(Download) "Primax Recoveries" by United States Court of Appeals " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

May 01, 2021

eBook details

Title: Primax Recoveries
Author : United States Court of Appeals
Release Date : January 12, 2006
Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
Pages : * pages
Size : 67 KB

Description

The District Court rejected an application for ERISA attorneys fees and costs under 29 U.S.C. Â§ 1132(g) on the grounds that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the case. The question presented in this appeal is whether an ERISA action ostensibly brought under 29 U.S.C. Â§ 1132(a)(3) apparently for solely "legal," as distinguished from "equitable," relief ---- a form of relief clearly barred by Supreme Court precedent in Great-West Life & Annuity Ins. Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204, 221 (2002) ---- falls outside the District Courts subject-matter jurisdiction or simply fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In QualChoice, Inc. v. Rowland, 367 F.3d 638, 642 (6th Cir. 2004), our Court, relying on a prior binding precedent, stated that a federal court has no subject-matter jurisdiction in such cases. Due to intervening Supreme Court precedent, we reject our prior characterization and hold that a district court has subject-matter jurisdiction in such cases, even if the pleading fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Two recent Supreme Court opinions, Kontrick v. Ryan, 540 U.S. 443 (2004), and Eberhart v. United States, 546 U.S. ____, 126 S.Ct. 403 (2005) (per curiam), require us to depart from binding precedent in our Circuit, Community Health Plan of Ohio v. Mosser, 347 F.3d 619 (6th Cir. 2003), followed in QualChoice, Inc. v. Rowland, 367 F.3d 638 (6th Cir. 2004), and to depart from our normal rule that one panel may not overrule a prior panel. We, therefore, reverse the District Courts denial of the application of defendants Joan and William Gunter for attorneys fees and costs. We remand for further consideration of this issue.