Hare v. Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston et al

Filing 12

ERISA SCHEDULING ORDER: Parties directed to file administrative record within 45 days of this order; Plaintiff's motion for judgment and brief due 21 calendar days after stipulated record is filed; Defendant's response to motion and brief due 21 calendar days after Plaintiff's brief is filed.. Signed by Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. on 4/11/2013. (mkf)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
WESTERN DIVISION
RUTH ANN HARE
v.

PLAINTIFF
Case No. 4:13-cv-87-DPM

LIBERTY LIFE ASSURANCE
COMPANY OF BOSTON, ET AL.

DEFENDANT

ERISA SCHEDULING ORDER
l.

The pleadings indicate that this case is governed by the Employee

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq. No trial is
needed. Instead, the parties should brief the case on the administrative
record. The court may hear oral argument after the briefing is done.
2. The briefing schedule is this:
•

The parties must file the stipulated administrative record
within forty-five days of this order;

•

Plaintiff must move for judgment and file his or her brief
within twenty-one calendar days after the stipulated record is
filed;

•

Defendants must respond to the motion and file their
responding briefs within twenty-one calendar days after the
Plaintiff’s brief is filed;

•

Plaintiff may file a reply brief within ten calendar days after
Defendants file their briefs.

3. The parties’ briefs must argue the case in terms of the threshold legal
question: what is the court’s standard of review — de novo or abuse of
discretion — of the administrator’s or fiduciary’s decision on the
administrative record? See, e.g., Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch,
489 U.S. 101, 108–115 (1989); Metropolitan Life Ins. v. Glenn, 554 U.S. 105,
110-111,128 S. Ct. 2343, 2347–48 (2008); Manning v. American Republic Ins. Co.,
604 F.3d 1030, 1038–39 (8th Cir. 2010).
4. The parties must also cite specific pages of the administrative record
as they brief the facts and the law.
So Ordered.

______________________________
D.P. Marshall Jr.
United States District Judge
11 April 2013

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