DePina v. General Dynamics Corp.’s Empirical Analysis
1987
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 12 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 25 later decisions — most recently May 2019 · most notably VanderKlok v. Provident Life & Accident Insurance (1992), Turner v. Fallon Community Health Plan, Inc. (1997)
6 federal appellate · 12 district ·
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (§ 502 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974)
Relies on Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance v. Russell · Amato v. Bernard · John Mason v. Continental Group, Inc. · Kross v. Western Electric Co. · Amaro v. Continental Can Co.
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The primary purposes of the exhaustion requirement are to: (1) uphold Congress' desire that ERISA trustees be responsible for their actions, not the federal courts; (2) provide a sufficiently clear record of administrative action if litigation should ensue; and (3) assure that any judicial review of fiduciary action (or inaction) is made under the arbitrary and capricious standard, not de novo. ")). Plaintiff has not shown and the Court does not find any case law to support considering Plaintiff's post-lawsuit claim for benefits sufficient to satisfy the exhaustion requirement. Plaintiff also argues that the exhaustion requirement on his claim against Prudential should be excused because exhausting administrative remedies in this case would be futile. Doc. 44, Pl.'s Resp. to Prudential's Mot., 5-6. Plaintiff argues that futility is met "if the plan administrator has indicated in the course of the litigation that it intends to refuse any further claim by Plaintiff, or that it has a longstanding policy concerning denial of certain types of claims.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“(1) The specific reason or reasons for the denial; (2) Specific reference to pertinent plan provisions on which the denial is based; (3) A description of any additional material or information necessary for the claimant to perfect the claim and an explanation of why such material or information is necessary; and (4) Appropriate information as to the steps to be taken if the participant or beneficiary wishes to submit his or her claim for review.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The notice consisted of an “explanation of benefits” form which is a preprinted form with DePina’s name, address, claim number, charges submitted and benefits payable typed in. Typed in the bottom in bold capitals was “This service is not covered by your medical plan.” On the reverse side, in small print, the basic appeal procedure is set out, although no address or telephone number is provided to enable an appellant to contact the proper person before whom an appeal is to be brought.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.