Steven Leipzig, Cross-Appellee v. Aig Life Insurance Company

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that despite claimant’s stressful job and diagnosis of coronary artery disease, hypertension, and gout, insurer had presented rational basis for denying benefits based on physician reports that claimant was stable and asymptomatic
• reminding that that “[m]ost of the time, physicians accept at face value what patients tell them about their symptoms …”
• noting that “insurers . . . must consider the possibility that applicants are exaggerat- ing in an effort to win benefits (or are sincere hypochondri- acs not at serious medical risk)”
• “Many persons 23 with serious heart conditions work at stressful jobs for years without ill effects. Think of President 24 Eisenhower, Vice President Cheney, and Associate Justice Stevens.”
• “Most of the time, physicians accept at face value what patients tell them about their symptoms; but insurers... must consider the possibility that applicants are exaggerating in an effort to win benefits”
• “Most of the time, physicians accept at face value what patients tell them about their symptoms; but [administrators] must consider the possibility that applicants are exaggerating in an effort to win benefits (or are sincere hypochondriacs not at serious medical risk).”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).