Clark v. NBD Bank, N.A.

3 F. App'x 500
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 15, 2001
DocketNo. 99-1757
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 3 F. App'x 500 (Clark v. NBD Bank, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. NBD Bank, N.A., 3 F. App'x 500 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff Sherry Clark allegedly injured her back when picking up a very heavy box in the course of her duties at NBD Bancorp (“NBD”). Clark underwent medical treatment for her injury, and eventually filed for long-term disability benefits under NBD’s disability plan. Though she claims that she filed her first application for benefits on June 30, 1992, she never received a response from NBD. Over three years later, on July 12, 1995, Clark filed a second application for benefits, which was denied by NDB in October of that year. It was almost three years after that denial that Clark filed the action at issue under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq., alleging that she had been wrongfully denied benefits. In addition, she claimed that the defendants1 breached her contract rights and failed in their fiduciary duties to her. The district court granted the defendants’ summary judgment, stating that Clark’s claim was precluded by the three-year limitations period provided in the plan, and also holding that Clark’s other claims were preempted by ERISA. We AFFIRM the district court in all respects.

[502]*502Clark had been employed by NBD from 1970 until 1992 in several different capacities, most recently as an assistant manager in the accounts and reports division. Clark underwent medical treatment soon after her asserted back injury, and has received Social Security disability benefits since June of 1997. We assume for purposes of this appeal that Clark was disabled and unable to work at all pertinent times, although that question is subject to serious dispute.

NBD sponsors long-term disability benefits to employees eligible as participants in its Long-Term Disability (“LTD”) Plan.2 Clark was covered under the LTD plan at all relevant times.

On May 5, 1992, Cathleen M. Gable, an NBD senior benefits analyst, purportedly mailed an application for LTD benefits to Clark. Gable indicated initially that the application was to be returned by May 25, 1992. Gable also claimed that when she did not get a response from Clark, she called Clark on July 1, 1992, and emphasized the importance of submitting the application. By July 23, 1992, Gable mailed Clark a certified letter, return receipt requested, enclosing another application package and stressing the importance of filing the application by July 31, 1992, “to avoid the loss of benefits.”

On July 30, 1992, Gable met personally with Clark, who alleges that she brought her LTD claim form with her to deliver in person.3 Gable disputes that Clark’s written claim was presented at that time. In any event, neither Gable nor anyone else from NBD responded to Clark’s claim for about three years, and Clark never followed-up on the alleged claim through inquiry or any other means.

On July 12,1995, with the aid of counsel, Clark filed an application (she claims it was her second) for LTD benefits, and she was furnished a copy of the LTD Plan. Clark claims that she never saw a copy of the Plan before that time, and that consequently she was not aware of the filing deadlines provided therein. The July, 1995 application was denied as untimely on October 31,1995.

The summary plan description (“SPD”) of the plan in question provides that following a 180-day qualifying period, “[b]enefits are payable if you satisfy all of the following requirements: ... You provide satisfactory proof of your total disability including information from your physician as requested.” Further, it specifies that “[b]enefits terminate whenever any of the following events occur: ... You fail to provide the required proof of disability or any other information or samples requested.” The proof of loss is required within 120 days of any loss, or, at the latest, by the end of the ninth month after the disabling event. Additionally, the LTD plan provides that “[n]o such action [at law or in equity] shall be brought after the expiration of three years after the time written proof of loss is required to be furnished.” That three-year limitation is in the actual plan, but is not specified in the SPD.

On June 29, 1998, Clark filed suit, claiming an entitlement to LTD benefits pursuant to ERISA and also alleging state claims of equitable estoppel, breach of fiduciary duties, and breach of contract. On March 17, 1999, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, finding that Clark’s claims were untimely under the plan’s 3-year time limita[503]*503tion for filing suit. The district court also held that Clark’s other state claims were preempted by ERISA. On April 9, 1999, Clark filed a motion for reconsideration of the court’s March 17 Order.4 On June 10, 1999, the district court filed a supplemental order denying Clark’s motion for reconsideration and reaffirming the decisions made in the original order.

We find the decisions of the district court to be essentially correct. Clark did not brief issues pertaining to breach of fiduciary duty or breach of contract claims. We treat this as not making any official challenge to the district court’s dismissal of those claims.

We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment in an action involving an ERISA claim de novo. Meade v. Pension Appeals and Review Committee, 966 F.2d 190, 192 (6th Cir.1992). Williams v. International Paper Co., 227 F.3d 706, 710 (6th Cir.2000).

Granting summary judgment is appropriate “[wjhere the moving party has carried its burden of showing that the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions and affidavits in the record, construed favorably to the nonmoving party, do not raise a genuine issue of material fact for trial. ‘[Tjhere is no issue for trial unless there is sufficient evidence favoring the non-moving party for a jury to return a verdict for that party.’ If the evidence is merely colorable, or is not sufficiently probative, summary judgment may be granted.”

Meade, 966 F.2d at 192-93 (citations omitted).

The starting point for applying the LTD plan’s limitations period is the language of the plan: “No such action [at law or equity] shall be brought after the expiration of three years after the time written proof of loss is required to be furnished.” In this case, the proof of loss was due, at the latest, on October 29, 1992 (nine months after the disabling event). Clark was required, therefore, to file this lawsuit by October 28, 1995. Because she filed this lawsuit nearly three years later, over six years after her disabling injury occurred, her lawsuit was properly dismissed.

Courts have adhered to the rule that, “in the absence of a controlling statute to the contrary, a provision in a contract may validly limit, between the parties, the time for bringing an action on such contract to a period less than prescribed in the general statute of limitations, provided that the shorter period itself shall be reasonable.” Order of United Commercial Travelers v. Wolfe, 331 U.S. 586, 608, 67 S.Ct. 1355, 91 L.Ed. 1687 (1947); see Myers v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Stacy v. Appalachian Regional Healthcare, Inc.
259 F. Supp. 3d 644 (E.D. Kentucky, 2017)
Candelario v. Metropolitan Life Insurance
861 F. Supp. 2d 23 (D. Puerto Rico, 2012)
Novick v. Metropolitan Life Insurance
764 F. Supp. 2d 653 (S.D. New York, 2011)
Richards v. Johnson & Johnson
688 F. Supp. 2d 754 (E.D. Tennessee, 2010)
Mark Longazel v. Fort Dearborn Life Insurance Co
363 F. App'x 365 (Sixth Circuit, 2010)
Scharff v. Raytheon Co. Short Term Disability Plan
581 F.3d 899 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
Rice v. Jefferson Pilot Financial Insurance
578 F.3d 450 (Sixth Circuit, 2009)
Massengill v. Shenandoah Life Insurance
459 F. Supp. 2d 656 (W.D. Tennessee, 2006)
Morrison v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
326 F. Supp. 2d 833 (E.D. Michigan, 2004)
Doan v. NSK CORP.
266 F. Supp. 2d 629 (E.D. Michigan, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 F. App'x 500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-nbd-bank-na-ca6-2001.