Harrison V. Digital Health Plan

Brenda Harrison appeals from an order dismissing her lawsuit brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001, et seq, against her former employer and health plan administrator for wrongful denial of medical benefits, breach of fiduciary duty, and failure to give proper notice of COBRA continuation of coverage. The district court found that the claims were time barred or failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. On appeal, the only issue meriting Discussion is whether the district court erred when it borrowed Georgia's one-year statute of limitations applicable to workers' compensation claims rather than the six-year limitations period applicable to actions on a simple contract when it considered the timeliness of Harrison's action for wrongful denial of medical benefits under ERISA. *fn2 We hold that the district court should have borrowed the limitations period governing contract actions because an action for breach of a contractual relationship is the Georgia claim most analogous to plaintiff's ERISA section 502(a)(1)(B) claim for wrongful denial of medical benefits even though some of the medical claims denied were for the treatment of work-related illnesses.