January 2012

Can an ERISA plan’s “choice of law” provision trump a state’s insurance regulation banning discretionary review? Sometimes yes, this time no.

Here’s the case of Curtis v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company, [PDF], No. 11 C 24489 (N.D. Illinois, January 18, 2012)(Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert)(Opinion attached)(Plan’s choice of law provision, applying another state’s…

Courts had dismissed ERISA cases for lack of subject matter jurisdiction when the plaintiff was not a plan “participant, beneficiary or fiduciary.” Harris v. Provident Life Accident Ins. Co., 26 F.3d 930, 934 (9th Cir. 1994).

Not any more in the Ninth Circuit. The issue is now merely an element of the ERISA…