Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_15-cv-04235/USCOURTS-cand-3_15-cv-04235-4/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 791
Nature of Suit: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
Cause of Action: 29:1132 E.R.I.S.A.: Employee Benefits

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JESSICA LANGRIDGE,

Plaintiff,

v.

U.S. ROCHE HEALTH AND WELFARE 

BENEFITS VEBA PLAN,

Defendant.

Case No. 15-cv-04235-VC 

ORDER RE STANDARD OF REVIEW

Re: Dkt. No. 28

The defendant has failed to overcome the default presumption that a de novo standard of

review applies in ERISA denial-of-benefits cases. See Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 

489 U.S. 101, 115 (1989). The Genentech benefits plan didn't vest the claims administrator – the 

entity that actually denied Langridge's claim – with discretion to interpret the plan's terms. The 

plan vested the plan administrator with that power, and the plan administrator never properly 

delegated it. Taylor Decl., Ex. A (Dkt. 28-2) at 73-74; cf. Shane v. Albertson's Inc., 504 F.3d 

1166, 1170 (9th Cir. 2007). The defendant points to a provision in the plan description requiring 

claimants to "submit requested proof of continuing Disability . . . satisfactory to the Claims 

Administrator within the time period specified by the Claims Administrator." Supp. Taylor 

Decl., Ex. A (Dkt. 32-2) at 1358. But this suggests a delegation of administrative discretion –

the limited authority to decide what records are acceptable, or to set a quantum of proof – rather

than the broader power to interpret the plan's terms. See Kearney v. Standard Ins. Co., 175 F.3d 

1084, 1089 (9th Cir. 1999). And in any event, ERISA requires more than an implication to 

displace de novo review.

Case 3:15-cv-04235-VC Document 38 Filed 11/02/16 Page 1 of 2
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IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: November 2, 2016

______________________________________

VINCE CHHABRIA

United States District Judge

Case 3:15-cv-04235-VC Document 38 Filed 11/02/16 Page 2 of 2