Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co.

Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. is a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court in its term beginning October 2015, which could affect the privacy of patients in their medical records.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. manages a self-insured employee health plan, and a Vermont statute requires all "health insurers" (including self-insured plans) to file reports with the State of Vermont which contain claims data and other "information relating to health care."

Vermont subpoenaed claims data from the Liberty Mutual plan's third-party administrator, and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. responded by suing in federal court for a declaration that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") preempts the Vermont statute and regulation. The federal district court ruled in favor of Vermont.

On appeal to the Second Circuit, however, the insurance company prevailed. The Second Circuit ruled as follows:

“

The ERISA preemption clause is not self-reading and ERISA preemption doctrine is not static. The early judicial consensus, based on the broad wording of the preemption clause (and legislative history), was to construe preemption broadly. More recent precedent has pulled back by setting a rebuttable presumption against preemption of state health care regulations. Two constants, however, remain: (1) recognition that ERISA's preemption clause is intended to avoid a multiplicity of burdensome state requirements for ERISA plan administration; and (2) acknowledgment that "reporting" is a core ERISA administrative function. These two considerations lead us to conclude that the Vermont law, as applied to compel the reporting of Liberty Mutual plan data, is preempted. We therefore reverse and remand for entry of judgment in favor of Liberty Mutual.

”

Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Donegan, 746 F.3d 497, 500 (2d Cir. 2014).

The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently granted cert, over the objection of the Obama Administration, in order to review this decision.