General Motors Corp. v. California State Board of Equalization

ORDER

Plaintiffs, General Motors Corporation (“GMC”) and the American National Red Cross (“Red Cross”), in their capacities as sponsoring employers and administrators of certain employee disability and health care plans established pursuant to collective bargaining agreements, and current trustees of the Motion Picture Health and Welfare Fund (“MPF”), are suing defendants, The CaliforniaBtate Board of Equalization (“Board”), Board members, and certain state officials, for declaratory, injunctive, and remedial relief.

Both GMC and Red Cross entered into excess risk arrangements with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (“Metropolitan”) providing that they would remain responsible for payments of all benefits from their respective plans below a trigger point. This trigger point was to be established annually based on a projected level of aggregate benefit payments. Local GMC units were to maintain claim records and evaluate and pay claims below the trigger amount for sickness and accident coverage. Metropolitan would perform these functions for other forms of coverage. The funds used to pay the pretrigger claims are drawn from GMC accounts. Similarly, the funds used to pay…