Opinion ID: 1681928
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: erisa preemption: an affirmative defense?

Text: Petitioners contend that ERISA preemption is an affirmative defense. Pleading an affirmative defense permits introduction of evidence which does not tend to rebut the factual propositions asserted in the plaintiff's case, but which seeks to establish an independent reason why the plaintiff should not recover. 2 R. McDonald, Texas Civil Practice § 7.34.1 (1982); see also Moulton v. Alamo Ambulance Serv., Inc., 414 S.W.2d 444, 448 (Tex. 1967); W.L. Moody & Co. v. Rowland, 100 Tex. 363, 99 S.W. 1112, 1115 (1907). In short, an affirmative defense is one of avoidance, rather than a defense in denial. A number of federal courts have held that ERISA preemption, when it operates to displace state law in favor of federal law, is waived if not timely asserted as an affirmative defense. See In re HECI Exploration Co., 862 F.2d 513, 518-20 (5th Cir.1988); Dueringer v. Gen. Am. Life Ins. Co., 842 F.2d 127, 129-30 (5th Cir.1988); Gilchrist, 803 F.2d at 1497; Johnson v. Armored Transp., Inc, 813 F.2d 1041, 1043-44 (9th Cir.1987); Rehabilitation Inst. v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y of the U.S., 131 F.R.D. 99, 100-01 (W.D.Pa. 1990); see also Castillo, 776 S.W.2d at 293; Hughes v. Blue Cross, 215 Cal.App.3d 832, 263 Cal.Rptr. 850, 861 (1989), cert, dismissed,  U.S.___, 110 S.Ct. 2200, 109 L.Ed.2d 527 (1990); Hubred v. Control Data Corp., 442 N.W.2d 308, 310 n. 1 (Minn. 1989). We are in accord and hold that, where ERISA's preemptive effect would result only in a change of the applicable law, [6] preemption is an affirmative defense [7] which must be set forth in the defendant's answer or it is waived. [8]