Thursday, August 14th, 2008

DAlaska: Sanctions for Evidentiary Violations

In this case under the Contract Disputes Act, plaintiff asked the Court to preclude the government from calling 1) witnesses not produced at Rule 30(b)(6) depositions, and 2) witnesses concerning events associated with documents that the government is no longer able to find.
District Court Judge John Sedwick held, as to the non-produced Rule 30(b)(6) witnesses:
Under the circumstances presented, the […]

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

9th Cir: ERISA Structural Conflict of Interest Standard

The 9th Circuit has again applied MetLife v. Glenn, this time holding that an administrator’s (MetLife, as it happens) structural conflict of interest wasn’t sufficient to set aside a denial of ERISA benefits.  The panel said:
The Supreme Court has indicated that an ERISA fiduciary’s structural conflict of interest is but one factor in considering whether […]