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By: J.J. Conway Law

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J.J. Conway

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Michigan should reject ‘repetitive sickness’ as a bar to physician disability claims

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466

Royal Oak, Mich.—October 29, 2025—The Nolan v. Provident Life and Accident Insurance Companylawsuit filed this week by national employee benefits litigation and ERISA attorney J.J. Conway onbehalf of a Michigan vascular surgeon seeks to overturn the Michigan Supreme Court ruling in Nehra v.Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company, 454 Mich. 110 (1997), which narrowly defines injuryso as to exclude repetitive injury disabilities prevalent in the nature of a surgeon’s work.

According to published studies, surgeons experience significantly higher rates

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Continue Reading Surgeon’s Lawsuit Seeks to Overturn Longstanding but Obscure Michigan Supreme Court Decision on Illness Versus Injury in Determining Private Contract Disability Benefits

In my March 2023 Conway on Benefits column in the Detroit Legal News, I wrote about thediffering roles and responsibilities of employee benefits departments versus individualemployees regarding monitoring their benefits.

“There is an increasing tendency of the courts in ERISA cases to let a benefits department off thehook for big, consequential errors and to shift the blame upon the employee for administrativeerrors at the plan level…It is a reflexive approach that might work in crafting a written opinionbut is inconsistent with the real world setting and the working lives of employees in privatecompanies…”

I thought of that column when reading…
Continue Reading Don’t Rely on Your Employer to Track Your 401(k) Deductions

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466

Royal Oak, Mich.—August 21, 2025—National employee benefits and ERISA law firm J.J. Conway Lawis pleased to announce that principal attorney, founder and litigator John Joseph (J.J.) Conway hasbeen named to the 2026 Best Lawyers ® list, making his debut appearance in the 32 nd edition of The BestLawyers in America ® . Best Lawyers ® honors legal talent annually in more than 70 countries worldwideusing its Purely Peer Review ® evaluation process and is widely regarded by both clients and legalprofessionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer…
Continue Reading J.J. Conway, National ERISA and Employee Benefits Litigator, Makes his Debut Appearance on Prestigious Best Lawyers® List

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466

Royal Oak, Mich.—August 21, 2025—National employee benefits and ERISA law firm J.J. Conway Lawis pleased to announce that principal attorney, founder and litigator John Joseph (J.J.) Conway hasbeen named to the 2025 Michigan Super Lawyers list. Peer-influenced and research-driven, the SuperLawyers selection process recognizes the top 5% of attorneys in Michigan.

Conway was recognized in the practice areas of employee benefits. He is a veteran of the Super Lawyerslist, first appearing as a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2008 to 2011, and appearing on the SuperLawyers traditional list since 2013.
Continue Reading National ERISA and Employee Benefits Litigator, J.J. Conway, Continues His Long Run on the Michigan Super Lawyers List

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466

Royal Oak, Mich.— August 5, 2025— Employee benefits and ERISA attorney and litigator John Joseph(J.J.) Conway of Michigan-based J.J. Conway Law is not waiting for the current administration toofficially release executive orders and regulatory advisories allowing 401k accounts to invest in newretirement products before he calls out the move as risky.

“Allowing employees to invest their retirement savings in cryptocurrencies, alternative investments likeprivate equity and hedge funds, and precious metals is a seismic and risky shift in U.S. public policy,”Conway said. “With alternative investments, for example, the standard management fee on…
Continue Reading ERISA Attorney Cites Exorbitant Management Fees, Withdrawal Restrictions, Plan Administration and Fiduciary Conflicts as Key Risks in New Era 401(k) Plans

Byline: Kelsey Dulz, Rising 2L at Detroit Mercy School of Law

Before this summer, I hadn’t given much thought about benefits law. I would be remiss ifI didn’t admit that any assumptions I had were rooted in the idea that the work mostlyinvolved being on hold with insurance companies all day. While I did, in fact, spendplenty of time on hold, I’ve come to understand just how complex, technical, andessential this area of law truly is.

This summer, I worked on client matters involving healthcare claims, disability benefits,pensions, and ERISA. Benefits law is deeply rooted in contract law, but the…
Continue Reading A Summer in Benefits Law: Advocacy Starts With the Right Documents

Picture this. A lingering, unidentified illness has left you unable to work. Maybe youhave tried repeatedly to return to work, but a host of symptoms is making it impossiblefor you to continue in your job. Yet, despite multiple doctor’s visits explaining thesymptoms – and perhaps even medical tests proving various conditions- you do nothave a precise diagnosis for the underlying cause of the disability. In other words, youhave many symptoms, but they seem to be incapable of a single diagnosis.

This can be a real barrier to collecting a long-term disability (LTD) benefit from youremployer-sponsored disability plan. Take, for example,…
Continue Reading Name Your Claim: How Being Able to Correctly Identify Your Diagnosis May Help Collect Your Benefit.

A buzzworthy topic in the past couple years, especially as celebrities – and perhapseven your family and friends – are slimming down noticeably and quickly: weight lossdrugs. GLP-1 drugs, commonly referred to by the brand names such as Ozempic,Mounjaro, Zepbound, and Wegovy, among others, have grown in popularity in recentyears as a tool for weight loss.
Deemed wonder drugs by some, perhaps it’s not surprising that these drugs come at ahigh price; so high, that more insurers are balking – and increasingly refusing – to coverthem. With an annual cost averaging $12,000 for GLP-1s, Blue Cross Blue Shield ofMichigan announced

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Continue Reading Next in Line for an Employee Benefits Battle: Weight Loss Drugs

Since its enactment 50 years ago, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) hasproven to be one of the most dynamic acts in legislative history. It quickly transformed into lawnot only protections for retirement plans but also safeguards for all insured employee benefits.It solidified the fact that insured employee benefits such as pensions, 401(k) plans, healthinsurance, life insurance, and long-term-disability plans are legal contracts between anemployer and an employee. When an employee benefits dispute arises, only an ERISA attorneycan provide the most comprehensive and legally sound, experience-based approach to obtainingfor employees the insured benefits that are rightly theirs.
Employee benefits

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Continue Reading Why Your Employee Benefits Case Requires an ERISA Litigation Attorney

Billions of Dollars Hiding in Plain Sight: Federal Government Allows Private Insurers to Offset Their Financial Obligations With Social Security Disability Payments – Why?

ERISA attorney explains how non-partisan policy change would save money and benefit disabled American workers
Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466
Royal Oak, Mich.—February 27,2025— As the search for savings in federal dollars zooms forward, employee benefits and ERISA attorney and litigator John Joseph (J.J.) Conway of J.J. Conway Law, notes that a longstanding offset allowed by the government continues to reward private insurers with billions of dollars for not paying

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Continue Reading Billions of Dollars Hiding in Plain Sight: Federal Government Allows Private Insurers to Offset Their Financial Obligations With Social Security Disability Payments – Why?

Are Insurance Company Denials Increasing?

The senseless and tragic killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in December 2024 prompted conflicting outcries. The first was the terrible realization that the CEO was targeted for death solely for his executive employment at a health insurer. The second – one that sent shockwaves throughout the country – was the number of people online who appeared to have been sympathetic to the killing based on their own negative experiences with health insurance premium denials.
While the story has simmered down, news outlets are reporting that health insurance denials – and those of other insurers – do

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Continue Reading Are Insurance Company Denials Increasing?

J.J. Conway Receives DBusiness Top Lawyers Honors for 2025

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466
Royal Oak, Mich.—November 6, 2024—Employee benefits and ERISA law firm J.J. Conway Law is pleased to announce that principal attorney, founder and litigator John Joseph (J.J.) Conway has been recognized among DBusiness magazine’s Top Lawyers for 2025.  To compile its annual list, the magazine sent out a peer-review survey to certified attorneys throughout the metro Detroit area earlier this year to find and honor the top vote-getters in almost 50 legal practice areas. Inclusion is exclusive, based solely on the number

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Continue Reading J.J. Conway Receives DBusiness Top Lawyers Honors for 2025

Open Enrollment? Job Change? Make Sure Benefit Choices Satisfy the Three Pillars of Financial Security

Did you know that up to one-third of an employee’s overall compensation is paid to them in the form of benefits? For employees facing open enrollment decisions this fall or eying new career opportunities, the financial value and accompanying costs of employee benefits should take center stage.
With health insurance premiums rising 7% in 2024 – after a similar increase in 2023, employees are paying an average 14% more on health insurance than they did in 2022 – while merit pay increases are averaging 3.5%

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Continue Reading Open Enrollment? Job Change? Make Sure Benefit Choices Satisfy the Three Pillars of Financial Security

Employee Benefits Litigation Law Firm J.J. Conway Law Announces Office Relocation 

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466
Royal Oak, Mich.—-September 6, 2024—National employee benefits and ERISA attorney and litigator John Joseph (J.J.) Conway is pleased to announce the relocation of his firm, J.J. Conway Law, to: 

150 W. 2nd Street, Suite 250
Royal Oak, MI  48067
The phone number, 313-961-6525, remains unchanged.
Since founding the firm 25 years ago, Conway has been involved with some of the most significant cases in employee benefits law history. Key cases range from wins in autism services coverage for

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Continue Reading Employee Benefits Litigation Law Firm J.J. Conway Law Announces Office Relocation 

Happy 50th Birthday, ERISA! Half a Century In, Employee Retirement Income Security Act Proves Its Value to Private Sector Workers in Pension, 401(k) and Health Plan Protections

Signed by President Gerald R. Ford on September 2, 1974, Act took effect in 1975; plus, why aren’t government workers protected by ERISA? 
Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466
Royal Oak, Mich.—August 22, 2024—The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 established standards for private employer pension and health plans in order to protect employee benefit plan participants and their beneficiaries. Fifty years after its signing by President

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Continue Reading Happy 50th Birthday, ERISA! Half a Century In, Employee Retirement Income Security Act Proves Its Value to Private Sector Workers in Pension, 401(k) and Health Plan Protections

National Employee Benefits Litigator J.J. Conway Recognized by Leading Lawyers in 2024

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; [email protected]; 248.260.8466
Royal Oak, Mich.—August 22, 2024—Employee benefits and ERISA law firm J.J. Conway Law is pleased to announce that principal attorney, founder and litigator John Joseph (J.J.) Conway has been selected for inclusion on Michigan’s Leading Lawyers list for 2024 in the category of Employee Benefits. This honor is bestowed on fewer than 5% of Michigan’s licensed attorneys.
As his firm celebrates a milestone 25 years in 2024, the nationally recognized trial attorney has navigated the legal complexities of

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Continue Reading National Employee Benefits Litigator J.J. Conway Recognized by Leading Lawyers in 2024