Carmen Peralta v. Hispanic Business, Inc.

Carmen Peralta appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of her former employer, Hispanic Business, Inc. (“HBI”). Peralta alleges that HBI breached its fiduciary duty as an ERISA plan administrator by failing to inform her in a timely manner that her ERISA benefit plan for long-term disability insurance had been cancelled. The district court found that any state law claims were preempted by ERISA and that the remedy sought was not available under ERISA. On appeal, Peralta asserts that subject matter jurisdiction is lacking or, in the alternative, that an ERISA violation occurred and a remedy exists. We conclude that we have jurisdiction and affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant.

FACTS

In October 1998, Carmen Peralta began work as a special events manager for HBI, a publisher of business magazines. As part of an effort to enhance its benefits package, HBI introduced a new long-term disability insurance policy (“LTD policy”), effective January 1, 1999, at no cost to its employees, which automatically covered “all regular employees who workfed] 30 or more hours per week.” Letter from HBI (Dec. 28, 1998), ER at 101. The LTD policy was an…