Chang

MEMORANDUM **

This case is an appeal from the district court’s judgment in favor of Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston (“Liberty”) and Amgen, Inc., (“Amgen”) Long Term Disability Plan (the “Plan”) following a bench trial. In the appeal of her action seeking employee benefits and declaratory judgment under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., Appellant, Eileen Chang, contends that she is entitled to benefits, beyond those she received between 1999 and 2001, based on her 2004 “further and/or new claim” for benefits. The district court found reasonable Liberty’s decisions to assign a March 2003 disability date to the 2004 request for benefits, and to deny Chang’s claim be *877 cause she was no longer covered under the Plan in 2008. We affirm the district court’s decisions.

I

Liberty agreed to consider Chang’s 2004 claim for benefits as a “new” claim pursuant to Chang’s counsel’s request. 1 After agreeing to consider Chang’s 2004 claim as a new claim, Liberty determined the disability date for Chang’s 2004 request for benefits to be March 2003 — the date of Chang’s new doctor, Edward Hanzelik, M.D.’s chronic fatigue…