Sahni

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Patelco Credit Union (“Patel-co”) and related parties brought this action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) for breach of fiduciary duties by Sudhir Sahni and his companies (collectively “Sahni”) in administering Patelco’s employee health benefit plan. The case was tried to the bench before District Judge Robert H. Schnacke; however, he died before making findings of fact or conclusions of law. The case was reassigned to District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong, who granted partial summary judgment in favor of Patelco. The- case was later reassigned to District Judge Susan Illston, who entered summary judgment in favor of Patelco on the remaining claims.

*901 Sahni argues on appeal (1) that due process requires a new trial when a judge dies after a bench trial without making findings of fact; (2) that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 63 was violated because the successor judges did not certify familiarity with the record; (3) that the plan was not an ERISA plan; (4) that benefits checks from the employer’s stop-loss carrier were not ERISA assets; (5) that genuine issues of material fact existed regarding whether Sahni was a…