Winterstein
Winterstein v. Stryker Corp. Group Life Insurance Plan
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Lydia Winterstein appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Stryker Corporation (the Corporation) and Stryker Corporation Group Life *22 Insurance Plan (the Plan). We reverse and remand.
Continental Assurance Company (CNA), the insurer under the Plan, refused to pay supplemental life insurance benefits to Lydia Winterstein after her mother, Blanca Winterstein, an employee of the Corporation and member of the Plan, died. The Plan is an Employment Retirement Income Security Act 1 plan.
(1) Under the Plan’s provisions, the Corporation is the Plan’s administrator and has discretionary authority to determine eligibility and to construe the terms of the Plan. But the Corporation did not make the decision that denied benefits. CNA did. The Plan does not grant CNA independent discretionary authority to make benefits determinations. See Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101, 115 , 109 S.Ct. 948, 956-57 , 103 L.Ed.2d 80 (1989); Abatie v. Alta Health & Life Ins. Co., 421 F.3d 1053, 1059 (9th Cir.2005); Sandy v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 222 F.3d 1202, 1205-06 (9th Cir.2000); Kearney v. Standard Ins. Co., 175 F.3d 1084, 1088-89…