A Forensic Linguistic Approach to Legal Disclosures by Stratman James F

Author:Stratman, James F. [James F. Stratman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Notes

1To see the difference in frame, compare CIGNA’s question, for instance, with this one: “Will my benefits be better or worse under the new plan?”

2Discussing the general problem of incompleteness of information in SPDs when compared to plan documents themselves, Wiedenbeck (2008) argues for an approach to determine employer liability that he terms the “material omissions approach” (see pp. 98–105). As he notes, “the proposed material omissions approach would permit the employer to avoid liability if the SPD contained a particularized warning that additional information should be consulted in special circumstances” (p. 100, italics added). In CIGNA’s questions-and-answer segment discussed here, a warning is arguably conveyed by the hedges, but that warning could not be construed as “particularized” because no direction is offered either as to where a clear explanation can be found or to the specific employee factors or contexts where the warning applies. Whether or not a material omissions approach should also be applicable to § 204(h) notices is not discussed by Wiedenbeck, but his outline of this approach at least partially reflects IMT’s cooperativeness principle.

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