Of the Northern District of California, sitting by *

designation.

United States Court of Appeals

For the First Circuit

No. 06-1452

RACHELLE R. GREEN, BYRON R. RENFRO,

Plaintiffs, Appellants,

v.

EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION; JANET L. MADIGAN, in her

official capacity as Plan Administrator for ExxonMobil

Corporation; EXXONMOBIL LIFE INSURANCE PLAN,

Defendants, Appellees.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

[Hon. Ronald R. Lagueux, Senior U.S. District Judge]

Before

 Boudin, Chief Judge,

Torruella, Circuit Judge,

and Schwarzer, Senior District Judge. *

Matthew T. Oliverio with whom Raymond A. Marcaccio, Christine

M. Curley and Oliverio & Marcaccio LLP were on brief for

appellants.

Adriene K. Dwyer, U.S. Department of Labor, Plan Benefits

Security Division, with whom Howard M. Radzely, Solicitor of Labor,

Timothy D. Hauser, Associate Solicitor, and Karen L. Handorf,

Counsel for Appellate and Special Litigation, were on brief for

Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of the United States Department of Labor,

Amicus Curiae.
Neal J. McNamara with whom Nixon Peabody LLP was on brief for

appellees.

December 8, 2006
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BOUDIN, Chief Judge. In April 1996, Dr. Robert Renfro

began working for Mobil Oil Corporation as a contract physician at

the Beaumont, Texas, oil refinery. In the fall of 2000, Dr. Renfro

sought a full-time, salaried position as a staff physician with

ExxonMobil Corporation. Dr. Renfro received a letter confirming

his appointment on January 15, 2001, began work on February 19, was

injured in a car accident on February 25 and died on February 26.

At the time of his death, Dr. Renfro was 57 years old,

divorced, and had two grown children. ExxonMobil's employee

benefits package ("the plan") included life insurance coverage, and

Dr. Renfro became a covered employee as of February 19 when he

began work. Under the plan, Dr. Renfro was automatically entitled

to 200 percent of his base salary (then $157,000 per year) and,

with a similar payment for basic accidental death coverage, his

heirs have now received $628,000 under the plan.

Under the plan, an employee could also elect additional

group life insurance ("GUL") and, in addition, further coverage

called voluntary accidental death and dismemberment ("VADD"). The

premiums, each dependent on the level of coverage selected, were

fairly modest; but the premiums had to be paid by the employee and

required an affirmative election. For GUL, election after 31 days

required a medical examination.

At the time of his death, Dr. Renfro had not yet received

the election forms; they had been placed in the mail outbox on
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February 26, 2001. ExxonMobil employed a multi-step process for

preparing and delivering the forms for new employees. According to

later evidence, it was not uncommon for there to be some delay in

furnishing them.

Just what elective benefits Dr. Renfro would have chosen,

if any, is unknown--although his children assert that the benefits

package was a primary motive in his choosing to become a full-time,

salaried employee of ExxonMobil. In all events, on February 26 and

27, 2001, after learning of Dr. Renfro's death, several ExxonMobil

employees purported retroactively to elect maximum GUL and VADD

coverage for Dr. Renfro.

Specifically, Kathy McCoy, a benefits services supervisor

at ExxonMobil, emailed company legal counsel Sherry Englande

stating that she wished to elect maximum optional GUL and VADD

benefits for Dr. Renfro. McCoy may or may not have spoken with

Elda Smith, the U.S. benefits manager for the company, but did not

copy Smith on the email to Englande. When Englande agreed with

McCoy's proposal, McCoy directed an employee in the Houston office

to enter maximum GUL and VADD coverage for Dr. Renfro as of

February 23, 2001.

On April 11, 2001, a benefits counselor in Houston sent

Dr. Renfro's heirs (his two children) a letter with an attachment

labeled "Estimate of Survivor Benefits," which stated that the

children would receive $628,000 for the basic coverage, $785,000
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for GUL benefits, and $1,256,000 for the VADD benefits. A

prominent disclaimer in the letter states: "In the event of any

inconsistency between the information contained in this statement

and the provisions of the plans, the plans, as well as any

applicable administrative regulations, will govern." 

Not surprisingly, the plan's insurer for GUL and VADD

benefits, MetLife, rejected the request that it pay life insurance

claims for someone who had not elected coverage prior to a fatal

accident. At that point, ExxonMobil's plan administrator, Janet

Madigan, was consulted for the first time. Under the plan, she had

ultimate decision-making and interpretive authority. 

Madigan consulted another ExxonMobil lawyer, who said

that only Madigan could approve a retroactive election. Madigan

then declined to do so. On May 10, 2001, a letter was mailed to

Dr. Renfro's children stating that, contrary to the earlier letter,

Dr. Renfro was not eligible for GUL and VADD benefits because he

had not signed an election form. 

Dr. Renfro's children protested the corrected benefits

determination, but ExxonMobil denied their appeal. The children

asserted that Dr. Renfro would have elected the additional coverage

if the forms had been timely provided to him. Dr. Renfro, they

said, not only had become a full-time employee partly to secure

benefits, but he had in fact requested benefit election forms from
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the company (a contention that ExxonMobil disputes). Madigan

declined to reconsider her decision.

The children eventually sued ExxonMobil, Madigan and the

plan in federal district court. Two claims under the Employee

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") were pressed at

trial: one for benefits due under the plan, 29 U.S.C. §

1132(a)(1)(B); the other for equitable relief on the ground that

the delay in furnishing the forms was a breach of fiduciary duty,

id. § 1132(a)(3). After a five-day bench trial, the district judge

rejected the children's claims. Green v. ExxonMobil Corp., 413 F.

Supp. 2d 103, 119 (D.R.I. 2006). They now appeal to this court. 

The conventional standard of review of the district

court's decision is for clear error as to fact findings and de novo

on issues of law, Coady Corp. v. Toyota Motor Distribs., Inc., 361

F.3d 50, 54 (1st Cir. 2004), with some latitude in the latter case

for fact-specific law-application rulings. Id. at 57. Where the

plan administrator has discretionary authority to interpret and

apply the plan, as Madigan did in this case, such rulings are

themselves reviewed for arbitrariness. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.

v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101, 115 (1989); Glista v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of

Am., 378 F.3d 113, 126 (1st Cir. 2004).

In appealing from the district court decision, the

claimants offer four main arguments: that subordinate ExxonMobil

employees made a valid and binding election on behalf of Dr. Renfro
The signature line on the enrollment form for GUL and VADD 1

benefits requires the signature of "participant or assignee." The

plan permitted the employee under certain conditions to assign his

interest in the insurance; but it did not provide for anyone else

to act for the employee.

Firestone, 489 U.S. at 115; Glista, 378 F.3d at 125-26; 2

Gannon v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 360 F.3d 211, 212-13 (1st Cir.

2004). In unusual cases less deference may be given where the plan

administrator has a conflict of interest, Wright v. R.R. Donnelley

& Sons Co. Group Benefits Plan, 402 F.3d 67, 74 (1st Cir. 2005),

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which cannot be undone; that (alternatively) the company is

estopped from denying the election; that ExxonMobil was responsible

for any failure by Dr. Renfro to elect coverage; and that the

district court should have found a breach of fiduciary duty by

ExxonMobil. We consider these arguments in turn.

Under the plan, GUL and VADD benefits required an

election. It is a fair reading of the provisions dealing with the

life insurance component--which refer repeatedly to the "employee"

or "participant" electing coverage--that Dr. Renfro (or an assignee

of his interest) was the person to make the election; and, as an

election required the employee to undertake to pay the premiums,

this makes further sense.1

Nothing in the plan explicitly provides for someone else

(except an assignee) to make an election for the employee, let

alone to do so retroactively after an accident has occurred.

Further, under the plan, Madigan had the requisite authority to

interpret and apply the plan--a decision to which we ordinarily

defer unless it is unreasonable. Madigan's decision that McCoy 2
but the fact that the plan will save money by an individual

decision does not standing alone preclude deference. Glista, 378

F.3d at 125-26.

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and other subordinates had no authority to make a retroactive

election for Dr. Renfro is far from unreasonable.

Conceivably, Madigan could have read the plan differently

without being unreasonable. Each side reads the plan as if it

mechanically dictated answers as to whether other employees could

act for Dr. Renfro or whether Madigan or others could excuse

omissions. To us, these are issues not explicitly addressed in the

plan. Filling such gaps is ordinarily within the province of an

administrator with discretionary authority.

Claimants say that the subordinates were, like Madigan,

"fiduciaries" under ERISA regulations; but whether they were or not

has little to do with whether they had authority under the plan to

elect post-accident benefits for Dr. Renfro. To say that someone

is a fiduciary suggests special obligations in the exercise of

authority (although the kind and degree may vary, SEC v. Chenery

Corp., 318 U.S. 80, 85-86 (1943) (Frankfurter, J.)). But authority

to act depends on the plan and background agency law.

Nor is such a ruling inconsistent with the claimants'

contention that some of the lower-level employees exercised

"discretion" in various matters concerning benefits. In all

likelihood some of them did. But this does not answer the question

whether their discretion extended to making a post-accident
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election for an employee who had not himself made one or committed

himself to pay premiums--certainly an eyebrow-raising event in the

administration of an ERISA plan.

Claimants say that the subordinates did, apparently with

later consent by Madigan, elect medical benefits for Dr. Renfro.

After the accident a benefits employee approved PPO/Traditional

medical coverage (as opposed to the HMO option) for Dr. Renfro to

cover his medical care while he was on life support on February 25

and 26. But this does not prove that the subordinate had authority

to do this--Madigan said the subordinate did not--and it also

appears that PPO/Traditional coverage was the default option for

medical benefits.

Claimants also say that Madigan admitted that she herself

could have retroactively approved GUL and VADD benefits for Dr.

Renfro. Our reading of the transcript is otherwise. In any event,

imputing such power to Madigan or, with her consent, to

subordinates might be a possible reading of the plan; but again it

is not dictated by any language in the plan: at most it might have

been a reasonable construction which Madigan did not have to adopt.

In a second line of attack, complainants argue that

ExxonMobil did grant GUL and VADD benefits to Dr. Renfro, made the

lack of authority claim only belatedly and is now estopped from

denying coverage. They rely in particular on the April 11, 2001,

"Estimate of Survivor Benefits" letter already described, on
Both the statute and the regulations require that denials be 3

specifically explained, 29 U.S.C. § 1133 (2000); 29 C.F.R. §

2560.503-1(g), (j) (2005) (the version in force at the time of the

denial was identical in relevant substance), and the ExxonMobil

plan itself had a similar provision.

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supposed false explanations and efforts at concealing error by

ExxonMobil (which is required to explain its denial of benefits ), 3

and on our decision in Glista.

The benefits letter is labeled as an "Estimate of

Survivor Benefits" with the disclaimer already quoted that the plan

prevails over the estimate in the event of inconsistencies. The

plan, in our view, includes the administrator's reasonable

interpretation of it. The benefits letter clearly was not a

commitment or contract and created no obligation. See Perreca v.

Gluck, 295 F.3d 215, 225-26 (2d Cir. 2002) (statement of projected

benefits created no promissory estoppel).

Nor does Glista assist claimants. There, the plan

administrator denied a claim under one provision of a plan and

then, after litigation began, the company relied upon a different

provision never invoked by the administrator. Based on a variety

of factors, this court refused to consider the alternative ground.

Whatever the scope of Glista--and estoppel-like objections tend to

depend heavily on the facts, as Glista itself stressed, 378 F.3d at

130-31--ExxonMobil has not switched grounds during litigation.

Once Madigan was faced with the issue, she directed that

a letter be written which, dated May 10, 2001, stated that GUL and
Principal circuit cases are Bowerman v. Wal-Mart Stores, 4

Inc., 226 F.3d 574, 586 (7th Cir. 2000); Swaback v Am. Info. Techs.

Corp., 103 F.3d 535, 542 (7th Cir. 1996); Epright v. Envt'l

Resources Mgmt., Inc. Health & Welfare Plan, 81 F.3d 335, 341 (3d

Cir. 1996); Conley v. Pitney Bowes, 34 F.3d 714, 717 (8th Cir.

1994).

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VADD benefits are provided under the plan "only after an employee

elects to participate in the coverages. Because your father had

not elected to participate before his accident, he was not covered

. . . ." That the letter described the earlier estimate letter as

a "miscommunication" hardly detracts from the clarity of Madigan's

explanation for the denial. Nor does any embarrassment on the part

of subordinates create an obligation where none existed.

Claimants' third argument is that ExxonMobil caused or

contributed to Dr. Renfro's failure to complete the election forms

by failing to provide them at the outset of his employment. The

claimants say that Dr. Renfro would have elected and agreed to pay

for GUL and VADD benefits at the maximum level if he had been

provided the forms before his death. We will assume this arguendo

even though no finding was made on this issue and the evidence for

the assumption is debatable.

Claimants then enlist decisions under ERISA in which

employee claims for benefits were upheld (or not dismissed for

failure to exhaust administrative remedies) where misfeasance or

misrepresentations by the company undercut or precluded coverage to

which the employee might otherwise have been entitled. Claimants 4
City of Hope Nat'l Med. Ctr. v. Healthplus, Inc., 156 F.3d 5

223, 230 n.9 (1st Cir. 1998); Law v. Ernst & Young, 956 F.2d 364,

369 (1st Cir. 1992); see also Lauder v. First Unum Life Ins. Co.,

284 F.3d 375, 381 (2d Cir. 2002) (describing the circuits'

positions on waiver in ERISA cases). 

Newman-Waters v. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tenn., No. 1:04- 6

CV-132, 2005 WL 1263026, at *22-23 (E.D. Tenn. May 27, 2005) may be

the case most helpful to the claimants; but even if it was

correctly decided (which is open to debate), the evidence as to

frustration of intent was stronger and the remedy granted less

extreme. 

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also invoke general contract doctrine, not necessarily binding but

informative in the ERISA context, Allen v. Adage, Inc., 967 F.2d

695, 698 (1st Cir. 1992), by which courts may excuse nonperformance of a condition precedent where caused by the other

party. Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 245 (1981); Swaback,

103 F.3d at 542. 

Not unexpectedly the ERISA decisions that favor employee

claims in these circumstances coexist with others disallowing

estoppel and waiver arguments against ERISA plans. As usual, 5

unresolved tensions in doctrine arise as courts engage in the

normal case-by-case effort to flesh out the statute, results being

driven in part by the particular facts--which present a wide range

of different problems and circumstances. 

The circuit cases favoring employees are almost all

egregious cases in which the company took wrongful affirmative

action or made misrepresentations that interfered with benefits.

See note 4, above. Of course, an outright refusal of ExxonMobil 6
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to provide forms for an extended period could well constitute

improper behavior; but in this case the only issue is whether a

failure to provide the forms on the day of employment or within a

week thereafter was so improper as to excuse the need for an

election.

Nothing in the plan or any representation by the company

specified a fixed date for supplying the election documents to Dr.

Renfro, nor does anything suggest that the delay in his case was

deliberate or extraordinary. Claimants point out that Dr. Renfro

had only 31 days to elect GUL coverage free of a medical

examination (after that an examination was required). But when the

car accident occurred, only seven days had elapsed and the forms

were about to be sent well within the 31-day period.

In a perfect universe, Dr. Renfro would perhaps have

received the forms before he began work, but perfection is not a

feasible standard of care. Dr. Renfro was never promised that

enhanced life insurance coverage would necessarily be in force on

the first day of work, nor was he inaccurately told that he had

coverage when he did not. In sum, we agree with the district court

that Dr. Renfro was not deprived by ExxonMobil of benefits due him

under the plan and recoverable under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1). 

This leaves for our consideration claimants' alternative

statutory claim, namely, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3) ("section (a)(3)"),

which provides that a civil action may be brought
Circuits disagree on whether Varity Corp. v. Howe, 516 U.S. 7

489, 514-15 (1996), allows simultaneous claims under section

(a)(1)(b) and section (a)(3). Compare, e.g., Tolson v. Avondale

Indus., Inc., 141 F.3d 604, 610 (5th Cir. 1998), with Devlin v.

Empire Blue Cross & Blue Shield, 274 F.3d 76, 89 (2d Cir. 2001),

cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1170 (2003). Also in dispute is what forms

of relief can be "equitable." See, e.g., Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic

Med. Servs. Inc., 126 S. Ct. 1869 (2006). 

-14-

by a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary

(A) to enjoin any act or practice which

violates any provision of this subchapter or

the terms of the plan, or (B) to obtain other

appropriate equitable relief (i) to redress

such violations or (ii) to enforce any

provisions of this subchapter or the terms of

the plan.

Whether and when this provision provides an employee or

his beneficiary a cause of action to recover damages for plan

misconduct is the subject of more than one controversy. The 7

Secretary of Labor has filed with us an amicus brief, urging a

broad construction of section (a)(3), adding that given the

district court findings she is "extremely skeptical" that a breach

of fiduciary duty occurred in this case. 

We have no occasion to address the broader controversy

about the scope of section (a)(3). The claimants' argument is that

those who administered the plan had a general fiduciary duty to Dr.

Renfro and violated it by not assuring that he had the necessary

election forms at the start of his employment. We will assume,

again arguendo, that a fiduciary duty was owed by at least some of

those involved. Watson v. Deaconess Waltham Hosp., 298 F.3d 102,

111 n.12 (1st Cir. 2002).
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A fiduciary owes a special duty of loyalty not applicable

in ordinary relationships, 29 U.S.C. § 1104(a)(1); but there is no

claim here of deliberate wrongdoing or disloyalty. As for a duty

of care, a fiduciary is expected to act with reasonable diligence,

id. § 1104(a)(1)(B); but, for reasons already indicated, sending

the forms within a week or so after employment--where no promise or

plan deadline was violated--does not in the present circumstances

even arguably comprise unreasonable conduct. Compare Blatt v.

Marshall & Lassman, 812 F.2d 810, 813 (2d Cir. 1987) (18-month

delay in executing necessary forms).

Life is filled with small events and choices that have

large consequences; but hindsight is not the test of

reasonableness. If Dr. Renfro had chosen to begin work at the

start of January 2001, his children's recovery could have been

larger; if he had chosen March, his children could have received

nothing. We will not disturb the district court's decision.

Affirmed.