Thies v. Life Insurance Co. of North America

839 F. Supp. 2d 886, 2012 WL 13348, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 691
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 4, 2012
DocketCase No. 5:09-CV-00098-TBR
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 839 F. Supp. 2d 886 (Thies v. Life Insurance Co. of North America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thies v. Life Insurance Co. of North America, 839 F. Supp. 2d 886, 2012 WL 13348, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 691 (W.D. Ky. 2012).

Opinion

[889]*889MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

THOMAS B. RUSSELL, Senior District Judge.

This matter is before the Court upon the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs. DN 83. The Defendant has responded. DN 86. The Plaintiffs have replied. DN 87. Fully briefed, this matter is now ripe for adjudication. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

On May 28, 2006, Wade Thies was killed while operating a jet ski on Kentucky Lake. At the time of his death, Thies was a riverboat captain employed by Ingram Industries, Inc., a corporation that subscribed to a policy of accidental death and dismemberment insurance offered by Life Insurance Company of North America’s (“LINA”). Following Thies’s death, the Plaintiffs filed a claim for benefits under the policy on October 5, 2006. On November 10, 2006, a claims examiner for LINA denied the claim. After a series of appeals to the company and the submissions of additional evidence, LINA advised the Plaintiffs in a May 24, 2007 letter that their administrative remedies had been exhausted. The Plaintiffs then filed suit in this Court on June 3, 2009, pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (“ERISA”). In an opinion of August 16, 2011, 804 F.Supp.2d 560 (W.D.Ky.2011), the Court found that the Defendant’s benefits determination was arbitrary and capricious and remanded to the Defendant for a full and fair review in light of the Court’s opinion and instructions.

In light of the Court’s remand, the Plaintiffs filed the present motion for attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1). Plaintiffs claim they are entitled to fees and costs because the Court’s remand indicated that they had achieved “some degree of success on the merits” as contemplated by Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 2149, 176 L.Ed.2d 998 (2010), and McKay v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 428 Fed.Appx. 537 (6th Cir.2011).

DISCUSSION

I. Remand Constitutes “Some Degree of Success on the Merits.”

Under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1), a court may, in its discretion, allow reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in an ERISA action.1 In Hardt v. Reliance Standard, the U.S. Supreme Court “considered] the circumstances under which a court may award attorney’s fees pursuant to § 1132(g)(1).” Hardt, 130 S.Ct. at 2156. The Court held that “a fee claimant need not be a ‘prevailing party’ to be eligible for an attorney’s fees award under § 1132(g)(1).” Id. Instead, fees and costs may be awarded “as long as the fee claimant has achieved ‘some degree of success on the merits.’ ” Id. at 2152 (quoting Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club, 463 U.S. 680, 694, 103 S.Ct. 3274, 77 L.Ed.2d 938 (1983)).

In Hardt, Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company denied the plaintiff full benefits under her employer’s disability insurance plan. Id. at 2152-53. After exhausting her administrative remedies, the plaintiff sued Reliance for violating ERISA. Id. at 2153-54. The district court eventually remanded the case to Reliance because the plaintiff “did not get the kind of review to which she was entitled [890]*890under applicable law.” Id. at 2154. Upon further review, Reliance found that the plaintiff was disabled within the terms of the policy and awarded her full benefits. Id. The plaintiff then moved for and the district court awarded attorney’s fees and costs under § 1132(g)(1). Id. at 2154-55. Reliance appealed the award. Id. at 2155. Based on the fact that the plaintiff received a remand in the lower court and was eventually awarded benefits under the plan, the Supreme Court found “that [the plaintiff] has achieved far more than ‘trivial success on the merits’ or a ‘purely procedural victory.’ ... [S]he has achieved ‘some success on the merits,’ and the District Court properly exercised its discretion to award [the plaintiff] attorney’s fees in this case.” Id. at 2159. Although finding for the plaintiff, the Court did “not decide ... whether a remand order, without more, constitutes ‘some success on the merits’ sufficient to make a party eligible for attorney’s fees under § 1132(g)(1).” Id. (emphasis added).

Although the Supreme Court did not decide if a remand order, without more, was sufficient to achieve ‘some degree of success on the merits,’ the Sixth Circuit recently took up the issue in McKay v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 428 Fed.Appx. 537 (6th Cir.2011). In McKay, the plaintiff sought payment of long term disability benefits offered through his employer. Id. at 538-40. One of the plan’s benefit providers, Reliance, denied benefits, and, after exhausting administrative remedies, the plaintiff sued for violations of ERISA. Id. at 539. The district court remanded to the insurer for further determination because its first denial was “unreasonable and arbitrary.” Id. at 540. After the remand order was entered, the plaintiff moved for and the district court awarded attorney’s fees under § 1132(g)(1). Id. On remand, Reliance again denied the plaintiff benefits under the policy, and the plaintiff once against sued to recover the same. Id. In the second suit, the district court upheld the insurance company’s denial of benefits because the decision was “rational and supported by the record.” Id. The plaintiff appealed the denial of benefits decision to the Sixth Circuit, and Reliance cross-appealed the award of attorney’s fees.

On appeal, the Sixth Circuit affirmed Reliance’s denial of benefits. Id. at 545. More importantly for the present motion, the court upheld the plaintiffs award of attorney’s fees because the first case was remanded to Reliance. Id. at 547. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s findings that attorney’s fees were available because “even if [the plaintiff] is ultimately ineligible for benefits, he has still seen some success on the merits because his case was remanded for further consideration.” Id. at 546. The court of appeals found that the plaintiffs position on attorney’s fees was supported by the Supreme Court’s decision in Hardt. Id. at 547. Thus, although Hardt did not decide whether remand, alone, was sufficient to make an award of attorney’s fees available under § 1132(g)(1), McKay expressly holds that it is. Id. (“[The plaintiff] ‘achieved some degree of success’ by achieving a remand.”). Even though the plaintiff was ultimately denied benefits under the policy at issue in McKay, the court held that attorney’s fees and costs may be available under § 1132(g)(1) when a party’s case is remanded. Id. In the Sixth Circuit, a remand, alone, constitutes “some success on the merits” that makes an award of attorney’s fees and costs available under § 1132(g)(1). Other district courts in the circuit considering this question have come to the same conclusion. See Potter v. SABIC Innovative Plastics US, LLC, 2011 WL 4852334, *3, 2011 U.S. Dist.

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Bluebook (online)
839 F. Supp. 2d 886, 2012 WL 13348, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thies-v-life-insurance-co-of-north-america-kywd-2012.