Opinion ID: 763729
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Record to be Reviewed.

Text: 29 If a court reviews the administrator's decision, whether de novo as here, or for abuse of discretion, the record that was before the administrator furnishes the primary basis for review. Should the district judge review anything else? Standard moved for an order that the district court review only the materials Kearney had submitted to Standard. The district judge granted the order, following our decision in Mongeluzo, 46 F.3d at 943. 30 In Mongeluzo, we held, following the Fourth Circuit in Quesinberry v. Life Insurance Company, 987 F.2d 1017, 1025 (4th Cir.1993) (en banc), that the district court had discretion to allow evidence that was not before the plan administrator only when circumstances clearly establish that additional evidence is necessary to conduct an adequate de novo review. Mongeluzo, 46 F.3d at 944 (quoting Quesinberry, 987 F.2d at 1025) (internal quotation marks omitted). Though we allowed consideration of additional evidence because of circumstances peculiar to that case, we emphasized that a district court should not take additional evidence merely because someone at a later time comes up with new evidence and [i]n most cases only the evidence that was before the plan administrator should be considered. Id. 31 On appeal, Mr. Kearney argues that the district court ought to have taken additional evidence regarding the medical relationship between his cardiac condition and his cognitive ability. But the brief does not say what new evidence, nor was any specific new evidence proposed to the district court. The argument is merely a suggestion that the door be opened to whatever new evidence might be developed. But Kearney does not argue that we should reexamine Mongeluzo. Starting the evidence over from scratch would be contrary to Mongeluzo. 32 In his opposition to Standard's motion to limit the record, Mr. Kearney submitted pages of an Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the U.S. Department of Labor, which said that trial lawyers need an exceptional ability to think quickly and regularly work under particularly heavy pressure when a case is being tried. The district judge exercised his discretion to limit review to the evidence that was before the administrator for two reasons, that Mr. Kearney could as easily have submitted this material to Standard, and that the court did not need it to conduct an adequate de novo review. 33 The district judge did not abuse his discretion in so ruling. Both reasons he gave for confining the record to what was before Standard are good ones under Mongeluzo and are sensible in the circumstances of this case. No reason has been suggested why Mr. Kearney could not have submitted the pages of the Occupational Outlook Handbook to Standard. Insurance executives would likely be less familiar with what trial lawyers do, and more in need of such a source, than an experienced trial judge. A district judge would likely know, as this judge's remarks indicated he did, what trial lawyers do, without the assistance of a secondary source such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook. The handbook pages are an apt example of additional evidence ... not necessary for adequate review of the benefits decision, as well as evidence that could as easily have been submitted to the administrator, which under Mongeluzo are disfavored. 34 Kearney argues that Standard did not provide the full and fair review required by 29 U.S.C. § 1133(2) because it did not obtain the heart films Dr. Weinreb referred to in his report, and did not obtain Dr. Fulton's test data referred to by Dr. Bittle. But Dr. Bittle wrote that he got Dr. Fulton's data from Mr. Kearney's own lawyer, so if Mr. Kearney thought Standard should have reviewed it, he should have sent it to them. As for Dr. Weinreb's films, Kearney argues that Standard's in-house medical advisor suggested that they be obtained, but the context of the suggestion was that he wanted them so he could better criticize Dr. Weinreb's report. Mr. Kearney also argues that Standard failed to comply with the notice provision of 29 C.F.R. § 2560.503-1(f)(3), because it did not tell him what additional material he needed to submit in order to perfect his claim. The argument is without force, because Kearney's claim did not fail because he failed to submit needed evidence. It failed because Standard, having considered all the evidence, concluded that it needed no more and that Mr. Kearney was not disabled. 35