Opinion ID: 3065104
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Related Ninth Circuit precedent

Text: Our conclusion that the Hospital’s state law claims are not completely preempted by § 502(a)(1)(B) is supported by our recent decision in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center v. National League of Postmasters of the United States, 497 F.3d 972 (9th Cir. 2007). In that case, the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (“Cedars-Sinai”) brought a state-law action against the administrator of a federal employees’ benefit plan alleging, inter alia, breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation in connection with partial reimbursement of claims for medical treatment. The administrator removed the suit to federal district court. Id. at 974. The district court dismissed the suit on the ground that Cedars-Sinai’s claims were preempted by the Federal Employee Health Benefits Act (“FEHBA”), 5 U.S.C. § 8901. FEHBA and ERISA are different federal statutes, but their preemption provisions are analytically similar. See, e.g., Botsford v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mont., Inc., 314 F.3d 390, 393-94 (9th Cir. 2002) (holding that FEHBA’s complete preemption provision “closely resembles ERISA’s express preemption provision, and precedent interpreting the ERISA provision thus provides authority for cases involving the MARIN GENERAL v. MODESTO & EMPIRE TRACTION 13187 FEHBA provision”). Indeed, our opinion in Cedars-Sinai was based almost entirely on cases decided under ERISA. See Cedars-Sinai, 497 F.3d at 977 n.2 (“Because there is no Ninth Circuit authority discussing FEHBA pre-emption issues involving the claims of a third-party health care provider, we may look to analogous cases involving the application of ERISA’s pre-emption provision.”). We reversed the decision of the district court, holding that Cedars-Sinai’s state-law claims were not completely preempted. We noted that “Cedars-Sinai is suing as a third-party claiming damages, and not as an assignee of rights to benefits.” Id. at 978. We cited to The Meadows v. Employers Health Ins., 47 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 1995), where a medical services provider was permitted to pursue a state-law cause of action against an ERISA plan. As in Cedars-Sinai and in this case, the plaintiff brought suit in state court relying, inter alia, on state-law claims of breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation. Id. at 974. Since those claims were pursued “not as an assignee of a purported ERISA beneficiary, but as an independent entity claiming damages,” Cedars-Sinai, 497 F.3d at 978 (quotations omitted), we held that they were not completely preempted.