Scurlock
Scurlock v. GTE Long Term Disability Plan
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM ***
Carolyn Scurlock appeals the .district court’s grant of summary judgment to the GTE Long Term Disability Plan (the Plan) on her claim for improper denial of additional benefits. We affirm.
(1) The Plan unambiguously confers discretion upon the Plan’s Employee Benefits Committee. See Winters v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 49 F.3d 550, 553 (9th Cir.1995); Taft v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc’y, 9 F.3d 1469 , 1471 (9th Cir.1993); Madden v. ITT Long Term Disability Plan, 914 F.2d 1279, 1284 (9th Cir.1990). That Committee properly delegated its discretion to the Claims Review Committee. See Hensley v. N.W. Permanente P.C. Retirement Plan & Trust, 258 F.3d 986, 998 (9th Cir.2001), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 122 S.Ct. 815 , 151 L.Ed.2d 699 (2002); Madden, 914 F.2d at 1284-85 . Thus, our review is deferential; we review for abuse of discretion only. See Vizcaino v. Microsoft Corp., 120 F.3d 1006, 1009 (9th Cir.1997) (en banc); Atwood v. Newmont Gold Co., Inc., 45 F.3d 1317,1321 (9th Cir.1995).
(2) Scurlock complains that the district court failed to take judicial notice of certain materials. The district court declined on the basis that on the record before it, the “fact” in…