Which Insurers Are Sued Most Under ERISA? Federal Lawsuits by Company, FY2016–FY2025
Original analysis of 55,077 records from the Federal Judicial Center, FY2016–FY2025. Published October 23, 2026.
We counted the 52,747 new ERISA lawsuits filed in U.S. district courts from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025 and matched the first-listed defendant to 30 insurance companies.
What the federal court records show
Life Insurance Company of North America (LINA) was the first-listed defendant in 3,731 new federal ERISA lawsuits from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025, more than any other company. In fiscal 2025 alone, Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company was named first most often among insurers the records identify by name (300 suits), followed by LINA and Lincoln National Life (268 each). Court records do not say whether a suit concerned disability, life or health benefits.
- 3,731New ERISA suits naming LINA first, FY2016–FY2025
- 300Suits naming Hartford Life and Accident first, FY2025
- 43%New ERISA suits naming a listed insurer first, FY2025
LINA leads the decade
LINA was named first in 3,731 new ERISA suits over ten fiscal years, 7.1% of all new ERISA suits and 1,196 more than Hartford Life and Accident (2,535). Prudential (1,987) and Unum Life (1,853) followed.
Hartford ranked first in fiscal 2025
Hartford Life and Accident was the first-listed defendant in 300 new ERISA suits in fiscal 2025, 6.7% of all 4,494 and the most of any insurer whose name the records identify. LINA and Lincoln National Life recorded 268 each, Unum Life 206.
LINA's yearly count fell
Suits naming LINA first went from 439 in fiscal 2016 to 268 in fiscal 2025, a decline of 39.0%. Hartford Life and Accident's count rose over the same years.
Listed insurers make up a growing share
New ERISA suits overall fell 31.3%, from 6,543 to 4,494. The share naming one of the listed insurers first rose from 32.8% to 42.6%.
Most LINA and Hartford suits end as settled
Of the closed suits filed in fiscal 2016–2023, the court coded 70.4% of LINA cases and 69.4% of Hartford Life and Accident cases as settled, against 43.8% for all new ERISA suits. Settlement terms are not recorded.
Quote this finding
Life Insurance Company of North America (LINA) was the first-listed defendant in 3,731 new federal ERISA lawsuits from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025, more than any other company. Source: Settlement Insight, Most-sued insurers under ERISA
Which Insurers Are Sued Most Under ERISA
The ranking counts new ERISA lawsuits filed in federal district courts in fiscal 2016–2025 in which the insurer is the first-listed defendant.
LINA (3,731), Hartford Life and Accident (2,535), Prudential (1,987), Unum Life (1,853) and Lincoln National Life (1,592) were named first most often.
Each insurer is counted under the name of the legal entity in the court record. Affiliated companies are not merged: Unum Life Insurance Company of America, First Unum Life Insurance Company and Unum Group appear separately, as do Lincoln National Life, Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston and Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston, the earlier name of the same Boston company, which has since been merged into Lincoln National Life. The settled and voluntary-dismissal shares cover suits filed through fiscal 2023 that the courts had closed, so recent cases still pending do not skew them.
The counts reflect how many claims each company handles as much as how it handles them: the data contain no measure of policies in force or claims decided, so a larger insurer can rank higher without a higher rate of disputes.
New federal ERISA suits by first-listed insurer, FY2016–FY2025
| Insurer | Suits | Settled | Voluntary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life Insurance Company of North America | 3,731 | 70% | 14% |
| Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company | 2,535 | 69% | 14% |
| Prudential Insurance Company of America | 1,987 | 72% | 12% |
| Unum Life Insurance Company of America | 1,853 | 66% | 14% |
| Lincoln National Life Insurance Company | 1,592 | 66% | 20% |
| Metropolitan Life Insurance Company | 1,377 | 67% | 13% |
| Aetna Life Insurance Company | 1,341 | 68% | 14% |
| Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston | 961 | 72% | 13% |
| Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company | 782 | 61% | 10% |
| United of Omaha Life Insurance Company | 610 | 69% | 9% |
| Standard Insurance Company | 450 | 69% | 15% |
| Guardian Life Insurance Company of America | 430 | 64% | 13% |
| Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada | 419 | 66% | 12% |
| UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company | 378 | 50% | 23% |
| Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston | 327 | 68% | 17% |
All 30 insurers
| Insurer | Suits | Settled | Voluntary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company | 272 | 41% | 24% |
| Principal Life Insurance Company | 185 | 62% | 19% |
| First Unum Life Insurance Company | 109 | 61% | 11% |
| Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York | 107 | 75% | 17% |
| ReliaStar Life Insurance Company | 103 | 66% | 16% |
| Anthem Life Insurance Company | 98 | 63% | 13% |
| New York Life Insurance Company | 98 | 53% | 24% |
| Unum Group | 78 | 55% | 16% |
| Dearborn National Life Insurance Company | 54 | 56% | 20% |
| First Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company | 52 | 55% | 15% |
| Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company | 51 | 69% | 11% |
| Symetra Life Insurance Company | 51 | 59% | 25% |
| American United Life Insurance Company | 47 | 71% | 9% |
| Union Security Insurance Company | 47 | 64% | 15% |
| Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company | 38 | 48% | 21% |
Suits = new ERISA suits (original filings and removals from state court). Settled and Voluntary = share of closed suits filed in fiscal 2016–2023 coded as dismissed: settled or dismissed: voluntarily.
Which Insurers Were Sued Most Under ERISA in 2025
Fiscal 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, the most recent complete year in the court data.
Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company was named first in 300 new ERISA suits, followed by Life Insurance Company of North America and Lincoln National Life Insurance Company with 268 each.
The gap at the top is within the limits of the records. The court data shorten long defendant names, and 32 fiscal 2025 suits list a defendant only as "Life Insurance Company". Most such entries are probably LINA, but other insurers start with the same words, so we did not count them. If all of them were LINA, its total would be 300.
Counting the three entities in our list with Unum in their name together, these defendants were listed first in 238 fiscal 2025 suits.
New federal ERISA suits by first-listed insurer, FY2025
- Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company3006.68% of new ERISA suits · 296 in FY2024
- Life Insurance Company of North America2685.96% of new ERISA suits · 240 in FY2024
- Lincoln National Life Insurance Company2685.96% of new ERISA suits · 221 in FY2024
- Unum Life Insurance Company of America2064.58% of new ERISA suits · 270 in FY2024
- Prudential Insurance Company of America1773.94% of new ERISA suits · 178 in FY2024
- Metropolitan Life Insurance Company1393.09% of new ERISA suits · 121 in FY2024
- Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company881.96% of new ERISA suits · 114 in FY2024
- United of Omaha Life Insurance Company871.94% of new ERISA suits · 74 in FY2024
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America631.40% of new ERISA suits · 56 in FY2024
- Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada380.85% of new ERISA suits · 36 in FY2024
- Standard Insurance Company370.82% of new ERISA suits · 23 in FY2024
- UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company300.67% of new ERISA suits · 33 in FY2024
All 30 insurers
- New York Life Insurance Company280.62% of new ERISA suits · 25 in FY2024
- ReliaStar Life Insurance Company220.49% of new ERISA suits · 17 in FY2024
- Aetna Life Insurance Company200.45% of new ERISA suits · 51 in FY2024
- Principal Life Insurance Company200.45% of new ERISA suits · 29 in FY2024
- First Unum Life Insurance Company160.36% of new ERISA suits · 18 in FY2024
- Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston160.36% of new ERISA suits · 24 in FY2024
- Unum Group160.36% of new ERISA suits · 6 in FY2024
- Anthem Life Insurance Company150.33% of new ERISA suits · 13 in FY2024
- Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company130.29% of new ERISA suits · 13 in FY2024
- Symetra Life Insurance Company130.29% of new ERISA suits · 6 in FY2024
- Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company110.24% of new ERISA suits · 4 in FY2024
- First Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company70.16% of new ERISA suits · 11 in FY2024
- American United Life Insurance Company50.11% of new ERISA suits · 7 in FY2024
- Dearborn National Life Insurance Company50.11% of new ERISA suits · 4 in FY2024
- Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York40.09% of new ERISA suits · 1 in FY2024
- Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston20.04% of new ERISA suits · 7 in FY2024
- Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company20.04% of new ERISA suits · 7 in FY2024
- Union Security Insurance Company00.00% of new ERISA suits · 0 in FY2024
Share = suits naming the insurer first divided by all 4,494 new ERISA suits of any kind in fiscal 2025.
How ERISA Lawsuits Against Insurers Have Changed
New ERISA filings declined over the decade, while the share naming one of the listed insurers first increased.
Suits naming one of the listed insurers first made up 32.8% of new ERISA suits in fiscal 2016 and 42.6% in fiscal 2025.
The other new ERISA suits name a different defendant first, such as an employer, a benefit plan, a multiemployer benefit fund or an insurer not in our list, or a name too short to assign. The table shows LINA, Hartford Life and Accident and Unum Life.
New ERISA suits naming a listed insurer first, by fiscal year
- 20162,14732.8% of 6,543 new ERISA suits
- 20172,19634.4% of 6,393 new ERISA suits
- 20182,37036.8% of 6,441 new ERISA suits
- 20192,16737.2% of 5,826 new ERISA suits
- 20201,87137.3% of 5,014 new ERISA suits
- 20211,84041.1% of 4,477 new ERISA suits
- 20221,93242.7% of 4,525 new ERISA suits
- 20231,81940.5% of 4,491 new ERISA suits
- 20241,90541.9% of 4,543 new ERISA suits
- 20251,91642.6% of 4,494 new ERISA suits
New ERISA suits naming LINA, Hartford Life and Accident or Unum Life first
| FY | LINA | Hartford | Unum Life |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 439 | 184 | 139 |
| 2017 | 464 | 175 | 177 |
| 2018 | 656 | 203 | 144 |
| 2019 | 535 | 234 | 156 |
| 2020 | 346 | 256 | 140 |
| 2021 | 369 | 272 | 162 |
| 2022 | 246 | 280 | 224 |
| 2023 | 168 | 335 | 235 |
| 2024 | 240 | 296 | 270 |
| 2025 | 268 | 300 | 206 |
Fiscal years end September 30. Fiscal 2026 is incomplete in the current data release and is not shown.
Download the Data and Cite This Study
Every table as a CSV file and in one Excel workbook, a short PDF summary and every chart as an image, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
- Insurers named first in new ERISA lawsuits, FY2016-FY2025Ten-year totals of new federal ERISA suits per first-listed insurer, with the share of closed FY2016-FY2023 suits recorded as settled or voluntarily dismissed. · 30 rows · CSV, 2 KB
- Insurers named first in new ERISA lawsuits, FY2025New federal ERISA suits (nature of suit 791, original or removed) filed in FY2025 whose first-listed defendant is each of the listed insurers, with its share of all new ERISA suits. · 30 rows · CSV, 2 KB
- New ERISA lawsuits per insurer by fiscal yearAnnual counts of new federal ERISA suits for the ten insurers named first most often over FY2016-FY2025. · 100 rows · CSV, 5 KB
- Federal ERISA lawsuits by fiscal yearAll ERISA cases commenced, new ERISA suits, and new suits naming one of the listed insurers first, per federal fiscal year. · 10 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- All tables in one Excel workbookOne sheet per table plus an About sheet with sources, method and citation · Excel (.xlsx), 17 KB
- Summary to print or forward (3 pages)Short answer, key figures, main chart, findings, method and citation · PDF, 280 KB
Charts for your story
New federal ERISA suits by first-listed insurer, FY2016–FY2025
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New federal ERISA suits by first-listed insurer, FY2025
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New ERISA suits naming a listed insurer first, by fiscal year
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How to cite
Goldberg, L. (2026). Insurers in federal ERISA lawsuits — new suits by first-listed insurer (FY2016–FY2025) [Data set]. Settlement Insight. https://settlementinsight.com/research/most-sued-disability-insurers-erisa
BibTeX
@dataset{goldberg_2026_most_sued_disability_insurers_erisa,
author = {Goldberg, Leonard},
title = {Insurers in federal ERISA lawsuits --- new suits by first-listed insurer (FY2016--FY2025)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Settlement Insight},
url = {https://settlementinsight.com/research/most-sued-disability-insurers-erisa}
}How We Measured
Checked against published figures
- ERISA civil cases (nature of suit 791) commenced in U.S. district courts, 12 months ending September 30, 2025: published 4,690, our count 4,696 (0.13% apart).Table C-2. U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit, During the 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2024 and 2025
- ERISA civil cases (nature of suit 791) commenced in U.S. district courts, 12 months ending September 30, 2024: published 4,758, our count 4,753 (0.11% apart).Table C-2. U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit, During the 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2024 and 2025
Full method and limits of the data
We selected cases with nature-of-suit code 791 (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) whose IDB filing date (filedate) falls in federal fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025 (October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2025; fiscal 2025 runs from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025). Counting every case commenced, as the judiciary does, gives 4,696 ERISA cases for fiscal 2025 and 4,753 for fiscal 2024. That is within 0.13% and 0.11% of the totals in the judiciary's Judicial Business Table C-2.
For the rankings we kept only new suits, meaning origin code 1 (original proceeding) and 2 (removed from state court), and dropped all other origin codes (remanded, reopened, transferred, multidistrict litigation and appeals from magistrate judges) so that a dispute is not counted twice. Where the IDB lists the same docket number in the same district and office more than once, we kept one entry, the one with the earliest filing date; duplicates are looked for after the filters above are applied (45 removed). This leaves 52,747 new ERISA suits, the denominator of every share.
The IDB records only the first-listed defendant (field defendant), cut to about 30 characters. We matched that name to a fixed list of 30 insurance companies: Life Insurance Company of North America, Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company, Prudential Insurance Company of America, Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston, Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company, United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, Standard Insurance Company, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston, Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Principal Life Insurance Company, First Unum Life Insurance Company, Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, Anthem Life Insurance Company, New York Life Insurance Company, Unum Group, Dearborn National Life Insurance Company, First Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company, Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company, Symetra Life Insurance Company, American United Life Insurance Company, Union Security Insurance Company, Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. Claims administrators, group parents other than Unum Group and sister companies such as Hartford Life Insurance Company are not on the list, and no companies are merged.
Before matching, each name is converted to upper case, "&" is written as "AND", a trailing "et al." is dropped, periods, commas and apostrophes become spaces, repeated spaces are collapsed, a leading "THE" is dropped, and the whole words "CO" and "INS" are written as "COMPANY" and "INSURANCE". A name then counts for a company only if it begins with that company's fixed start: "LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NO" or "LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY NO" for LINA, "HARTFORD LIFE AND A" for Hartford Life and Accident, "PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE C" (or exactly the cut-off "PRUDENTIAL INSURANC") for Prudential, "UNUM LIFE IN" for Unum Life, "LINCOLN NATIONAL L" for Lincoln National Life, "LINCOLN LIFE ASSURANCE", "METROPOLITAN LIFE", "FIRST UNUM LIFE", "UNUM GROUP", "UNITED OF OMAHA LIFE", "MUTUAL OF OMAHA INS", "RELIANCE STANDARD LIFE", "FIRST RELIANCE STANDARD", "SUN LIFE ASSURANCE", "STANDARD INSURANCE CO", "GUARDIAN LIFE INS", "AETNA LIFE INS", "LIBERTY LIFE ASSURANCE", "CIGNA HEALTH AND LIFE", "CIGNA LIFE INSURANCE CO", "UNITEDHEALTHCARE INSUR" or "UNITED HEALTHCARE INSUR", "RELIASTAR LIFE", "PRINCIPAL LIFE", "NEW YORK LIFE INS", "SYMETRA LIFE", "ANTHEM LIFE INS", "PROVIDENT LIFE AND ACC", "UNION SECURITY INS", "AMERICAN UNITED LIFE", and "DEARBORN NATIONAL LIFE" or "DEARBORN LIFE" for the other companies on the list. Whatever follows the start is ignored, so later words may be cut off or misspelled. A name with a misspelling, a missing word or a different word order inside the start is not counted (for example "Life Insurance Companay of Nor", "Life Insurance of North Americ" or "Hartford Accident and Life Ins"), and neither is a name that stops before the start is complete, such as "Life Insurance Company", "Life Insurance Co. of N" or "Hartford". Names of other entities fail the start test as well, for example Prudential Insurance Agency or Unum Life Assurance. Settled and voluntary-dismissal shares use the IDB disposition codes for suits filed through fiscal 2023 and closed by the data cutoff.
What this data cannot tell you
- The IDB does not record what benefit a suit concerned. ERISA suits against these insurers include long-term disability, life insurance and health claims, and the data cannot separate them.
- Only the first-listed defendant is recorded. A suit that names an employer or a benefit plan first and the insurer second is not counted for the insurer. Over the ten years, 564 suits list only a shortened "Life Insurance Company" and are not counted for LINA, so LINA's totals are a lower bound.
- Counts are not adjusted for company size, the number of covered workers or the number of claims each insurer decides. A lawsuit is an allegation, not a finding against the insurer.
- Dismissed: settled is the court's code for how a case ended. Some suits settled privately are closed as voluntary dismissals, and settlement amounts are not part of the data.
- Courts report cases to the federal judiciary with a delay, and later IDB releases can add or correct records for recent years. Fiscal 2025 counts may change slightly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which insurance company is sued the most under ERISA?
Life Insurance Company of North America (LINA) was the first-listed defendant in 3,731 new federal ERISA suits from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025, more than any other company. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company followed with 2,535.
How many lawsuits are filed against Unum?
Unum Life Insurance Company of America was named first in 206 new federal ERISA suits in fiscal 2025 and 1,853 over fiscal 2016–2025. Including First Unum Life and Unum Group, Unum-named defendants were listed first in 238 fiscal 2025 suits.
How many ERISA lawsuits does Hartford face?
Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company was the first-listed defendant in 300 new federal ERISA suits in fiscal 2025, the most of any insurer identified by name that year. Over fiscal 2016–2025 it was named first in 2,535.
How many lawsuits are filed against Lincoln Financial for disability claims?
Lincoln National Life Insurance Company was named first in 268 new federal ERISA suits in fiscal 2025 and 1,592 over ten years. Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston, a former Lincoln Financial company since merged into Lincoln National Life, was named first in another 16 fiscal 2025 suits and 327 over ten years. The court data do not show how many of these concerned disability rather than life or other benefits.
How many ERISA lawsuits are filed each year?
The federal court data list 4,696 ERISA cases commenced in fiscal 2025, counting reopened and transferred cases. Of these, 4,494 were new suits, and 1,916 named one of the listed insurers first.
Do long-term disability lawsuits usually settle?
Among closed ERISA suits filed in fiscal 2016–2023 that named LINA first, courts coded 70.4% as dismissed: settled; for Unum Life the figure was 66.2%. These suits include life and health as well as disability claims, and the data do not include settlement amounts.
Sources
- Integrated Database (IDB): civil cases — Federal Judicial Center
- IDB Civil Codebook, 1988 forward — Federal Judicial Center
- The Integrated Database: A Research Guide — Federal Judicial Center
- Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit — Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Independent analysis. Settlement Insight is not a law firm and not affiliated with any agency named here. Analysis by Leonard Goldberg, Editor. How we work: methodology, our data.
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