Goldberg

MEMORANDUM **

Plaintiff Robert Goldberg appeals the district court’s judgment in favor of Defendants LDDS WorldCom and LDDS Long Term Disability Plan in this action governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 . We affirm the judgment on different grounds.

1. Plaintiff challenges the district court’s decision to allow Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company, the plan’s insurer and claims administrator, to intervene in the action. That challenge is moot because of the comprehensive settlement between Plaintiff and Hartford.

2. The district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs claim for benefits against World-Com and the Plan was improper, because the Plan and WorldCom, the plan administrator, were the only proper defendants in Plaintiffs action under 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (a)(1)(B). See Ford v. MCI Communications Corp. Health & Welfare Plan, 399 F.3d 1076, 1081 (9th Cir. 2005). Nonetheless, because counsel agreed at oral argument that no questions of historical fact are disputed, we exercise our discretion to decide the merits of the claim. See United States ex rel. Green v. Northrop Corp., 59 F.3d 953 , 957 n. 2 (9th Cir.1995) (noting that…