Marrow v. E.R. Carpenter Co., Inc., 2025 WL 3209652 (M.D. Fla. 2025)
A former employee filed a proposed class action lawsuit against her employer (as the plan administrator of the company’s group health plan), alleging several deficiencies in the COBRA election notice that caused her to not elect COBRA and resulted in uninsured medical expenses. The court allowed the case to proceed to trial but, in later proceedings, denied the class action certification. At that time, the employee narrowed her complaint to focus on the omission of the date on which the election form was due and the inclusion of conflicting statements regarding whether the initial payment had to accompany the election form. She claimed that the inadequate notice caused her to lose health and dental insurance, resulting in medical bills and canceled dental procedures.
The court dismissed the case, holding that even if the employee suffered the alleged injuries, she had produced no evidence that the injuries were traceable to the deficient COBRA notice. Specifically, she had “never connect[ed] any deficiency about when the election form or initial payment was due to her failure to elect.” Instead, the employee admitted that she could afford the election payment, knew she would have to pay to elect coverage, and was informed by the notice that she had sixty days in which to elect. Therefore, the court concluded, the notice’s contradictory statements about due dates did not cause the employee harm when she did not even attempt to elect coverage.
EBIA Comment: Although courts often decline to impose statutory penalties (or other remedies) for a COBRA notice violation in the absence of harm or prejudice to the qualified beneficiary, penalty assessment is at the discretion of the deciding court. To mitigate the risk of costly litigation and potential penalties, plan administrators should provide clear, easy-to-understand notices that include all information required by COBRA. For more information, see EBIA’s COBRA manual at Section XVIII.D (“What Information Must the Election Notice Contain?”).
Take your tax and accounting research to the next level with Checkpoint Edge and CoCounsel. Get instant access to AI-assisted research, expert-approved answers, and cutting-edge tools like Advisory Maps and State Charts. Try it today and transform the way you work! Subscribe now and discover a smarter way to find answers.
