Wilcox

MEMORANDUM **

Plaintiff Carol Wilcox appeals the district court’s denial of her discovery request *603 and its grant of summary judgment to Defendants Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Wells Fargo and Company Long Term Disability Plan. We vacate and remand for further proceedings.

In denying Wilcox’s request to conduct discovery in order to obtain and present evidence of Defendants’ conflict of interest, the district court found that “[s]uch limited discovery would not itself be unduly burdensome” but concluded that “the need for efficiency and economy in ERISA cases generally dictates that no discovery be permitted until a showing of need has been made.” The district court also held that a plaintiff could not obtain discovery where the standard of review was likely to be an abuse of discretion unless the plaintiff made a “substantial showing that a conflict of interest is likely to change the review to de novo.” Similarly, in granting the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the district court applied the applicable standard of review at the time, as articulated in Atwood v. Newmont Gold Co., Inc., 45 F.3d 1317 (9th Cir.1995), requiring Wilcox to establish the…