Simon v. Value Behavioral Health, Inc., 208 F.3d 1073 (9^th Cir. 2000)-This appeal addresses the issue of whether an assignee of a benefit claim has standing to sue under ERISA.  Normally, courts limit standing to plan participants and beneficiaries under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B).  This court had granted derivative standing to health care providers to whom beneficiaries had assigned their benefit claims after receiving medical care from such providers.  Misic v. Building Serv. Employees Health & Welfare Trust, 789 F.2d 1374 (9^th Cir. 1986) (per curiam).

Here, Simon sued approximately 1,600 defendants in the health insurance industry, after he negotiated with mental health care providers to reassign him claims that patients had assigned to them.  Simon thus sued to extend Misic to cover not only health care providers but also the assignee of health care providers.  This court declined, pointing out that the only reason it made an exception to 29 U.S.C. § 1132’s specific identification of plaintiff’s because granting derivative standing to patients' health care providers simplified the billing structure among the patient, his care provider, and his benefit plan in a way that enhanced employee health benefit coverage.  This furthered the purposes of ERISA.