Bertozzi
Kaiser Permanente Employees Pension Plan v. Bertozzi
Opinion
Opinion
Orrick, J.
MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER
Plaintiff and counterdefendant Kaiser Per-manente Employees Pension Plan has moved for summary judgment against defendant and counterplaintiff Dianne Bertozzi. For the reasons stated hereinafter, as well as for the reasons stated at the hearing on February 24, 1994, the motion for summary judgment is denied.
I.
This is an action for declaratory relief brought by plaintiff and counterdefendant Kaiser Permanente Employees Pension Plan (“Plan”). The Plan is an employee pension benefit plan as defined under ERISA. Counterdefendant Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (“Kaiser”) serves as the administrator of the Plan. In its complaint, the Plan alleges that it is faced with two competing and mutually exclusive claims for the same retirement benefit and seeks the Court’s guidance as to what its obligations are.
The case arises as a result of the death of one of the Plan’s participants, Mrs. Murber Hodge on February 26, 1992. Mrs. Hodge was a thirty-five year employee of Kaiser Hospital, who worked as an obstetric technician in Oakland, California. During 1991, Mrs. Hodge became ill, and was placed on sick leave. Her illness persisted and she died…