Dodd

ORDER

James C. Dodd and his wife are the sole owners of all of the stock of James C. Dodd & Associates, Inc., a California corporation. That corporation enrolled in a group health plan issued by defendant John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company (“John Hancock”) to the Trustees of the California Council of the American Institute of Architects. Plaintiff's wife suffered a stroke which he alleges requires her to have 24-hour nursing care. When the defendant insurance company declined to pay for the care, plaintiff brought suit in Sacramento Superior Court, alleging violation of various state statutory and common law rights. Defendants removed the action to this court on the grounds that plaintiff’s state law claims were completely preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 , et seq., and that the action was therefore removable under the authority of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58 , 107 S.Ct. 1542 , 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987), and Pilot Life Insurance Company v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41 , 107 S.Ct. 1549 , 95 L.Ed.2d 39 (1987).

Defendants subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that plaintiff’s…