Susan Jones v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff Susan Rene Jones appeals the district court’s dismissal of her claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand with instructions.

1. The district court erred by dismissing Plaintiffs claim concerning the amount of long-term disability benefits, including the question whether an offset should be applied and any other questions related to the amount of such benefits. See Saffle v. Sierra Pac. Power Co. Bargaining Unit, 85 F.3d 455, 461 (9th Cir. 1996) (holding that where, as here, the Plan grants discretion to the administrator and the administrator “has not yet had the opportunity of applying the Plan, properly construed, ... [i]t should be up to the administrator, not the courts, to make that call in the first instance”). Plaintiff sought to recover the long-term disability benefits due her under the terms of the Plan. She had exhausted the issues related to that remedy, and her claim was not made moot by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s (“MetLife’s”) determination that she was due some benefits under the Plan, but they were subject to an offset. See Vaught v. Scottsdale…