Hall v. Life Insurance Co. of North America

265 F.R.D. 356, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18047, 2010 WL 749561
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedFebruary 25, 2010
DocketNo. 2:09-CV-175-PPS-PRC
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 265 F.R.D. 356 (Hall v. Life Insurance Co. of North America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall v. Life Insurance Co. of North America, 265 F.R.D. 356, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18047, 2010 WL 749561 (N.D. Ind. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PAUL R. CHERRY, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the Court on (1) Plaintiffs Motion to Compel [DE 24], filed by Plaintiff Clifford Hall on December 22, 2009; (2) Defendants’ Motion to Quash Subpoena Directed to Intracorp or, Alternatively, for a Protective Order [DE 22], filed by Defendant Life Insurance Company of North America (“LINA”) and BP Welfare Plan Trust-Ill (collectively “Defendants”) and by subpoena respondent International Rehabilitation Associates (“Intracorp”) on December 21, 2009; and (3) a Motion for Extension of Time [DE 35], filed by Defendants and Intracorp on January 22, 2010. The motions are fully briefed and ripe for ruling.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Mr. Hall was employed as a Process Operator with BP Corporation North America for 27 years until becoming totally disabled in December 2007. His job was categorized as a medium level job, and his responsibilities included carrying various tools and equipment, using a computer, connecting and disconnecting tank cars, loading tank cards, and other physical tasks in an oil refinery setting. Mr. Hall was a participant in the BP Welfare [360]*360Plan Trust—III (“BP Plan”), an employee benefit plan provided for the employees of BP Corporation. LINA provides long term disability insurance coverage to participants of the BP Plan.

On December 1, 2007, Mr. Hall was involved in a motor vehicle accident in which he sustained serious neck and back injuries and a traumatic brain injury. Mr. Hall’s last date of work was December 2, 2007. Mr. Hall applied for benefits through the LINA, and his treating physicians provided objective medical proof that Mr. Hall was unable to work due to his medical condition. LINA approved Mr. Hall’s short term disability claim and paid him short term disability benefits for several weeks after he became disabled. However, LINA denied Mr. Hall’s claim for long term disability benefits.

LINA is both the payor and the claim adjudicator of Mr. Hall’s claim. In this case, LINA requested that Intracorp assign a specialist in occupational medicine to review Mr. Hall’s medical records, and Dr. Ephraim Brenman was assigned by Intracorp to review the records. LINA’s instructions to Intracorp surrounding the review and Dr. Brenman’s report are contained in the administrative record, which has been produced to Mr. Hall. Both LINA and Intracorp are wholly-owned subsidiaries of CIGNA.

On June 22, 2009, Mr. Hall filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, claiming that LINA wrongfully denied him long term disability benefits. On August 19, 2009, Mr. Hall served Interrogatories and a Request for Production of Documents on LINA. On September 25, 2009, LINA provided Mr. Hall with answers to the Interrogatories and responses to the Request for Production, raising several objections in both, including that the information sought is not reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence; the information sought is private; the information sought is confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information; and the information sought is beyond the information submitted to LINA during the claims process.

Counsel for the parties conferred regarding the discovery, Mr. Hall agreed to revise the discovery requests, and LINA agreed to provide responses to the remaining requests by October 20, 2009. Mr. Hall did not receive any supplementary responses by that date. On December 15, 2009, counsel for Mr. Hall sent counsel for LINA an email inquiring as to the overdue responses, and, in a response dated December 18, 2009, counsel for LINA responded that LINA would not be providing supplemental responses. In November or December 2009, Mr. Hall served a subpoena duces tecum on Intracorp.

ANALYSIS

In this ERISA benefits case, Mr. Hall seeks discovery outside of the administrative record into a conflict of interest LINA has as both the plan administrator and payor of benefits, arguing that the Supreme Court decision in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Glenn, 554 U.S. 105, 128 S.Ct. 2343, 2346, 171 L.Ed.2d 299 (2008), permits such discovery in order for the Court to properly weigh the conflict as a factor in its review of LINA’s decision. He contends that LINA was biased in its claim review because it emphasized the medical reports that favor denial of benefits and deemphasized other reports showing that Mr. Hall is totally disabled. In contrast, LINA contends that Glenn did not change the established Seventh Circuit law in Semien v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 436 F.3d 805, 814 (7th Cir.2006), regarding the proper scope of discovery when the standard is abuse of discretion and that Hall has not met his burden under the two-prong test established in Semien. Before the Court are a Motion to Compel filed by Mr. Hall and a Motion to Quash filed by Defendants and Intracorp. As the disputed discovery in both motions is a result of the disagreement by the parties as to whether Mr. Hall may conduct discovery into the structural conflict of interest, the Court considers the legal basis of the motions jointly.

The scope and limits of discovery in civil cases are set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26:

Unless otherwise limited by court order, the scope of discovery is as follows: Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to [361]*361any party’s claim or defense-including the existence, description, nature, custody, condition, and location of any documents or other tangible things and the identity and location of persons who know of any discoverable matter. For good cause, the court may order discovery of any matter relevant to the subject matter involved in the action. Relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. All discovery is subject to the limitations imposed by Rule 26(b)(2)(C).

Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). District courts have broad discretion when deciding whether to compel discovery. Patterson v. Avery Den-nison Corp., 281 F.3d 676, 681 (7th Cir.2002).

Mr. Hall’s claim is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq., which was “enacted to promote the interests of employees and their beneficiaries in employee benefit plans, and to protect contractually defined benefits.” Black & Decker Disability Plan v. Nord, 538 U.S. 822, 829, 123 S.Ct. 1965, 155 L.Ed.2d 1034 (2003) (quoting Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101, 113, 109 S.Ct. 948, 103 L.Ed.2d 80 (1989)).

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265 F.R.D. 356, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18047, 2010 WL 749561, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-life-insurance-co-of-north-america-innd-2010.