RHYS STERLING V. DAVITA INC., No. 12-35044 (9th Cir. 2013)
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FILED APR 22 2013 NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT RHYS A. STERLING, No. 12-35044 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 3:11-cv-05834-RJB v. MEMORANDUM * DAVITA INC., Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Robert J. Bryan, District Judge, Presiding Submitted April 16, 2013 ** Before: CANBY, IKUTA, and WATFORD, Circuit Judges. Rhys A. Sterling, an attorney, appeals pro se from the district court s order dismissing his action alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ( ERISA ) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ( HIPAA ) in connection with defendant s verification * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). and determination of Sterling s eligibility for continued dependent benefits under his spouse s employee healthcare plan. We review de novo a dismissal for failure to state a claim. Paulsen v. CNF Inc., 559 F.3d 1061, 1071 (9th Cir. 2009). We affirm. The district court properly dismissed Sterling s claim that defendant violated its fiduciary duties under ERISA when it requested documentary proof of Sterling s eligibility to participate in defendant s healthcare plan, as defendant s actions were authorized by the plan and consistent with its fiduciary duty under ERISA to protect the financial integrity of the plan. See Cent. States, Se. & Sw. Areas Pension Fund v. Cent. Transp., Inc., 472 U.S. 559, 570-71 (1985) (under ERISA, a plan fiduciary must discharge [its] duties with respect to a plan solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries and . . . for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits to participants and their beneficiaries[,] and . . . defraying reasonable expenses of administering the plan (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). The district court properly dismissed Sterling s claim that defendant violated its fiduciary duties under ERISA, as informed by the congressional intent underlying HIPAA, when it prospectively cancelled Sterling s healthcare coverage after his spouse failed to provide proof of his eligibility to participate. See id.; see 2 12-35044 also 26 C.F.R. § 54.9815-2712T(a) (prohibition on rescissions under 42 U.S.C. § 300gg-12 is limited to cancellations or discontinuances of coverage that have a retroactive effect); Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-44 (1984) (to the extent that a statutory provision is ambiguous, a court may not substitute its own construction of the provision for a reasonable interpretation made by the administrator of an agency to which Congress has implicitly delegated interpretive authority). Defendant s request for attorney s fees, raised in its answering brief, is denied. AFFIRMED. 3 12-35044
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