United States Ninth Circuit

Summary judgment and award of attorneys' fees to decedent's children from a previous marriage in a dispute over rights to survivor benefits is reversed where, under the plain language of the applicable statute, a purported assignment of pension rights did not meet the strict requirements of a valid Qualified Domestic Relations Order under ERISA.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/17/2005
• Decided 01/10/2006
• Published 01/10/2006

Judges

• McKEOWN, Circuit Judge., Before RICHARD D. CUDAHY,T.G. NELSON, and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Nicholas P. Scarpelli, Jr., Carney Badley & Spellman, P.S., Seattle, WA;  Jerome C. Scowcroft, Scowcroft Law Office, Seattle, WA, for the plaintiffs-appellees., Jonathan P. Meier, Sirianni Youtz Meier & Spoonemore, Seattle, WA, for the defendant-intervenor-appellant.