Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Daily Non-dispositive digest

In Abril v. OneWest Bank, the plaintiff claimed the mortgage he agreed on and the one OneWest foreclosed on were documents with different terms in violation of the Truth in Lending Act. OneWest moved to dismiss on grounds that the one-year statute of limitations had long sense passed.  Judge Lucy Koh granted the motion and remanded the common law fraud and breach of contract claims to state court.

In Mora v. Brennan, the plaintiff sued his dentist for medical malpractice.  The dentist was in the Public Health Service, as noted on this blog before, the sole remedy against PHS officers is the Federal Tort Claims Act.  Judge Lucy Koh dismissed the claim for failure to follow the administrative provisions of FTCA before filing suit.

In Armour v. IP Unity Long Term Disability Plan, the plaintiff sued to enforce rights under an insurance policy under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).  Sun Life (the plaintiff's employer) and the plaintiff filed cross motions for partial summary judgment as to the standard of review in the case.  Under ERISA, if the plan unambiguously confers discretion upon the plan manager to determine benefit eligibility then the standard of review is for clear error, otherwise it is de novo.  Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled that it was de novo and Sun Life filed a request for a motion for reconsideration, basically arguing that it didn't realize it had a declaration from the associate director of long term disability appeals who stated that the plan manager had sole discretion to determine benefit eligibility.

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