Orr v. Assurant Employee Benefits

In ERISA action by plaintiff-beneficiaries seeking to recover proceeds of life insurance policy, Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing instant action, after finding that plaintiffs had failed to fully exhaust defendant-insurance company’s administrative remedies that required plaintiff to seek two levels of appeals of original denial prior to filing any legal action. Plaintiffs were giving two notices of requirement to exhaust all internal appeals prior to filing any lawsuit, and instant action was filed during pendency of second appeal. Ct. rejected plaintiffs’ contention that their failure to exhaust defendant’s internal appeal process should be excused, even though plaintiffs' contended that: (1) filing of lawsuit was necessary to allow them ability to obtain additional discovery through subpoena power; (2) plaintiffs’ counsel misinterpreted defendant’s review procedure; and (3) defendant improperly generated additional appeal level in order to frustrate plaintiffs’ efforts to comply with defendant’s review procedure.