Saffon

Facts

Graciela Saffon has long suffered from degeneration of her cervical spine, a condition confirmed by repeated MRI scans and X-rays. After a car crash aggravated her condition in December 2001, Saffon quit her desk job at Wells Fargo Bank and applied for disability benefits from defendant, the Wells SAFFON v. WELLS FARGO 273 Fargo & Co. Long Term Disability Plan. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), which served both as the Plan’s insurer and as its claims administrator, promptly began to pay her short-term disability benefits. Saffon eventually applied for long-term disability benefits, which MetLife granted. After paying long-term benefits for a year, MetLife informed Saffon that she “no longer m[et] the definition of disability” and terminated her long-term benefits. Saffon then unsuccessfully availed herself of MetLife’s administrative appeals process.

Saffon sued the Plan under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a), seeking payment of withheld benefits, attorney’s fees and a declara- tion that she is disabled. After a bench trial on the administra- tive record, the district court concluded that the Plan hadn’t abused its discretion and denied Saffon any…