Harrison

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [64, 65] [JS-6]

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Bettie M. Harrison (“Plaintiff’) brought this action against Defendant Unum Life Insurance Company of America (“Defendant”) pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). Plaintiff is a beneficiary of a long-term disability benefits plan that Defendant funds and administers. Plaintiff seeks to recover disability benefits for the period from May 2005, when her claim was terminated, through July 2008, when Plaintiff turned sixty-five. For the reasons that follow, the Court finds that, when applying a heightened form of discretionary review, Defendant did not abuse its discretion when it denied Plaintiffs claim for disability benefits.

II. FACTS

Plaintiff was employed as a Human Resources Manager at the Merced, California hospital of Catholic Healthcare West. On January 1, 2002, Defendant issued a long-term disability policy number 561977003 (“Policy”) to Catholic Healthcare West to fund the Healthcare West Group Long Term Disability Plan (“Plan”), under which Plaintiff was covered. (See Admin. Record…