Opinion
Case No. 4:05-cv-0066-DFH-WGH.
August 15, 2005
ENTRY
Defendants' motion to strike plaintiffs' requests for compensatory and punitive damages and plaintiffs' jury demand is hereby granted. Defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiffs' claim for bad faith denial of insurance coverage is also granted. Defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiffs' claim for breach of contract is denied, but the claim must be characterized as a claim for benefits under ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B).
Plaintiffs have alleged that defendants wrongfully and in bad faith denied health insurance coverage. The insurance coverage is a benefit under an employee welfare plan covered by ERISA. The law is well established that ERISA preempts the state law claims. See Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41, 57 (1987), and that plaintiffs' remedies are limited to the equitable remedies available under ERISA, Harsch v. Eisenberg, 956 F.2d 651, 655 (7th Cir. 1992) (rejecting claims for compensatory and punitive damages), and following Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Russell, 473 U.S. 134 (1985). Also, the trial will be to the court, not to a jury. Brown v. Retirement Committee of Briggs Stratton Retirement Plan, 797 F.2d 521, 527 (7th Cir. 1986); Wardle v. Central States, Inc., 627 F.2d 820, 829 (7th Cir. 1980). The case will proceed as one seeking benefits pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B).
So ordered.