Opinion ID: 6934825
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Inadequate remedy under ERISA

Text: In their tenth claim for relief, plaintiffs contend that “ERISA preemption only applies where ERISA has provided an adequate remedy.” Plaintiffs’ App. at 433, ¶ 68. Plaintiffs maintain that if they are not deemed entitled to relief under ERISA, then they may pursue recovery “under any other law.” Id. As support for this proposition, plaintiffs rely upon three cases: Hospice of Metro Denver, Inc. v. Group Health Insurance of Oklahoma, Inc., 944 F.2d 752 (10th Cir.1991); Uselton v. Commercial Lovelace Motor Freight, Inc., 940 F.2d 564 (10th Cir.1991); and Perry v. PIE Nationwide, Inc., 872 F.2d 157 (6th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1093, 110 S.Ct. 1166, 107 L.Ed.2d 1068 (1990). Id. In recommending that plaintiffs’ tenth claim for relief be dismissed, Judge Abram found that plaintiffs’ pursuit of relief “under any other law” was simply another attempt to relitigate the issue of ERISA preemption. Plaintiffs’ App. at 453. Judge Abram relied in part on Judge Sparr’s ERISA preemption findings in Sandquist/Averhart and Sabell, which, as noted supra, have since been appealed to this court and affirmed. Judge Abram also analyzed each of the three cases relied upon by plaintiffs, Hospice of Denver, Uselton, and PIE, and distinguished them on the basis that the plaintiffs therein, unlike plaintiffs in the present case, were not seeking benefits under an ERISA plan. Id. at 453-55. In his order of dismissal, Judge Sparr agreed with Judge Abram’s analysis and added, in a rather proficient use of common sense, that “just because Plaintiffs are not entitled to relief under ERISA does not mean that they are therefore entitled to relief under state law.” Id. at 461. We agree with the rationales set forth by Judges Abram and Sparr and affirm the dismissal of plaintiffs’ tenth claim for relief “under any other law.”