Wiley
Wiley v. CENDANT CORP. SHORT TERM DISABILITY PLAN
Opinion
Opinion
Breyer, J.
ORDER GRANTING PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Plaintiff J. Stephen Wiley brings suit under ERISA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq., based on a denial of benefits under a long-term disability plan (“plan”) sponsored by Plaintiffs former employer, Cendant, and insured by Aetna Life Insurance Co. Now pending before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to the proper standard of review of the denial of benefits. After careful review and consideration of the papers submitted, the motion is GRANTED. The Court finds that oral argument is unnecessary and therefore VACATES the July 10, 2009 hearing.
I. BACKGROUND
Plaintiff ended his employment at Cendant, submitted a claim for plan benefits, and was denied. Mot. at 2-3. Initially, Plaintiff believed that the governing plan instrument was an Aetna certificate of coverage (“certificate”). Id. The certificate contains no grant of discretionary authority. In the course of litigation, however, Defendant produced two additional documents, the Summary Plan Description (“SPD”) and the contract between Cendant and Aetna (“contract”). Mot. at l.
The SPD identifies Cendant’s Employee Benefits Committee as the Plan Administrator and…