Stanford v. Continental Casualty Co.

The majority’s position rests on two abstractions: first, that a disability plan need not cover “potential risk of relapse,” and, second, that for disability purposes, “a physical condition such as a heart attack ... is different from the risk of relapse into drug use.” Ante at 357-58. Neither abstraction is grounded in law. The text of Continental’s plan designates addiction as a mental disorder and covers mental disorders so long as they make a claimant continuously unable to perform the duties of his previous occupation. All record evidence indicates that, because of his addiction,…