he claim was made is the controlling plan. Id at 903. Unfortunately, nowhere in the ERISA statute is this rule enumerated. This could be a issue for the courts for some time and the reasoning of both arguments seems to make reasonable sense especially in Blessing. The plaintiff’s argument in Blessing was particularly persuasive to me because the actual participant, the husband, was dead. Since the actual participant was dead, he no longer had any choice over whether to accept the amended benefit plan or to choose another. Further, the wife had no bargaining power to change the benefit plan because she had no value to the employer/provider. Therefore, she had no ability to negotiate for a better benefit plan. She was required to take the amended plan, which was probably already paid for, or find a new plan at her own expense. To me, this seems as if both parties had valid arguments, and the court could have ruled for either the plaintiff or the defendant.V.ConclusionIt is clear that the current standard of review for ERISA appeals to U.S. District Court’s is the standard determined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Firestone Tire & Rubber v. Brunch. The Court specifically held that a U.S. District Court should give an action governed by ERISA, that had been appealed after the exhaustion of administrative remedies, a de novo review. Id. More specifically the court stated that the district court should review under a de novo standard, unless the plan explicitly confers to the plan administrator the power to interpret the plan and the plan’s terms. Id. If the plan provided the administrator with sufficient discretion, the court must only then review the administrator’s decision for an abuse of discretion. Id. This clearly gives the administrator independent authority to admit or deny claims made by plan’s participants. I truly believe this is a conflict of interest with potentially unjust results. ...
