Werner

MEMORANDUM **

This action arises out of a denial of Laura Werner’s (“Werner”) claim for short term disability income benefits under her employer Liberty Mutual Insurance Company’s (“LMIC”) Short Term Disability Plan (the “Plan”). Werner appeals the district court’s determination that her action was barred by her failure to exhaust her administrative remedies under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). See 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq. We affirm.

The district court did not err in exercising its jurisdiction over this case, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 . The Plan states that it is an employee welfare benefit plan covered by ERISA. Werner’s complaint alleged federal jurisdiction under ERISA, and Defendants agreed. 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (e)(1) (if ERISA is applicable, “the district courts of the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction of civil actions under this subchapter ... ”).

The district court did not err in concluding that Werner’s May 9, 2005 letter to Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston (“Liberty Life”), which funded and administered the Plan, was not an appeal. Although Werner’s May 9, 2005 letter states that it constituted “notice of the…