ows:“The PLAN herein expressly gives the ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE discretionary authority to resolve all questions concerning the administration, interpretation or application of the PLAN, including without limitation, discretionary authority to determine eligibility for benefits or to construe the terms of the PLAN in conducting the review of the appeal…”Id. at 939. If the plan drafters follow the formula set out in Walker, their grant of discretion should be upheld in all Circuits. This grant of discretion is specific enough to demonstrate the drafter’s intent and will clearly inform the beneficiary of the administrator’s discretion. b. Which Plan to EnforceSince the holding in Brunch benefit plan issuers and organizers have amended their plans to unquestionably “grant the plan administrator the authority to determine the eligibility for benefits and to construe the terms of the plan.” SC62 ALI-ABA 1 (1998). Therefore, the issue has become what clause should courts enforce? Under the original plan, the language might allow a de novo review. However, under the amended plan, the administrator clearly has discretion and the court will surely grant a differential review, making the administrators decision very difficult to overturn. A recent Iowa case has considered just this issue. In Blessing v. Deere & Co., 985 F. Supp. 899 (S.D. Iowa 1997), the court was asked to decide if the original plan or an amended plan should control. The original plan provided for discretionary authority to the administration while the amended plan did not. The plaintiff argued that since the original plan was in effect when her husband, the actual plan participant, died, the original plan must control. Id. at 903. The defendant argued that the amended plan was in effect when the claim was made, therefore the amended plan must control. Id. at 903. In the end, the court held that the plan in effect when t...
