which demonstrated that: (1) a palpable conflict of interest or serious procedural irregularity existed, which (2) caused a serious breach of the plan administrator’s fiduciary duty to the claimant.” Id. at 1160. Further, the court related that Woo needed only to show that the conflict had “some connection to the substantive decision reached” in order to trigger the sliding scale. Id. Woo was able to demonstrate that the administrator was operating under a conflict of interest, so the court reviewed for an abuse of discretion and weighed the conflict of interest against the defendant. The final interpretation of Brunch is the “shift the burden to the employer” interpretation. The “shift” approach seems to be followed in the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits. See Kunin v. Benefit Trust Life Ins. Co., 898 F.2d 1556 (11th Cir. 1990), and Newell v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America, 904 F.2d 644 (11th Cir. 1990). The “shift” interpretation generally holds that whenever a court determines that a conflict of interest is present by the administrator, the court will apply a de novo standard of review, unless the employer/administrator can show that the conflict of interest did not influence the decision to deny the claim. In Newell, the court had established a more stringent standard, which required the administrator to “prove that its interpretation of the plan provisions committed to its discretion was not tainted by self interest.” The administrator also had to show that he/she operated “exclusively in the interest of the plan participants and beneficiaries.” Id. at 651. The “shift the burden” standard does not seem to follow the differential review that Brunch established because Brunch specifically held that a conflict of interest should only weigh against the deference given to the administrative decision, not completely erase the discret...
