Dennis R. Kuhn

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Health Care Law, Sean P. Byrne, Paul Walkinshaw

University of Richmond Law Review

Arguably, no other field of law in Virginia matches the complexity, magnitude, and universality of health care. It therefore comes as little surprise that Virginia's legislative and judicial branches of government devoted substantial attention to health care law issues in 2006 and 2007. Between April 2006 and April 2007 the time period covered by this article the Supreme Court of Virginia decided a large number of cases directly affecting health care law in the Commonwealth. The 2007 legislative session also addressed a host of health care issues and those with the most impact are summarized herein. These judicial and legislative …

General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. V. Cline: Shrinking The Realm Of Possibility For Reverse Age Discrimination Suits, Rebecca L. Ennis

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Medicaid Eligibility Planning For Aged Clients In Virginia, Jonathan D. Frieden

University of Richmond Law Review

The Medicaid program is a jointly financed federal and state assistance program established under Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1965. The purpose of the program is to provide "federal financial assistance to States that choose to reimburse certain costs of medical treatment for needy persons." The Medicaid program's federal statutory and regulatory framework was described by Justice Powell of the United States Supreme Court as "among the most intricate ever drafted by Congress." Justice Powell added that the Act's "Byzantine construction... makes [it] 'almost unintelligible to the uninitiated." To add to these already significant difficulties, each state …

Adea Doctrinal Impediments To The Fulfillment Of The Wirtz Report Agenda, Michael C. Harper

University of Richmond Law Review

Ideally, this symposium marking the three-decade anniversary of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) would present an opportunity to assess how well the ADEA has achieved its plausible goals. However, I recognize that any definitive assessment of the success of a statute like the ADEA, which requires the modification of the behavior of social actors, must depend on the kind of sophisticated empirical study for which I have neither the time, resources or capability. I also recognize that defending my identification of the goals of the ADEA might itself require an entire essay.

The Adea In The Wake Of Seminole, Edward P. Noonan

University of Richmond Law Review

Everyone, regardless of their sex or race, has at least one thing in common, we all get older. Nonetheless, attitudes about our elders in society differ depending on the context. Sometimes the aged are considered wise; other times they are considered incompetent. In 1967, Congress attempted to combat age discrimination in the workplace with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA or the Act). Congress found that older Americans faced "disadvantages in their efforts to retain employment" which consisted of arbitrary age limits on employment notwithstanding that person's skill and job performance. Further, Congress prohibited arbitrary age discrimination in a …

Does Pretext Plus Age Equal The Sum Of The Judgement?, Susan Childers North

University of Richmond Law Review

In deciding cases under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), several circuit courts of appeals have interpreted the tripartite test set forth in McDonnell Douglas v. Green to mean that a plaintiff could prevail in proving individual disparate treatment by proving a prima facie case and that the employer's proffered reasons were a pretext. The Third, Seventh and Eighth Circuits concluded that a showing that a proffered justification is pretextual is equivalent to a finding that the employer intentionally discriminated. In other words, "the plaintiff is entitled to judgment as a matter of law when, in the third stage …

Retirement Incentives In The Twenty First Century: The Move Toward Employer Control Of The Adea, Judith A. Mcmorrow

University of Richmond Law Review

Retirement has become an increasingly important topic of public policy discussion in the United States, as well as an accepted, and even cherished, goal for many American workers. Consequently, it is not surprising that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) recognized, somewhat inartfully, the importance of retirement. When originally passed, the ADEA expressly provided an exemption for any bona fide employee benefit plan such as a retirement, pension, or insurance plan, which is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of the ADEA. In 1986, Congress amended the ADEA to eliminate mandatory retirement, but made clear in its legislative …

Wards Cove Packing Or Not Wards Cove Packing? That Is Not The Question: Some Thoughts On Impact Analysis Under The Age Discrimination In Employment Act, Mack A. Player

University of Richmond Law Review

Assume two employers, A and B. Each gives a separate objective test to select employees for a particular position. Employer A utilizes a pen-and-paper, multiple choice examination that has questions in three major categories: 1) biology and genetics which includes DNA theory, cloning, etc.; 2) astrophysics, with questions about time, space, light relationships, "black holes," novas, etc. and 3) microprocessor engineering, the internet, silicon chips, and the like.

The Age Discrimination In Employment Act At Thirty: Where It's Been, Where It Is Today, Where It's Going, Howard C. Eglit

University of Richmond Law Review

Thirty-three years ago, in the course of debating the legislation that eventually was enacted into law as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress began-albeit very tentatively-to address age discrimination in the workplace. While it rejected attempts to amend the 1964 bill to include age within the then-pending menu of proscribed bases for workplace decision-making, i.e., race, color, national origin, religion, and sex, Congress did direct the Secretary of Labor to undertake a study to ascertain the nature and extent of age bias in employment and to make recommendations for dealing with this discrimination, if it in fact existed.

Condominium Conversion Lease Extensions For Elderly And Disabled Tenants: Is Virginia's New Law A Panacea?, Thomas A. Louthan

University of Richmond Law Review

Rental housing has been converted to condominiums at an increasingly rapid rate in recent years. Between 1970 and 1979, approximately 366,000 rental units were converted to condominiums or cooperatives nationwide. In Virginia, the City of Alexandria witnessed 7,173 conversions between 1973 and 1982; and Fairfax County experienced 5,113 conversions from 1974 to 1980. Arlington County experienced approximately 700 conversions per year from 1972 to 1978 and 1,400 per year since January, 1979.