Opinion
Civil Action No. 08-cv-02335-WYD-CBS.
June 23, 2009
ORDER
THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff's Unopposed Motion to Stay the Case [doc. #29], filed June 11, 2009. In her Motion, Plaintiff Cynthia Moltz Bray requests a stay of the present case pending her exhaustion of administrative remedies in a related matter. She asserts that her late husband John Bray was the original plaintiff in the present case and had brought this action against Defendants because of their denial of his claim under a long-term disability insurance policy. After Mr. Bray passed away, Mrs. Bray was substituted as Plaintiff. She submitted to Defendant Sun Life Health Insurance Company a claim for benefits under a life insurance policy, but Sun Life denied the claim and is now hearing Plaintiff's administrative appeal. Plaintiff requests that the present case be stayed pending Defendants' final benefits determination regarding the life insurance policy claim, as the claim is essentially identical to her husband's original claim under his disability insurance policy. Plaintiff asserts that should the life insurance claim be denied, she intends to consolidate that claim with the present case. For the foregoing reasons, I agree that a stay of the present case is warranted. Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED that Plaintiff's Unopposed Motion to Stay the Case [doc. #29], filed June 11, 2009, is GRANTED and this case is STAYED pending Defendant Sun Life's final benefits determination regarding Plaintiff's life insurance policy claim. The parties shall file a joint status report apprising the Court of the status of the case not later than Friday, July 31, 2009. If the final benefits determination has not been made at that point, the Court is likely to administratively close the case, which would then be reopened for good cause shown.