LaMantia
LaMantia v. Hewlett-Packard Co. Employee Benefits Organization Income Protection Plan
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Karen LaMantia (“LaMantia”) appeals the district court’s summary judgment for the defendant. Under the relevant disability-benefits plan (“the Plan”), an independent claims administrator, Voluntary Plan Administrator (“VPA”), determines whether a claimant qualifies for benefits. LaMantia seeks review of VPA’s denial of her petition for long-term benefits, asserting that this denial was an abuse of the VPA’s discretion.
Abatie v. Alta Health & Life Insurance Co., 458 F.3d 955 (9th Cir.2006), filed the day before argument in this appeal, fundamentally changed how we review administrator determinations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 . Abatie states that abuse-of-discretion review is merited, in almost all cases, when the plan confers sufficient discretion to the plan administrator. 458 F.3d at 962-63 . This court has held that the Plan sufficiently vests such discretion. LaMantia v. Voluntary Plan Adm’rs, Inc., 401 F.3d 1114, 1123 (9th Cir.2005). But Abatie also changed how courts are to apply the abuse-of-discretion standard, including (1) eliminating the need for plaintiffs to produce evidence of a serious conflict, id. at…