Lester
Lester v. Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston
Opinion
trial_court Opinion
1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 TAJAMALA LESTER, Case No. 19-cv-01490-EMC
8 Plaintiff,
ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S
9 v. MOTION FOR JUDGMENT AND
GRANTING DEFENDANT’S CROSS-
10 U.S. ROCHE HEALTH AND WELFARE MOTION FOR JUDGMENT
BENEFITS VEBA PLAN,
11 Docket Nos. 38, 39 Defendant. 12 13 14 I. INTRODUCTION 15 Plaintiff Tajamala Lester brought this lawsuit after her long-term-disability benefits were 16 cancelled following a finding by the plan administrator, Liberty Life Insurance Company of 17 Boston (“Liberty”). The plan is funded by U.S. Roche Health and Welfare Benefits Veba Plan 18 (“Roche”). After Ms. Lester initially became disabled, Roche provided her with short-term- 19 disability benefits. When the short-term benefits expired, Roche began paying Ms. Lester long- 20 term benefits. However, once Liberty determined that Ms. Lester was no longer disabled, Roche 21 terminated her benefits altogether. Ms. Lester disputed Liberty’s…