Supreme Court Report

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Bernard McLaughlin v. National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan Board of Trustees

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 18-1083 · judgment May 21, 2019

Certiorari denied · October 15, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Third Circuit decision below and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Questions presented

  1. After Third Circuit had affirmed an Order in favor of an ERISA plan by recharacterizing it as a monetizing of a lien rather than a personal money judgment, did the Court err by not correcting the ERISA Plan’s misuse of that Order when the Plan docketed it under a state law available only for money judgments, contrary to ERISA’s prohibition on relief at law.

  2. Did the Third Circuit err by not permitting the Participant discovery on whether the Plan’s withholding of benefits as a set-off had reached the point whether his indebtedness to the Plan had been satisfied.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Steven Lee Kessel
Drazin & Warshaw, P.C.

For respondent
John David Kolb
Kolb Clare & Arnold, PSC

Case

Subject area
Economic Activity (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Order
Order list, October 15, 2019 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. Oct 15 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 25 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/11/2019.
  3. Sep 10 2019
    Brief of respondent Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan in opposition filed.
  4. Aug 07 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 12, 2019)