No. 18-613

W. A. Griffin v. Aetna Health Inc., et al.

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2018-11-09
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: assignee-rights civil-procedure document-request erisa erisa-benefits erisa-statutory-penalty georgia-law georgia-supreme-court o.c.g.a.-9-3-22 o.c.g.a.-9-3-28 plan-administrator retroactive-assignment standing state-law statute-of-limitations statutory-penalty
Key Terms:
ERISA
Latest Conference: 2019-01-04
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the District court borrowed the appropriate state law for ERISA statutory penalty

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED , 1. Whether or not the District court borrowed the ; appropriate state law for Erisa statutory penalty : by applying a one year statue of limitations under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-28, even though the Georgia , Supreme Court suggests that the limitation is twenty years under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-22 for aggrieved Georgians. 2. Starting in 2012, ERISA plan beneficiaries authorized their Georgia medical provider to be ; both the designated authorized representative and assignee of benefits. The original assignment of benefit did not expressly state that the medical ; provider had been assigned rights to statutory penalties claims. However, during the administrative appeals, the provider, in the dual role as assignee of benefits and designated , authorized representative, requested ERISA plan documents from the plan administrator. The plan administrator failed to produce the documents upon certified request. . In 2017, the medical provider obtained a : retroeffective assignment of benefit that dated back to the original assignment that expressly authorized assignment for statutory penalty claims. Even so, the 11th Circuit stated that the provider never had the authority to request plan documents in 2012. Therefore, the retroeffective assignment could not be valid for statutory penalty claims if the requesting party never had the authority to request plan documents. : i 1 ii QUESTIONS PRESENTED "The Questions for this part is three fold: 1) Whether or not an assignee of benefits only has the authority to request ERISA plan documents from the plan administrator even if the original assignment does not confer rights to pursue statutory penalties claims. 2) Whether or not a designated authorized . representative has the authority to request ERISA plan documents from the plan administrator . 3) Whether or not a retroeffective assignment that expressly confers rights to statutory penalties claims is valid if the original request came from a party that had the authority to request plan documents in accordance with ERISA claim and appeal procedures. ; 7

Docket Entries

2019-01-07
Petition DENIED.
2018-12-19
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
2018-11-14
Waiver of right of respondent Aetna Health, Inc., et al. to respond filed.
2018-11-06
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 10, 2018)

Attorneys

Aetna Health, Inc., et al.
Jennifer Anne AdlerWeinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial, Respondent
Jennifer Anne AdlerWeinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial, Respondent
W. A. Griffin
W. A. Griffin — Petitioner
W. A. Griffin — Petitioner