First Admitted: 2005, California

Professional Webpage: https://robertsdisability.com/michelle-roberts/

Bar/Professional Activity:

BASF Judiciary Committee (2021-2023 term)
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2016
U.S. Supreme Court, 2013
U.S. District Court Eastern District of California, 2006
U.S. District Court Southern District of California, 2006
U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 2006
U.S. District Court Central District of California, 2006
Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council, 2019
U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 2005
U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 2014
U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, 2018
Illinois, 2017
California, 2005
Board of Senior Editors of the ABA Employee Benefits Law Book, 2018
Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Vice-Chair to the Employee Benefits General Committee, 2019
Member of Bar Association of San Francisco Judiciary Committee, 2021
Federal Bar Association, Northern District of California Chapter, Vice President, 2017
Federal Bar Association, Northern District of California Chapter, President, 2018
Labor & Employment Law Section's Employee Benefits Committee, Ethics Co-Chair, 2009
Labor & Employment Law Section's Employee Benefits Committee, Welfare Plans/Benefit Claims Co-Chair, 2014
Federal Bar Association, Vice President of Oakland and Social Media Site Administrator (N.D. Cal Chapter), 2014
Labor & Employment Law Section's Employee Benefits Committee, Social Media committee, 2014
Labor & Employment Law Section's Employee Benefits Committee, Diversity subcommittee, 2014

Verdicts/Settlements (Case Results):

Zewdu v. Citigroup Long Term Disability Plan, 264 F.R.D. 622 (N.D. Cal. 2010) (ordering discovery regarding MetLife’s conflict of interest)
Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3, 2020 WL 1984171 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 27, 2020) (granting Plaintiff’s request for discovery on independent physician consultant’s financial conflict of interest)
Hamid v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 517 F. Supp. 3d 903 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 5, 2021) (overturning MetLife’s denial of short- and long-term disability benefits)
Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3, No. 2:19-CV-01837-DAD-DB, 2023 WL 5806455 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2023) (finding financial conflict of interest justified low-to-moderate level of skepticism in reviewing Sedgwick’s decision and procedural irregularities justified moderate level of skepticism; finding Sedgwick abused its discretion in terminating disability benefits where it failed to meaningfully consider job requirements, relied on inaccurate and misleading reasons and inadequate paper reviews, and failed to meaningfully consider plaintiff’s SSDI award)
Dawson-Murdock v. Nat’l Counseling Grp., Inc., 931 F.3d 269 (4th Cir. 2019) (vacating the district court’s dismissal of the ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims)
Sangha v. Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, 314 F. Supp. 3d 1027, (N.D. Cal. 2018) (overturning Cigna’s denial of long term disability benefits to Plaintiff)
Demer v. IBM Corp. LTD Plan, 835 F.3d 893 (9th Cir. 2016) (reversing summary judgment in favor of MetLife and finding that MetLife abused its discretion in the way that it reviewed Demer’s claim for long term disability benefits)
Bush v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston, 130 F. Supp. 3d 1320 (N.D. Cal. 2015) (ERISA plan administrator waived defenses or objections in its motion to dismiss three counts in the first amended complaint that could have been raised in the prior motion to dismiss the original complaint)
Barboza v. California Association of Profile Firefighters, 144 F. Supp. 3d 1151 (E.D. Cal. 2015) (granting summary judgment to Plaintiff on issue of disability plan offset)
Hirschkron v. Principal Life Ins. Co., No. 15-CV-00664-JD, 141 F.Supp.3d 1028 (N.D. Cal. 2015) (held that plan administrator’s decision denying LTD benefits was subject to de novo, rather than arbitrary and capricious, standard of review)
Barnes v. AT&T Pension Benefit Plan-No bargained Program, 3 F.Supp.2d 950 (N.D. Cal. July 26, 2013) (granting Plaintiff’s request for an award of fees and costs under ERISA Section 502(g)(1)).
Barnes v. AT&T Pension Benefit Plan-Non bargained Program, 273 F.R.D. 562 (N.D. Cal. 2011) (granting Plaintiff’s motion to modify the class certification and order and leave to amend the complaint)
Barnes v. AT&T Pension Benefit Plan – Non bargained Program, 270 F.R.D. 488 (N.D. Cal. 2010) (certifying class of pensioners)
Schramm v. CNA Financial Corp. Insured Group Benefits Program,718 F.Supp.2d 1151 (N.D. Cal. 2010) (awarding Plaintiff long term disability and waiver of life insurance premium benefits against Hartford)

Pro bono/Community Service:

Moot court judge for American Moot Court Association (AMCA) Golden Gate Regional, 2023
Co-chair of Board of Directors, AIDS Legal Referral Panel, 2012
Board of Directors, AIDS Legal Referral Panel, 2010
Amicus brief writer for United Policyholders, 2014
Supervising attorney at the Workers Rights Clinic program run by the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center., 2005
Amicus brief writer for United Policyholders, 2013

Honors/Awards:

Distinguished CELA Lawyer, California Employment Lawyers Association, 2007
Perfect “10.0” on Avvo
ALRP Volunteer of the Year Award, 2015

Educational Background:

University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, B.A. – 2002, Major: Economics/Law & Society, Major: Political Science, Summa cum laude (top 2%)

Scholarly Lectures/Writings:

Author, ERISA LITIGATION, Fifth Edition; Ch. 17: Personal Jurisdiction (BNA 2015 Supplement); Ch. 14: Subject Matter Jurisdiction (BNA 2015 Supplement).
Author, ERISA LITIGATION, Sixth Edition; Ch. 17: Personal Jurisdiction & Ch. 26: Disability Benefit Claims (BNA).
Co-author of article titled, “Anatomy of an ERISA-benefit claim,” published by the Journal of Consumer Attorneys Association for Southern California ADVOCATE; Sept. 2017 Issue
Author, ERISA LITIGATION, Sixth Edition; Ch. 17: Personal Jurisdiction & Ch. 26: Disability Benefit Claims (BNA) (BNA 2016 Supplement).
Author, “ERISA Remedies,” published in the American Association for Justice Newsletter; July 2017.
Senior Editor, EMPLOYEE BENEFITS LAW (Bloomberg BNA), Ch. 14: Issues Unique to Health Care, Disability, and Other Welfare Benefit Plans & Ch. 20: Ethics, Privilege, and Related Concerns Unique to the Practice of Benefits Law (2018 and 2019 Supplements).
Co-author: “Circuit Round-Up of Key Appellate ERISA Decisions from February-September 2019” ABA Labor & Employment Law Section, Employee Benefits Committee Newsletter, Fall 2019 issue
Author of article titled “ERISA: Highlights of Recent Notable Cases,” published in Plaintiff Magazine (September 2019)
Interview, “Michelle Roberts on ERISA and Disability Insurance,” Nonvisible Pod with Lauren Freedman (August 2019)
Author, “Invisible Illness Limitations in Employer-Provided Disability Policies,” Nonvisible Pod with Lauren Freedman (March 2021)
Author of article titled, “When Does Insurance for Single-person Business Owners Become an ERISA Plan,” ABA TIPS Employee Benefits Committee (April 2021)
Co-author, ABA’s ERISA Survey of the Federal Circuits (2021)
Speaker at the 46th Annual TIPS Midwinter Symposium on Insurance and Employee Benefits in Austin, TX. Topic: Attorney’s Fees in ERISA Litigation (January 2020);
Speaker at the Joint Commission on Employee Benefits (JCEB) program, “Employee Benefits Law Update: A Year in Review,” on panel entitled “From Long-COVID to Compliance with Regulations: Trends in Health and Welfare Administration and Disability Litigation” (March 2022);
Speaker at the Joint Commission on Employee Benefits (JCEB) program, ERISA Basics National Institute on two panels regarding Benefit Claims Administrative Procedures & Litigation (October 2023);
Speaker at the TIPS Midwinter Symposium of Employee Benefits, ERISA, Life, Health & Disability Insurance, and Insurance Regulation on ERISA Attorneys’ Fees (February 2024);
Speaker at the ABA Joint Commission on Employee Benefits (JCEB) 2024 Virtual ERISA Fiduciary Institute on Benefit Claim Strategies (June 5, 2024);
Faculty Speaker for CLE sponsored by the Rossdale Group LLP: Mastering Veterans’ Benefits, Social Security, & Disability Law on May 16, 2012.
Speaker at the ERISA Benefits Litigation: How to Prosecute and Defend an Employee Benefits Lawsuit Governed by ERISA CLE hosted by the Litigation and Tax Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco (March 2017);
Speaker at the 14th National Forum on ERISA Litigation. Topic: Ethics and The Fiduciary Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege (March 2017);
Speaker at the 20th National Advanced Forum on Litigating Disability Insurance Claims. Topic: The Evolving State of New Remedies & Equitable Relief Under ERISA § 502(a)(3) (Feb. 2017);
Speaker at the 19th National Advanced Forum on Litigating Disability Insurance Claims. Topic: The Evolving State of New Remedies & Equitable Relief Under ERISA § 502(a)(3) (Sep. 2016);
Speaker at the Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) Webinar “The Basics of Benefit Claims” (Sep. 2016);
Speaker at the 2016 Joint Committee on Employee Benefits ERISA Litigation National Institute conference. Topics: Discovery in ERISA Litigation—FRCP 26-34, ESI, and FOIA Requests& A Practical Guide to Ethics in ERISA Litigation;
Speaker at 2016 Midwinter Meeting of the Section of Labor & Employment Law Employee Benefits Committee, sponsored by ABA. Topic: Interaction ERISA 502(a)(3) and 502(a)(1)(B) claims;
Speaker at the Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) Webinar “Expert’s Guide to Research” (Nov. 2015)
Speaker at the American Association for Justice (AAJ) 2015 Annual Convention in Montreal, Canada. Social Security Section/ERISA, Health and Disability Insurance Litigation Group. Topic: Wide World of Post-Amara ERISA Remedies
Speaker at the 2015 Midwinter Meeting of the Section of Labor & Employment Law Employee Benefits Committee (EBC), sponsored by the ABA on Benefit and Fiduciary Claims; The Impact of Procedural Issues
Speaker at the 2014 Federal Bar Association (FBA) CLE Webinar on Disability Claims Under ERISA
Speaker at the 2014 National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) Annual Convention on ERISA Remedies
Faculty Speaker at the 2013 Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) Annual Las Vegas Convention on ERISA Liens;
Ethics panelist at Midwinter Meetings of the EBC (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Everything Really *I*isn't *So Awful – an Overview of the Current Landscape of ERISA Preemption & Remedies; Consumer Attorneys of California (“CAOC”) Convention 2012

Firm News (Newsletters):

Summary of all ERISA Circuit Court decisions., ERISA Circuit Review, ERISA, Employee Benefits

Industry Groups:

All professionals with disability insurance policies through their employer.

Michelle L. Roberts