Canter v. AT & T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
ERISA
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 21-1514
Decision Date: 
May 11, 2022
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed and reversed in part and remanded

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-plan administrator’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-employee’s ERISA action, alleging that defendant wrongfully terminated his short-term disability benefits, after concluding that plaintiff’s symptoms that led to initial grant of benefits had improved. Dist. Ct. could properly conclude that defendant’s termination of plaintiff’ benefits was not arbitrary or capricious in light of many pulmonary and neurological tests indicating that plaintiff was in normal range. While plaintiff pointed to contrary evidence suggesting opposite conclusion, said evidence did not compel finding that plaintiff was still experiencing qualifying disability, especially where plaintiff had reported that he was experiencing some improvement from time he initially had applied for disability benefits. Ct. rejected plaintiff’s claim that defendant misunderstood plaintiff’s job duties. Dist. Ct. erred, though, in awarding defendant as prevailing party costs that included $181 for defendant’s counsel’s pro hac vice admission fees, since said fees are not taxable in view of decision in Taniguchi, 566 U.S. 560.