NEW ORLEANS (LN) — The full Fifth Circuit on Monday vacated a December 2025 panel opinion and agreed to rehear en banc a dispute between Aramark Services and Aetna Life Insurance Company over an employer-sponsored group health plan.
The case, which originated in the Eastern District of Texas, involves Aramark Services, Incorporated Group Health Plan; Aramark Services Incorporated; Aramark Uniform Services, Group Health and Welfare Plan; and the Aramark Benefits Compliance Review Committee as plaintiffs-appellees, with Aetna Life Insurance Company as defendant-appellant.
The Fifth Circuit's per curiam order, filed April 28, is spare: a majority of circuit judges in regular active service and not disqualified voted in favor of rehearing after a member of the court requested a poll on Aetna's petition for rehearing en banc.
The panel opinion, issued December 18, 2025, and reported at 162 F.4th 532, is vacated. The clerk is directed to specify a briefing schedule for supplemental briefs, and oral argument will be set for a date to be fixed.
The underlying dispute involves ERISA-governed benefit plans and was filed in the Eastern District of Texas under docket number 2:23-CV-446. Aetna is the appellant.