OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH,

SMOAK & STEWART, P.C.

2415 East Camelback Road, Suite 800

Phoenix, Arizona 85016

(602) 778-3700

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Attorneys for Aetna Life Insurance Company, 

Bank of America Corporation Short Term 

Disability Plan, and Bank of America Corporation 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 

Larry Walters, 

Plaintiff, 

vs. 

Bank of America Corporation Short Term 

Disability Plan; Bank of America 

Corporation; Aetna Life Insurance 

Company, 

Defendants. 

No. 

NOTICE OF REMOVAL 

In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1441 and 1446, defendants Aetna Life Insurance 

Company, Bank of America Corporation Short-Term Disability Plan, and Bank of 

America Corporation remove this action from the Maricopa County, Arizona Superior 

Court to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. This Court has federal 

question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e). 

I. THE COURT HAS FEDERAL QUESTION JURISDICTION. 

This dispute arises out of plaintiff Larry Walters’s claim for benefits under a plan of 

short-term disability benefits established and maintained by his former employer, Bank of 

America Corporation. The short-term disability plan is an employee welfare benefit plan 

Ann-Martha Andrews, SBN 012616 

OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, P.C. 

2415 East Camelback Road, Suite 800 

Phoenix, Arizona 85016 

Telephone: (602) 778-3700 

Ann.Andrews@ogletree.com 

Case 2:18-cv-00906-SRB Document 1 Filed 03/22/18 Page 1 of 4
OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH,

SMOAK & STEWART, P.C.

2415 East Camelback Road, Suite 800

Phoenix, Arizona 85016

(602) 778-3700

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governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §1001 et 

seq. (“ERISA”). 

Bank of America Corporation, an employer, established and/or maintained a plan, 

fund, or program for the purpose of providing disability benefits to its employees, 

including Walters. See 29 U.S.C. § 1002(1) (defining “employee welfare benefit plan”). 

Bank of America Corporation self-funded its short-term disability plan via a trust. This 

Court has federal question jurisdiction because Walters, as a participant in the employee 

welfare benefit plan, seeks recovery of plan benefits. 

Walters’s claim is one for recovery of benefits under the employee welfare benefit 

plan. In accordance with 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e), the district courts of the United States have 

original jurisdiction over actions brought by plan participants and beneficiaries to recover 

benefits or other relief under employee welfare benefit plans. 

Removal is proper regardless of the fact that Walters has crafted his pleading based 

upon state law causes of action, claims, and/or theories of recovery. In the companion 

cases of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58 (1987), and Pilot 

Life Insurance Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41 (1987), the United States Supreme Court 

established that ERISA completely preempts state law claims and displaces entirely any 

state causes of action, thus rendering the plaintiff’s case, however pleaded, exclusively a 

federal question case removable to this Court. 

For the reasons stated, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona 

has original federal question jurisdiction over this matter under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 

1441, as well as 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e). 

II. THE REMOVAL IS TIMELY. 

A. Walters filed this action in the Maricopa County Superior Court on February 

16, 2018. 

B. Walters served Bank of America Corporation through its statutory agent on 

February 22, 2018. 

Case 2:18-cv-00906-SRB Document 1 Filed 03/22/18 Page 2 of 4
OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH,

SMOAK & STEWART, P.C.

2415 East Camelback Road, Suite 800

Phoenix, Arizona 85016

(602) 778-3700

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C. Walters served Bank of America Corporation Short-Term Disability Plan 

through its statutory agent on February 22, 2018. 

D. Walters served Aetna Life Insurance Company via the State of Arizona 

Department of Insurance on February 27, 2018. 

E. As this Notice is being filed on March 22, 2018, the removal is timely. See

28 U.S.C. § 1446(b). 

III. THE DEFENDANTS HAVE MET ALL REQUIREMENTS FOR REMOVAL. 

A. The defendants have attached to this Notice copies of all process, pleadings, 

and orders filed with the State Court prior to the filing of this Notice of Removal. (See Ex. 

A, State Court Filings and Declaration of Counsel.) 

B. All defendants have joined in the removal. 

C. The defendants have concurrently filed a copy of this Notice in the Maricopa 

County Superior Court. 

D. The defendants have served a copy of this Notice upon the plaintiff’s 

counsel. 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 22nd day of March 2018. 

OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & 

STEWART, P.C. 

By: s/ Ann-Martha Andrews 

Ann-Martha Andrews 

2415 East Camelback Road, Suite 800 

Phoenix, Arizona 85016 

Attorneys for Defendants 

Case 2:18-cv-00906-SRB Document 1 Filed 03/22/18 Page 3 of 4
OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH,

SMOAK & STEWART, P.C.

2415 East Camelback Road, Suite 800

Phoenix, Arizona 85016

(602) 778-3700

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that on the 22nd day of March 2018, I electronically transmitted the 

attached document to the Clerk’s Office using the CM/ECF Systems for filing and 

transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrant: 

Scott E. Davis 

Scott E. Davis, P.C. 

8360 E. Raintree Drive, Suite 140 

Scottsdale, AZ 85260 

Scott M. Harris 

Scott M. Harris P.C. 

8360 E. Raintree Drive, Suite 140 

Scottsdale, AZ 85260 

Attorneys for Plaintiff Larry Walters 

s/ Diane M. Kelly 

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. 

33392130.1 

Case 2:18-cv-00906-SRB Document 1 Filed 03/22/18 Page 4 of 4