Seaman v. Johnson

OPINION

NORRIS, Circuit Judge.

This declaratory judgment action requires us to determine the proper beneficiary of a life insurance policy valued at $47,500. Because the policy formed part of an “employee benefit plan,” we look to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq. (“ERISA”), in order to resolve the dispute. The owner of the policy, Carl Johnson, Sr., worked for General Motors and married plaintiff, Antoinette Seaman, sometime before 1969, when he designated her as the policy’s beneficiary. Although the couple divorced in 1976, he never amended that…