Ford v. Mci Communications Health & Welfare

• Decision Date: 28 February 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-55216.,03-55216.
• Citation: 399 F.3d 1076
• Parties: Elizabeth Reulet FORD, aka Elizabeth Reulet De Bourbon, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MCI COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION HEALTH AND WELFARE PLAN, esa MCI Communications Corporation Long Term Disability Plan, Defendant, and ITT Hartford Insurance Group, esa Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company; Hartford Life, esa Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

399 F.3d 1076

Elizabeth Reulet FORD, aka Elizabeth Reulet De Bourbon, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MCI COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION HEALTH AND WELFARE PLAN, esa MCI Communications Corporation Long Term Disability Plan, Defendant, and ITT Hartford Insurance Group, esa Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company; Hartford Life, esa Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 03-55216.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted August 3, 2004.

Filed February 28, 2005.

Daniel D. Dydzak, Los Angeles, CA, for plaintiff-appellant.

Carolyn A. Knox, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, San Francisco, CA, for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; George H. King, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-01-05356-GHK.

Before CANBY, HANSEN,^* and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.

RAWLINSON, Circuit Judge.

This case requires us to tread into the thorny thicket of the separate judgment rule. Having done so, we conclude that consideration of Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure results in the conclusion that the order granting summary judgment in this case was sufficiently final and the appeal was timely. On the merits, we affirm the district court's ruling that Elizabeth Ford's (Ford) ERISA claims fail.

I. Background and Procedural History

A. The Long Term Disability Plan and the Claim

Ford was employed by MCI and was a member of the MCI Communications Long Term Disability Plan (Plan). The Plan was established and is maintained by MCI and its successor corporate entity, Worldcom, Inc., as an employee welfare benefit plan. MCI is listed as the "Plan Administrator/Plan Sponsor" in the materials provided to the Plan members. ITT Hartford Insurance/Hartford Life (Hartford) is the claims administrator for the plan. The Plan does not list Hartford as a plan administrator.

Ford has coccidioidomycosis and fibromyalgia, conditions which she asserts originated during the course and scope of her work for MCI. Contending that Hartford wrongfully denied long-term disability (LTD) benefits coverage, Ford brought this action against Hartford¹ asserting claims under various provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq.

Specifically, Ford sought relief under: 1) 29 U.S.C. §§ 1132(a)(1)(B) and 1132(a)(2) for wrongful denial of LTD benefits; 2) 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3) for general equitable relief; and 3) 29 U.S.C. §§ 1025(c) and 1132(a)(4) for wrongful failure to notify Ford of accrued vested benefits.²

B. The District Court's Decision and Ford's Appeal

Hartford filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that it is not a proper party in an action to recover ERISA benefits. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Hartford, holding that Hartford was not a proper party to the action, being neither the Plan nor the Plan Administrator.

The Minute order containing the district court's decision was entered into the court's record on November 18, 2002. No other document was filed by the court reflecting the court's summary judgment. The district court record does not reflect that the minute order was served on either party. Ford's attorney received the minute order on January 2, 2003, when the district court faxed it at the request of a law clerk working for Ford's counsel. As a result, Ford was not aware that her action had been dismissed until after the expiration of the 30-day period to file a timely appeal pursuant to Rule 4(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Ford argues that this Court should excuse her admittedly untimely notice of appeal because the district court did not serve the decision upon the parties and she filed her appeal within thirty days³ of learning of the district court's grant of summary judgment.

Ford also appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Hartford. Specifically, Ford maintains that the Court erred in determining that Hartford was not a proper party to this action, because Hartford "functioned as" the Plan Administrator. Additionally, Ford asserts that Hartford was liable as a fiduciary.

II. Standard of Review

"The timeliness of a notice of appeal is reviewed de novo." Feldman v. Allstate Ins. Co., 322 F.3d 660, 665 (9th Cir.2003) (citation omitted). A grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo. The court must determine, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law and whether any genuine issues of material fact exist for trial. Fortyune v. Amer. Multi-Cinema Inc., 364 F.3d 1075, 1080 (9th Cir.2004). Likewise, this Court reviews de novo the district court's interpretation of ERISA. Everhart v. Allmerica Fin. Life Ins. Co., 275 F.3d 751, 753 (9th Cir.2001). Summary judgment may be affirmed on any ground supported by the record. High Sierra Hikers Ass'n v. Blackwell, 390 F.3d 630, 638 (9th Cir.2004).

III. Analysis

A. Timeliness of the Appeal

Rule 4(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (Appellate Rule 4) provides that "[i]n a civil case ... the notice of appeal ... must be filed with the district clerk within 30 days after the judgment or order appealed from is entered." Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(1)(A). A judgment or order is not entered within the meaning of this rule unless it is entered in compliance with Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Rule 58). Casey v. Albertson's, Inc., 362 F.3d 1254, 1258 (9th Cir.2004). Rule 58(a)(1) provides that "every judgment must be set forth on a separate document." Id. at 1257 (alterations omitted).

Although neither party raised the separate judgment requirement of Rule 58(a)(1), we may sua sponte bring this issue to the attention of the parties, and we did so at oral argument. See Corrigan v. Bargala, 140 F.3d 815, 817 (9th Cir.1998) (explaining request for supplemental briefing when the parties did not address whether or not a separate judgment was entered and the record was unclear). Accordingly, the question we now face is whether the district court's minute order suffices as a separate document to satisfy Rule 58(a)(1).

"The separate document requirement exists so that the parties will know exactly when the judgment has been entered and they must begin preparing post-verdict motions or an appeal." Casey, 362 F.3d at 1258(citation and alteration omitted). In Casey, we held that the failure to file a separate judgment did not preclude appeal where the parties believed that a final judgment had been entered. Id. at 1258-59. We relied in part on the fact that the minute order ended with the language "IT IS SO ORDERED." Id. at 1259(quoting Beaudry Motor Co. v. Abko Props., Inc., 780 F.2d 751, 754-55 (9th Cir.1986)). We also relied upon the fact that the unsuccessful party filed a Rule 60(b) motion to set aside the order, evincing a belief that the judgment was final.

Exactly the same language was used in the minute order terminating this case. Ford similarly manifested a belief that the judgment was final by filing an appeal. See Casey, 362 F.3d at 1259(discussing the filing of an appeal as an acknowledgment of finality). Informed by our rulings in Casey and Beaudry, we are persuaded that the separate document rule does not preclude a finding that the district court's judgment was sufficiently final in this case. See id.

Our determination that the minute order entered in this case constituted a final judgment despite the separate document requirement embodied in Rule 58 does not end our inquiry. We must now turn to the second complication in this case — the district court's failure to give parties notice of entry of judgment, in this case effectuated by entry of a minute order.

There are two procedural rules that potentially govern the timeliness of an appeal when the court failed to enter a separate judgment document and failed to provide notice of entry of the court's ruling resolving the case.

The first potentially applicable rule is Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended. In 2002, Rule 58 was amended to add a provision specifying when judgment is entered for purposes of the procedural rule. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 58, Advisory Committee Notes, 2002 Amendments.⁴

As amended, Rule 58 provides:

...

(b) Time of Entry. Judgment is entered for purposes of these rules:

(1) if Rule 58(a)(1) does not require a separate document, when it is entered in the civil docket under Rule 79(a),⁵ and

(2) if Rule 58(a)(1) requires a separate document,⁶ when it is entered in the civil docket under Rule 79(a) and when the earlier of these events occurs:

(A) when it is set forth on a separate document, or

(B) when 150 days have run from entry in the civil docket under Rule 79(a).

Fed.R.Civ.P. 58(b).

The 2002 Amendments were effective Dec. 1, 2002. Fed.R.Civ.P. 58, Credit(s). As of that date, entry of a judgment required to be entered by separate document is effective when the earlier of two events occurs: (1) a separate judgment document is entered, or (2) 150 days have run from the entry of the [non-separate] order in the docket. Fed.R.Civ.P. 58(b)(2). The minute order in this case was entered on November 18, 2002. Because no separate judgment document was entered, the amended rule would result in entry of judgment 150 days after November 18, or April 17, 2003. The notice of appeal, filed on February 3, 2003, was therefore timely.⁷

This conclusion is supported by two subsections of Fed. R.App. P. 4. Rule 4(a)(1)(A) provides, with exceptions not relevant here, that a notice of appeal must be filed "within 30 days after the judgment or order appealed from is entered." Rule 4(a)(7)(A)(ii) provides that a judgment required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 58(a) to be set forth on a separate document is "entered" when the earlier of two events has occurred: the judgment is set forth...