Opinion ID: 77935
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Byars' Claim

Text: Byars filed her claim for LTD benefits on January 26, 2000, claiming that her disability date was on or around August 20, 1999. (R.9-131 at 24 ¶ 28.) Because she filed her claim within the first twenty-four months following her disability date, the own occupation definition applied. ReliaStar denied her claim on April 14, 2000, saying that the medical evidence showed she was still capable of performing the substantial and material duties of [her] regular occupation as a Product Consultant. (R.15-216 at CC178.) Byars appealed denial of her claim. ReliaStar upheld its decision on August 30, 2000, again saying that Byars was not totally disabled from [her] own occupation. . . . (R.15-216 at CC162.) Then, on January 23, 2001  only seventeen months after Byars' disability date  the Committee informed her that it was upholding ReliaStar's decision to deny her benefits. (R.15-216 at CC8.) Invoking ERISA jurisdiction, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e), Byars filed this lawsuit in November 2001.