Kenneth L. Nord v. The Black & Decker Disability Plan

ORDER

The Supreme Court has vacated our opinion in Nord v. Black & Decker Disability Plan, 296 F.3d 823, 828 (9th Cir.2002) and remanded for further proceedings. See Black & Decker Disability Plan v. Nord, 538 U.S. 822 , 123 S.Ct. 1965 , 155 L.Ed.2d 1034 (2003).

Kenneth Nord challenges the decision of Black & Decker Disability Benefits Plan (“Black & Decker” or the “Plan”) to deny Nord’s application for thirty months of disability benefits. The district court upheld the denial of benefits. We reversed and held that when making benefits decisions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), plan administrators must credit the opinions of an employee’s treating physician over the opinion of a physician retained by the plan. We also held that Black & Decker’s denial of benefits to Nord, taking into consideration the weight that should be given the treating physician’s opinion, showed a conflict of interest and therefore that the Plan’s denial should be reviewed de novo and summary judgment granted to Nord. The Supreme Court reversed only as to the treating physician rule but vacated our opinion and remanded for further proceedings. We now reinstate the…