Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 05-1095.
July 11, 2008
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Before the Court is the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation [Doc. No. 28], along with Defendant's Objections [Doc. No. 29]. In its Objections, Defendant has argued that the Magistrate Judge erred in finding that the Administrator of the Retirement Plan of International Paper Company had a conflict of interest. After Defendant filed its Objections, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Metropolitan Life Ins. v. Glenn, 128 S.Ct. 2343, 2347 (2008) which may affect the Court's analysis of the Objections to the Report and Recommendation. Therefore,
IT IS ORDERED that the Defendant file a memorandum of no more than ten (10) pages by July 25, 2008, addressing the following two issues:
(1) Whether Defendant's procedure for paying benefits creates a conflict of interest under Glenn, 128 S.Ct. 2343, 2347 (2008); and
(2) If the Court is to find a conflict of interest, how important is that conflict to the Administrator's decision. See id. ("The conflict of interest . . . should prove more important (perhaps of great importance) where circumstances suggest a higher likelihood that it affected the benefits decision. . . . It should prove less important (perhaps to the vanishing point) where the administrator has taken active steps to reduce potential bias and to promote accuracy. . . .").
Plaintiff must file any response to Defendant's memorandum no later than ten (10) days from the date Defendant's memorandum is filed.