Mizzell

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN PART

I.

Introduction

Plaintiff Terry L. Mizzell (“Mizzell”) has filed this ERISA action against defendant The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company (“Paul Revere”) and others, seeking to recover long-term disability insurance benefits allegedly owed to him under a policy issued by defendant Paul Revere. The Court previously granted defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment holding that the applicable standard of review of its denial of benefits to plaintiff is abuse of discretion. In finding that this was the applicable standard of review, the Court, relying on Snow v. Standard Ins. Co., 87 F.3d 327, 333 (9th Cir.1996) overruled on other grounds, Kearney v. Standard Ins. Co., 175 F.3d 1084 (9th Cir.1999)(en banc), also determined that the evidence reviewed by the Court in determining whether defendant abused its discretion, is confined to the administrative record before the plan administrator.

The Court has also denied plaintiffs motion for reconsideration based on a conflict of interest argument, holding that plaintiff failed to produce “material, probative…