Serrato ex rel. Serrato v. John Hancock Life Insurance

Vanessa Serrato appeals the district court’s summary judgment determination that ERISA preempts her state-law medical benefit claims against the issuers, administrators, and underwriters of her parents’ employee welfare benefit plans. We affirm.

I.

In December 1987, eighteen-year-old Vanessa Serrato underwent surgery following an automobile accident. During the course of an operation to amputate her leg, Serrato had cardiac arrest and suffered permanent brain damage.

At that time, Serrato was the beneficiary of two different employee welfare benefit plans, as defined and regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 . First, Serrato was insured by the Teamsters Industrial Security Fund (“Teamsters Fund”), a multiple-employer, labor-management trust administered by Southwest Administrators, Inc. (“Southwest”) and underwritten by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (“MassMutual”). Serrato participated in the Teamsters Fund by virtue of her mother’s employment with the Boyle-Midway Company, a contributing employer. Second, Serrato was insured by the Norton Lilly International, Inc. Health and Welfare Plan (“Norton Lilly…