Ford v. Mci Communications Corporation Health And Welfare Plan

399 F.3d 1076 Elizabeth Reulet FORD, aka Elizabeth Reulet De Bourbon, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MCI COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION HEALTH AND WELFARE PLAN, esa MCI Communications Corporation Long Term Disability Plan, Defendant, and ITT Hartford Insurance Group, esa Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company; Hartford Life, esa Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees. No. 03-55216. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted August 3, 2004. Filed February 28, 2005. Daniel D. Dydzak, Los Angeles, CA, for plaintiff-appellant. Carolyn A. Knox, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, San Francisco, CA, for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; George H. King, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-01-05356-GHK. Before CANBY, HANSEN, * and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges. RAWLINSON, Circuit Judge. 1 This case requires us to tread into the thorny thicket of the separate judgment rule. Having done so, we conclude that consideration of Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure results in the conclusion that the order granting summary…