Opinion ID: 1196130
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Tate's claim for attorney's fees is premature.

Text: Tate seeks attorney's fees if we reinstate her benefits, an argument that is mooted by our holding that Tate is not entitled to reinstatement. Tate also argues that she should be awarded attorney's fees even if we affirm the district court's decision to remand the case. We disagree. We review a district court's decision to deny attorney's fees for an abuse of discretion. Herman v. Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, 423 F.3d 684, 695 (7th Cir.2005). In analyzing whether attorney's fees should be awarded to a prevailing party in an ERISA case, a court should consider whether the losing party's position was justified and taken in good faith. Quinn, 161 F.3d at 478. However, we have held that a claimant who is awarded a remand in an ERISA case generally is not a prevailing party in the truest sense of the term, id. at 478-79. The district court first considered this question and relied on Quinn to hold that Tate was not yet a prevailing party. Then the district court found that the record did not suggest that Tate's benefits were terminated in bad faith or that the Plan's position was not substantially justified. Tate urges us to reconsider our holding in Quinn but cites cases that predate Quinn, see Miller v. United Welfare Fund, 72 F.3d 1066, 1074 (2d Cir.1995) and White v. Jacobs Engineering Group Long Term Disability Benefit Plan, 896 F.2d 344 (9th Cir.1990). These cases do not persuade us to depart from Quinn. The district court considered the proper test, and its conclusion was not an abuse of discretion. Tate is not entitled to attorney's fees at this juncture.