(March 24, 2016, 11:45 AM EDT) -- SAN FRANCISCO — A district court abused its discretion in granting summary judgment in favor of a disability insurer because a reasonable insured would have believed that filing an internal appeal of the insurer’s denial of benefits would have been futile, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 21 in noting that the futility exception to the exhaustion requirement under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act should have been applied (Richard Carey v. RMB United of Omaha Life Insurance Co., No. 14-55483, 9th Cir.; 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 5149)....