Opinion ID: 197450
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Interpretation of Plan Provisions

Text: 155 As a general rule (independently of the special characteristics of ERISA claims cases), disputes over interpretation of a document (or set of documents taken together as a unit) are decided as matters of law are decided. See, e.g., Den Norske Bank, AS v. First Nat. Bank of Boston, 75 F.3d 49, 52 (1st Cir.1996)(Normally, contract interpretation is a question of law for the court.). And, as a general rule, courts may determine that an out-of-court decision was arbitrary and capricious if that decision was explicitly or implicitly founded on an error of law. E.g., United States v. Members of Estate of Boothby, 16 F.3d 19, 21 (1st Cir.1994) (In scrutinizing administrative actions, a reviewing court is free to correct errors of law, but, otherwise, the court is limited to a search for arbitrary or capricious behavior.). 156 If a genuine dispute exists regarding existence of a contract, ordinarily that issue is a question of fact, for the jury ... [unless] the evidence consists only of writings, or is uncontroverted, in which event the court can decide the issue. American Private Line Services, Inc. v. Eastern Microwave, Inc., 980 F.2d 33, 35 (1st Cir.1992). Even if the core of the dispute is what interpretation to give to a document or to uncontroverted oral communications, in exceptional circumstances an issue of interpretation on which reasonable persons may differ is submitted to a trier of fact. Boston Edison Co. v. F.E.R.C., 856 F.2d 361, 367 n. 3 (1st Cir.1988). But this exception cannot be invoked by a party who has failed to make any proffer of documentary or other evidence sufficient to support a determination of ambiguity in some respect material to disposition on the merits of the controversy before the court. See, e.g., Donoghue v. IBC USA (Publications), Inc., 70 F.3d 206, 215 (1st Cir.1995) (a hypothetical allegation of meaning, whether ambiguity is alleged or not, is inadequate to present a genuine dispute as to a material issue; even if a party is claiming to benefit from ambiguity (for example, by being allowed to proffer extrinsic evidence supporting its interpretation) [that party] must show ambiguity in the meaning of the agreement with respect to the very issue in dispute). The record before us in this case is devoid of any such proffer. 157 For these reasons, we conclude, without deciding unsettled issues about jury trial in ERISA cases generally (see decisions cited in Part II.C.2, supra ), that in no event would it be proper in this case to submit to a jury issues of interpretation of the NET plan provisions bearing upon Accident Disability Benefits claimed by Recupero. Moreover, such an interpretive question could go to a jury only if the court, in which the jury sits, has plenary jurisdiction. For the reasons explained in Parts II.B and II.C of this opinion, the exceptional allowance of a jury decision on an interpretive question does not apply when the court's role is limited to judicial review of an out-of-court decision.