Noecker v. Southern California Lumber Industry Welfare Fund

MEMORANDUM

Carl John Noecker appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Central District of California in favor of the Southern California Lumber Industry Welfare Fund (the “Fund”) and the Fund’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Noecker participated in the Fund’s mul-ti-employer self-funded medical indemnity plan (the “Plan”). The Plan is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1002-1461 . Until 2002, the Plan advanced benefits for medical expenses incurred by a participant pending recovery from a third party liable for those expenses. In 2002, the Supreme Court held that the provision of ERISA authorizing plan fiduciaries to bring civil actions to obtain “appropriate equitable relief’ does not authorize employee benefit plans to seek reimbursement of advanced medical expenses from beneficiaries who recover damages for those expenses from a third party. Great-West Life & Annuity Ins. Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204, 221 , 122 S.Ct. 708 , 151 L.Ed.2d 685 (2002). In light of Knudson and the Plan’s previous difficulties in recovering such…