Cusson v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of, et al

Filing 920100114

Opinion

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var WPFootnote1 = 'For additional background, see the decision below. Cusson v.\
Liberty Life Assurance Co., No. 78-3386, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS\
77084 (D. Mass. Sep. 30, 2008).\
'

var WPFootnote2 = 'Cusson also argues that, in the wake of Glenn, the district\
court was wrong to place the burden of proof on her to show that\
the records were not provided. However, as we noted above, the\
Supreme Court explicitly chose not to impose any new burden-of-proof rules with respect to conflicts.\
'

var WPFootnote3 = 'Cusson argued to the district court that Liberty\'s internal\
training manuals regarding video surveillance should have been\
admitted to the record. The district court denied this request\
because Cusson did not demonstrate a "very good reason" for the\
inclusion of the manuals. See Liston v. UNUM Corp. Officer\
Severance Plan, 330 F.3d 19, 23 (1st Cir. 2003). Cusson challenges\
this decision on appeal. However, Cusson does not clearly explain \
why these documents would assist this court in determining whether\
Liberty\'s decision was an abuse of discretion. Because we do not\
see why these documents would be relevant to this case, we do not\
reach the issue of whether the district court properly excluded\
them.\
'

var WPFootnote4 = 'In our prior ERISA cases, we have variously described the\
standard of review, applicable when an ERISA plan grants the plan\
administrator the discretion to determine eligibility for benefits,\
as review for "abuse of discretion," "arbitrariness and\
capriciousness," and "substantial evidence." In the ERISA benefit-denial context, these terms are interchangeable. See Denmark III,\
566 F.3d at 7.\
'

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