⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Ninth Circuit reviews First Unum's denial of long-term disability benefits under ERISA, the federal employee-benefits law, to Siam Mendoza, a former AIG senior underwriter who says long COVID left him with fatigue and cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. The district court independently reviewed the administrative record and ruled for First Unum. Mendoza will argue that First Unum and the court used reasons for discounting his evidence that were not disclosed during his administrative appeal, leaving him no chance to respond. First Unum will argue that it consistently found his reported limits unsupported by the medical record and that the court merely weighed that same record. The question is whether those explanations were a forbidden new rationale or support for the original denial.

Mendoza v. First Unum Life Insurance Company (No. 25-3080) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued July 7, 2026.