Pannebecker

BACKGROUND

Pannebecker worked in a variety of technical, managerial, and marketing roles related to the design and development of large-scale computer processing systems. Most recently, she worked as a laboratory and department manager at Hughes, where her annual income was just over $100,000. In 1996, after two cardiac bypass surgeries, she stopped working alto- gether and sought disability benefits under Hughes’s long- term plan.

The Hughes Plan contains two different definitions of “dis- ability,” depending on the relevant time frame for which a claim is asserted. Under the “own occupation” benefit, an employee who is “unable to perform all of the material and substantial duties of his occupation on an Active Employment basis because of an Injury or Sickness” is eligible for an ini- tial 18-month benefit. Liberty advised Pannebecker that she PANNEBECKER v. LIBERTY LIFE ASSURANCE CO. 13183 qualified for continued disability benefits under this defini- tion, but that the company would periodically request updated information from her. Near the end of the 18-month period, Liberty pulled Pannebecker’s file for audit and determined that she still qualified for “own…