Smith v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company

Filing 38

ORDER REGARDING TRIAL. In light of the unique circumstances surrounding this bench trial, the court SETS a telephonic case management conference for Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. Counsel may appear at it through CourtCall, and they shall make the necessary arrangements to do so. Telephone Conference set for 12/6/2012 10:30 AM in Courtroom C, 15th Floor, San Francisco before Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler. Signed by Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on 12/3/2012. (lblc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/3/2012)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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Northern District of California

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San Francisco Division
LORI SMITH,

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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No. C 11-03495 LB
Plaintiff,

ORDER REGARDING TRIAL

v.
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HARTFORD LIFE & ACCIDENT,
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Defendant.
_____________________________________/

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Plaintiff Lori Smith filed this ERISA lawsuit against defendant Hartford Life and Accident

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Insurance Company (“Hartford”) and seeks reinstatement of her life insurance waiver of premium

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benefits. Complaint, ECF No. 1 at 14.1 The parties agree that the court reviews Hartford’s denial of

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these benefits for abuse of discretion. See Plaintiff’s Opening Trial Brief, ECF No. 26 at 12;

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Defendant’s Opening Trial Brief, ECF No. 27 at 20. Thus, the parties stipulated that the bench trial

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will be based on the administrative record, the parties’ trial briefs and, if the court deems it

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necessary, the parties’ oral argument. See Stipulation, ECF No. 34. For this reason, and pursuant to

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the parties’ stipulation, the court vacated the pretrial conference and ordered that other, usually-

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required pretrial papers need not be submitted. Stipulation and Order, ECF No. 35.

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The “bench trial on the record,” see Kearney v. Standard Ins. Co., 175 F.3d 1084, 1095 (9th Cir.

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Citations are to the Electronic Case File (“ECF”) with pin cites to the electronic page
number at the top of the document, not the pages at the bottom.
C 11-03495 LB
ORDER REGARDING TRIAL

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1999), currently is scheduled for December 10-12, 2012, and it appears, from the parties’ trial briefs,

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stipulation, and previous case management statements, that the trial will involve only oral argument

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from counsel. The parties thus estimate that this trial “should require no more than one to two

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hours.” 9/13/2012 Case Management Statement, ECF No. 24 at 2.

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In light of the unique circumstances surrounding this bench trial, the court SETS a telephonic

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case management conference for Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. Counsel may appear at

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it through CourtCall, and they shall make the necessary arrangements to do so. The court wishes to

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discuss what, exactly, counsel expect to occur at this bench trial, other than oral argument, which

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may or may not even be necessary. In addition, to allow the court more time to review and consider
the administrative record and the parties’ trial briefs, the court is considering vacating the current

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trial dates and, instead, setting a one-day bench trial on Monday, January 14, 2013 at 8:30 a.m.

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: December 3, 2012
_______________________________
LAUREL BEELER
United States Magistrate Judge

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C 11-03495 LB
ORDER REGARDING TRIAL

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