Split 10th Circuit Remands Judgment On Treatment Denial, Spotting Mistaken Review

Mealey's (July 29, 2020, 9:16 AM EDT) -- DENVER — The administrator of an ERISA-governed health plan for Microsoft Corp. employees failed to reserve its discretionary authority and, therefore, should not have enjoyed a deferential "arbitrary-and-capricious" standard of review from a Utah federal court in a summary judgment over the administrator's denial of coverage for psychiatric residential treatment for a teenage girl, a two-judge majority of a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said July 24, ruling that the lower court should have reviewed the denial under a de novo standard (Lyn M., et al. v. Premera Blue Cross, et al., No. 18-4098, 10th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 23395)....