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    "sections": [
      {
        "title": "RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b)",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "File Name: 26a0237p.06",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "LAUREL HILL MANAGEMENT SERVICES, INC.;",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGICAL ASSOCIATES;",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_8",
          "para_9",
          "para_10"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "LA-Z-BOY INC.; DOES 1–10; BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_12",
          "para_13",
          "para_14",
          "para_15",
          "para_16",
          "para_17",
          "para_18",
          "para_19",
          "para_20",
          "para_21",
          "para_22",
          "para_23",
          "para_24",
          "para_25"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "No. 25-1727",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_27",
          "para_28"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Argued: June 4, 2026",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Decided and Filed: August 19, 2026",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_31",
          "para_32"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "COUNSEL",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "ARGUED: Jonathan A. Stieglitz, LAW OFFICE OF JONATHAN A. STIEGLITZ LAW, Los",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_35"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Michigan, for Appellee La-Z-Boy Inc. Nathan S. Scherbarth, ZAUSMER, PC, Farmington",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_37"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Stieglitz, LAW OFFICE OF JONATHAN A. STIEGLITZ LAW, Los Angeles, California, for",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Appellants. Matthew G. Mrkonic, HONIGMAN LLP, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee La-Z-",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Boy Inc. Nathan S. Scherbarth, ZAUSMER, PC, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellee Blue",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_41"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "HERMANDORFER, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which GIBBONS and",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_43",
          "para_44",
          "para_45",
          "para_46"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 2",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_48"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "OPINION",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_50"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "HERMANDORFER, Circuit Judge. Like many companies, La-Z-Boy sponsors an",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_52",
          "para_53",
          "para_54",
          "para_55"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Michigan, about the reimbursement terms under Patient AA’s health benefit plan. Blue Cross",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_57",
          "para_58",
          "para_59"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "When the medical providers eventually sought reimbursement, however, Blue Cross paid",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_61",
          "para_62",
          "para_63",
          "para_64"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "1974 (ERISA), which governs the plan. ERISA’s express-preemption provision displaces",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_66"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Applying this Court’s decision in Cromwell v. Equicor-Equitable HCA Corp., 944 F.2d 1272",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_68",
          "para_69",
          "para_70"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Under Cromwell, ERISA preempts negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_72",
          "para_73",
          "para_74",
          "para_75",
          "para_76",
          "para_77"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 3",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "I",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "A",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Because this appeal arises from the dismissal of a complaint, we accept the complaint’s",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_82",
          "para_83"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "La-Z-Boy sponsors an ERISA-regulated health benefit plan for its employees. Among",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_85",
          "para_86",
          "para_87"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Before agreeing to perform the procedures, the Medical Providers contacted Blue",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_89",
          "para_90"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Medical Providers directed their query to Blue Cross because they “underst[ood]” that Blue",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_92",
          "para_93",
          "para_94"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The discussion that followed featured oral “promises and representations” from Blue",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_96",
          "para_97",
          "para_98",
          "para_99",
          "para_100",
          "para_101",
          "para_102",
          "para_103",
          "para_104",
          "para_105",
          "para_106"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 4",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Relying on Blue Cross’s statements about the rate of reimbursement, the Medical",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_109",
          "para_110",
          "para_111",
          "para_112",
          "para_113",
          "para_114",
          "para_115"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers then “submitted their claims” directly to Blue Cross in the amount",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_117",
          "para_118",
          "para_119"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "B",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "In March 2024, the Medical Providers sued La-Z-Boy and unnamed individual",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_122",
          "para_123",
          "para_124"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers’ suit contends that Blue Cross made misrepresentations regarding",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_126",
          "para_127",
          "para_128",
          "para_129"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "La-Z-Boy and Blue Cross each moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_131",
          "para_132",
          "para_133",
          "para_134",
          "para_135",
          "para_136"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 5",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_138",
          "para_139"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The district court granted the defendants’ motions and dismissed the Medical Providers’",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_141",
          "para_142",
          "para_143",
          "para_144",
          "para_145"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers timely noticed an appeal. Six days later—and two weeks after the",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_147",
          "para_148",
          "para_149",
          "para_150",
          "para_151",
          "para_152"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "II",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers argue that the district court erred in dismissing their operative",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_155",
          "para_156",
          "para_157"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "A",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "We begin with a procedural issue. The Medical Providers request that we apply ERISA",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_160",
          "para_161"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "When the district court dismissed the Medical Providers’ claims with prejudice, it had",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_163",
          "para_164",
          "para_165",
          "para_166"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 6",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_168",
          "para_169"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers do not contest this order of events. Nor do they dispute that the",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_171"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Providers’ appellate arguments rely on new allegations and claims—like breach of oral",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_173"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "We disregard the new material in the proposed second amended complaint because it is",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_175",
          "para_176",
          "para_177",
          "para_178",
          "para_179",
          "para_180",
          "para_181",
          "para_182",
          "para_183",
          "para_184"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "31 F.4th 459, 464 n.2 (6th Cir. 2022). Those documents do not include the proposed second",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_186"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "B",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "With the scope of our review set, we next move to the merits of the parties’ ERISA-",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_189",
          "para_190"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "By its express terms, ERISA preempts “any and all State laws insofar as they may now or",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_192",
          "para_193",
          "para_194"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The provision’s preemptive effect extends to state “common law causes of action” that fall",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_196",
          "para_197"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 7",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_199",
          "para_200"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The “literal text” of the phrase “relate to,” the Supreme Court has recognized, cannot “be",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_202",
          "para_203",
          "para_204",
          "para_205",
          "para_206",
          "para_207",
          "para_208"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Through those efforts, the Court has identified “two categories of state laws that ERISA",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_210",
          "para_211",
          "para_212",
          "para_213",
          "para_214",
          "para_215",
          "para_216",
          "para_217",
          "para_218",
          "para_219",
          "para_220"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "State-law claims, this Court has instructed, might sometimes warrant application of",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "ERISA preemption. If a state-law claim “in essence” seeks the “recovery of an ERISA plan",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_223"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Penny/Ohlmann/Nieman, Inc. v. Miami Valley Pension Corp. (PONI), 399 F.3d 692, 702 (6th",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_225"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Cromwell, 944 F.2d at 1276. A state-law claim might also trigger ERISA preemption if it",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_227",
          "para_228"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 8",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_230",
          "para_231",
          "para_232",
          "para_233"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "C",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers contend that their negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_236",
          "para_237",
          "para_238",
          "para_239",
          "para_240",
          "para_241",
          "para_242",
          "para_243"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "1",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Some Cromwell discussion is useful. The case involved Lawrence Reinke, who had",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_246"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "F.2d at 1274. The next year, Reinke’s wife suffered a stroke. Id. The Reinkes then sought",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_248",
          "para_249",
          "para_250",
          "para_251",
          "para_252",
          "para_253",
          "para_254"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Equicor. Id. But Equicor ceased payment upon realizing that Reinke’s employment had been",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_256",
          "para_257",
          "para_258",
          "para_259"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 9",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "The healthcare providers sued to recover the outstanding balance of the payments",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_262",
          "para_263",
          "para_264",
          "para_265",
          "para_266",
          "para_267"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "A divided panel of this Court affirmed. We accepted the providers’ premise that ERISA",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_269",
          "para_270",
          "para_271",
          "para_272",
          "para_273",
          "para_274",
          "para_275",
          "para_276",
          "para_277",
          "para_278",
          "para_279",
          "para_280",
          "para_281",
          "para_282"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "2",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Cromwell covers the Medical Providers’ claims in this case. Like Equicor, which gave",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_285",
          "para_286"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "1275. Here, as in Cromwell, those assurances were false, and Blue Cross reimbursed the",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Medical Providers at a rate lower than what was represented over the phone. Id. As in",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_289",
          "para_290"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 10",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_292",
          "para_293",
          "para_294",
          "para_295",
          "para_296",
          "para_297",
          "para_298",
          "para_299",
          "para_300",
          "para_301",
          "para_302",
          "para_303"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "3",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_305",
          "para_306"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "By way of background, sometimes a party to an ERISA-covered health plan can enter into a",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_308",
          "para_309",
          "para_310",
          "para_311",
          "para_312",
          "para_313",
          "para_314",
          "para_315",
          "para_316",
          "para_317"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "That brings us to the assignment-of-benefits agreement in Cromwell. There, as the",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_319",
          "para_320",
          "para_321"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 11",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_323",
          "para_324",
          "para_325",
          "para_326",
          "para_327",
          "para_328"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "That account overreads the relevance of the parties’ assignment agreement to Cromwell’s",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_330",
          "para_331",
          "para_332",
          "para_333"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Cromwell cast the providers’ breach-of-contract and breach-of-good-faith claims as arising",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_335",
          "para_336",
          "para_337",
          "para_338",
          "para_339",
          "para_340",
          "para_341"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Second, the Medical Providers contend that “the question” in Cromwell “was one of a",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_343"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Providers Br. 49. They suggest that only right-to-payment claims brought under assignment",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_345",
          "para_346",
          "para_347",
          "para_348",
          "para_349",
          "para_350",
          "para_351",
          "para_352"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 12",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers’ attempt to draw a line between Cromwell and their claims fails",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_355",
          "para_356",
          "para_357",
          "para_358",
          "para_359",
          "para_360",
          "para_361",
          "para_362",
          "para_363",
          "para_364",
          "para_365",
          "para_366",
          "para_367",
          "para_368"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "We instead assess the substance of the Medical Providers’ allegations. Doing so",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_370",
          "para_371",
          "para_372",
          "para_373",
          "para_374",
          "para_375",
          "para_376",
          "para_377",
          "para_378",
          "para_379",
          "para_380",
          "para_381",
          "para_382",
          "para_383"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 13",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_385",
          "para_386"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Third, the Medical Providers suggest that Cromwell does not bind us because it is",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_388",
          "para_389",
          "para_390",
          "para_391",
          "para_392",
          "para_393"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The Medical Providers instead discuss various Supreme Court decisions at a high level of",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_395",
          "para_396",
          "para_397",
          "para_398",
          "para_399",
          "para_400",
          "para_401",
          "para_402"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "U.S. 645, 658 (1995) (“[W]e have held that state laws providing alternative enforcement",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_404",
          "para_405",
          "para_406"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Fourth, to bolster their case against applying Cromwell, the Medical Providers cite out-",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_408",
          "para_409",
          "para_410",
          "para_411",
          "para_412",
          "para_413",
          "para_414"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 14",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "Fund, 538 F.3d 594, 601 (7th Cir. 2008) (analyzing complete preemption only); McCulloch",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_417"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "And in any event, we may not cast aside Cromwell’s controlling reasoning—regardless of",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_419",
          "para_420"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Our holding is narrow. Under Cromwell, ERISA expressly preempts third-party",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_422",
          "para_423",
          "para_424",
          "para_425",
          "para_426",
          "para_427"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "III",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "One issue remains. In their opposition to the defendants’ motions to dismiss, the Medical",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_430",
          "para_431",
          "para_432",
          "para_433",
          "para_434",
          "para_435",
          "para_436",
          "para_437",
          "para_438",
          "para_439",
          "para_440",
          "para_441",
          "para_442",
          "para_443",
          "para_444"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 15",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_446",
          "para_447",
          "para_448",
          "para_449",
          "para_450",
          "para_451",
          "para_452",
          "para_453",
          "para_454",
          "para_455",
          "para_456",
          "para_457"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 16",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_459"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "CONCURRENCE",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_461"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "MURPHY, Circuit Judge, concurring. The administrator of an employer healthcare plan",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_463",
          "para_464"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "And it might lease office space to house its operations. It might also buy all sorts of",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_466",
          "para_467",
          "para_468",
          "para_469"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The administrator’s operations will not just implicate the common law of contracts. They",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_471",
          "para_472",
          "para_473",
          "para_474",
          "para_475",
          "para_476",
          "para_477"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "What happens, though, if a plan administrator manages an employer healthcare plan that",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_479",
          "para_480",
          "para_481",
          "para_482",
          "para_483",
          "para_484",
          "para_485"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "144 F.4th 828, 844 (6th Cir. 2025) (quoting Mertens v. Hewitt Assocs., 508 U.S. 248, 254",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_487",
          "para_488"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 17",
        "paragraphs": []
      },
      {
        "title": "(1993)). But the provision does not contemplate any of the hypothetical suits that I have",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_491"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "This fact poses a conundrum. If we read the preemption provision as broadly as its text",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_493",
          "para_494",
          "para_495",
          "para_496",
          "para_497",
          "para_498",
          "para_499"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "ERISA’s substantive requirements likely would not cover the conduct underlying these suits",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_501",
          "para_502",
          "para_503",
          "para_504"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "No, the Supreme Court and our court have instead read the preemption provision’s “relate",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_506",
          "para_507",
          "para_508"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Inc., 486 U.S. 825, 833 (1988). And we have held that ERISA does not preempt contract and",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_510",
          "para_511",
          "para_512"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "If these cases are right, it is not obvious why we have taken a different path for the",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_514",
          "para_515",
          "para_516",
          "para_517",
          "para_518",
          "para_519"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 18",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_521",
          "para_522",
          "para_523"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The providers brought breach-of-contract and breach-of-good-faith claims based on the",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_525",
          "para_526",
          "para_527"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "This “poorly reasoned” opinion represents an “outlier” in the courts. Plastic Surgery",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_529",
          "para_530",
          "para_531",
          "para_532",
          "para_533",
          "para_534",
          "para_535",
          "para_536",
          "para_537",
          "para_538",
          "para_539",
          "para_540",
          "para_541"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "But Cromwell’s resolution of the negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_543",
          "para_544",
          "para_545",
          "para_546",
          "para_547",
          "para_548",
          "para_549",
          "para_550",
          "para_551"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 19",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_553",
          "para_554",
          "para_555",
          "para_556"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "I doubt that Congress meant to deprive administrators of the right to strike deals they",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_558",
          "para_559",
          "para_560",
          "para_561",
          "para_562",
          "para_563",
          "para_564",
          "para_565",
          "para_566",
          "para_567",
          "para_568",
          "para_569",
          "para_570",
          "para_571",
          "para_572",
          "para_573"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "But why should things change when we switch from consensual duties created by state",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_575",
          "para_576",
          "para_577",
          "para_578",
          "para_579",
          "para_580",
          "para_581",
          "para_582",
          "para_583"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 20",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_585",
          "para_586",
          "para_587"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "In my mind, though, the same reasons why ERISA does not preempt the contract claim",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_589",
          "para_590",
          "para_591",
          "para_592",
          "para_593",
          "para_594",
          "para_595",
          "para_596",
          "para_597",
          "para_598",
          "para_599",
          "para_600",
          "para_601",
          "para_602",
          "para_603"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Where does this analysis leave things? I agree with Judge Hermandorfer’s persuasive",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_605",
          "para_606",
          "para_607",
          "para_608",
          "para_609",
          "para_610"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "I suspect that some cases finding ERISA preemption in this area might be influenced by",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_612",
          "para_613",
          "para_614"
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "Page 21",
        "paragraphs": [
          "para_616",
          "para_617",
          "para_618",
          "para_619",
          "para_620",
          "para_621",
          "para_622",
          "para_623",
          "para_624",
          "para_625"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "paragraphs": [
      {
        "text": "RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION",
        "paragraph_id": "para_1"
      },
      {
        "text": "Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b)",
        "paragraph_id": "para_2"
      },
      {
        "text": "File Name: 26a0237p.06",
        "paragraph_id": "para_3"
      },
      {
        "text": "UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS",
        "paragraph_id": "para_4"
      },
      {
        "text": "FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT",
        "paragraph_id": "para_5"
      },
      {
        "text": "LAUREL HILL MANAGEMENT SERVICES, INC.;",
        "paragraph_id": "para_6"
      },
      {
        "text": "MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGICAL ASSOCIATES;",
        "paragraph_id": "para_7"
      },
      {
        "text": "ADVANCED WEIGHT LOSS SURGICAL ASSOCIATES,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_8"
      },
      {
        "text": "Plaintiffs-Appellants,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_9"
      },
      {
        "text": "v.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_10"
      },
      {
        "text": "LA-Z-BOY INC.; DOES 1–10; BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD",
        "paragraph_id": "para_11"
      },
      {
        "text": "OF MICHIGAN,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_12"
      },
      {
        "text": "Defendants-Appellees.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_13"
      },
      {
        "text": "┐",
        "paragraph_id": "para_14"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_15"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_16"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_17"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_18"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_19"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_20"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_21"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_22"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_23"
      },
      {
        "text": "│",
        "paragraph_id": "para_24"
      },
      {
        "text": "┘",
        "paragraph_id": "para_25"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727",
        "paragraph_id": "para_26"
      },
      {
        "text": "Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_27"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 2:24-cv-13230—David M. Lawson, District Judge.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_28"
      },
      {
        "text": "Argued: June 4, 2026",
        "paragraph_id": "para_29"
      },
      {
        "text": "Decided and Filed: August 19, 2026",
        "paragraph_id": "para_30"
      },
      {
        "text": "Before: GIBBONS, MURPHY, and HERMANDORFER, Circuit Judges.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_31"
      },
      {
        "text": "_________________",
        "paragraph_id": "para_32"
      },
      {
        "text": "COUNSEL",
        "paragraph_id": "para_33"
      },
      {
        "text": "ARGUED: Jonathan A. Stieglitz, LAW OFFICE OF JONATHAN A. STIEGLITZ LAW, Los",
        "paragraph_id": "para_34"
      },
      {
        "text": "Angeles, California, for Appellants. Matthew G. Mrkonic, HONIGMAN LLP, Detroit,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_35"
      },
      {
        "text": "Michigan, for Appellee La-Z-Boy Inc. Nathan S. Scherbarth, ZAUSMER, PC, Farmington",
        "paragraph_id": "para_36"
      },
      {
        "text": "Hills, Michigan, for Appellee Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. ON BRIEF: Jonathan A.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_37"
      },
      {
        "text": "Stieglitz, LAW OFFICE OF JONATHAN A. STIEGLITZ LAW, Los Angeles, California, for",
        "paragraph_id": "para_38"
      },
      {
        "text": "Appellants. Matthew G. Mrkonic, HONIGMAN LLP, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee La-Z-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_39"
      },
      {
        "text": "Boy Inc. Nathan S. Scherbarth, ZAUSMER, PC, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellee Blue",
        "paragraph_id": "para_40"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_41"
      },
      {
        "text": "HERMANDORFER, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which GIBBONS and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_42"
      },
      {
        "text": "MURPHY, JJ., concurred. MURPHY, J. (pp. 16–21), delivered a separate concurring opinion.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_43"
      },
      {
        "text": ">",
        "paragraph_id": "para_44"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_45"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_46"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 2",
        "paragraph_id": "para_47"
      },
      {
        "text": "_________________",
        "paragraph_id": "para_48"
      },
      {
        "text": "OPINION",
        "paragraph_id": "para_49"
      },
      {
        "text": "_________________",
        "paragraph_id": "para_50"
      },
      {
        "text": "HERMANDORFER, Circuit Judge. Like many companies, La-Z-Boy sponsors an",
        "paragraph_id": "para_51"
      },
      {
        "text": "employee health benefit plan. That plan covers someone the parties call “Patient AA.” A few",
        "paragraph_id": "para_52"
      },
      {
        "text": "years ago, Patient AA sought healthcare treatment from several medical providers. Before",
        "paragraph_id": "para_53"
      },
      {
        "text": "agreeing to treat Patient AA, the medical providers wanted to confirm the reimbursement rate for",
        "paragraph_id": "para_54"
      },
      {
        "text": "their services. So the providers contacted the plan administrator, Blue Cross Blue Shield of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_55"
      },
      {
        "text": "Michigan, about the reimbursement terms under Patient AA’s health benefit plan. Blue Cross",
        "paragraph_id": "para_56"
      },
      {
        "text": "employees orally represented that plan reimbursement would be calculated at the usual,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_57"
      },
      {
        "text": "customary, and reasonable rate—a familiar standard across industry plans. Relying only on",
        "paragraph_id": "para_58"
      },
      {
        "text": "those oral representations, the medical providers then treated Patient AA.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_59"
      },
      {
        "text": "When the medical providers eventually sought reimbursement, however, Blue Cross paid",
        "paragraph_id": "para_60"
      },
      {
        "text": "an amount far below the promised rate. The medical providers responded by suing La-Z-Boy",
        "paragraph_id": "para_61"
      },
      {
        "text": "and Blue Cross. They pressed state-law claims of negligent misrepresentation and promissory",
        "paragraph_id": "para_62"
      },
      {
        "text": "estoppel based upon Blue Cross’s misstatements about the reimbursement rate. Those claims",
        "paragraph_id": "para_63"
      },
      {
        "text": "triggered a dispute about preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_64"
      },
      {
        "text": "1974 (ERISA), which governs the plan. ERISA’s express-preemption provision displaces",
        "paragraph_id": "para_65"
      },
      {
        "text": "parties’ ability to pursue state-law claims that “relate to” an ERISA plan. 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_66"
      },
      {
        "text": "Applying this Court’s decision in Cromwell v. Equicor-Equitable HCA Corp., 944 F.2d 1272",
        "paragraph_id": "para_67"
      },
      {
        "text": "(6th Cir. 1991), the district court determined that the medical providers’ claims were preempted.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_68"
      },
      {
        "text": "It then ordered dismissal on that basis.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_69"
      },
      {
        "text": "We agree that Cromwell dictates dismissal of the providers’ particular claims in this case.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_70"
      },
      {
        "text": "Under Cromwell, ERISA preempts negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims",
        "paragraph_id": "para_71"
      },
      {
        "text": "that depend upon a plan administrator’s misstatements about the coverage or reimbursement",
        "paragraph_id": "para_72"
      },
      {
        "text": "terms of an employer’s ERISA plan. And the medical providers’ claims, as pled, turn on",
        "paragraph_id": "para_73"
      },
      {
        "text": "assertions about the reimbursement terms of La-Z-Boy’s ERISA plan. We therefore affirm the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_74"
      },
      {
        "text": "district court’s application of ERISA preemption.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_75"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_76"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_77"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 3",
        "paragraph_id": "para_78"
      },
      {
        "text": "I",
        "paragraph_id": "para_79"
      },
      {
        "text": "A",
        "paragraph_id": "para_80"
      },
      {
        "text": "Because this appeal arises from the dismissal of a complaint, we accept the complaint’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_81"
      },
      {
        "text": "well-pled factual allegations as true. Ream v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury, 174 F.4th 480, 484 (6th",
        "paragraph_id": "para_82"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cir. 2026).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_83"
      },
      {
        "text": "La-Z-Boy sponsors an ERISA-regulated health benefit plan for its employees. Among",
        "paragraph_id": "para_84"
      },
      {
        "text": "the plan’s participants is “Patient AA.” Sometime in early 2022, Patient AA sought services and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_85"
      },
      {
        "text": "procedures from several out-of-network medical providers. We refer to those entities and their",
        "paragraph_id": "para_86"
      },
      {
        "text": "assignees collectively as the Medical Providers.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_87"
      },
      {
        "text": "Before agreeing to perform the procedures, the Medical Providers contacted Blue",
        "paragraph_id": "para_88"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cross—the administrator of La-Z-Boy’s plan—to determine the “Patient’s responsibility versus",
        "paragraph_id": "para_89"
      },
      {
        "text": "[La-Z-Boy’s] responsibility for paying for medical services[.]” Am. Compl., R.11, ¶ 26. The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_90"
      },
      {
        "text": "Medical Providers directed their query to Blue Cross because they “underst[ood]” that Blue",
        "paragraph_id": "para_91"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cross “is and was [La-Z-Boy’s] agent and representative in connection with stating the manner",
        "paragraph_id": "para_92"
      },
      {
        "text": "of payment for medical services and providing other administrative services relating to the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_93"
      },
      {
        "text": "Patient’s and [La-Z-Boy’s] health plan.” Id. ¶ 7.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_94"
      },
      {
        "text": "The discussion that followed featured oral “promises and representations” from Blue",
        "paragraph_id": "para_95"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cross about the terms of La-Z-Boy’s ERISA plan. Id. ¶ 10. Blue Cross representatives recited",
        "paragraph_id": "para_96"
      },
      {
        "text": "the amount of Patient AA’s deductible and maximum out-of-pocket expense. They also",
        "paragraph_id": "para_97"
      },
      {
        "text": "explained that Blue Cross would reimburse the Medical Providers at the usual, customary, and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_98"
      },
      {
        "text": "reasonable (UCR) rate for the specific procedures Patient AA sought. The UCR rate is “based",
        "paragraph_id": "para_99"
      },
      {
        "text": "on what providers in the area usually charge for the same or similar medical service,” and Blue",
        "paragraph_id": "para_100"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cross calculates the UCR rate by utilizing a third-party “medical bill database.” Id. ¶¶ 17, 20",
        "paragraph_id": "para_101"
      },
      {
        "text": "(citation omitted). According to the Medical Providers, plan administrators across the industry",
        "paragraph_id": "para_102"
      },
      {
        "text": "use the UCR rate to set a “limit on the amount [a] health plan will pay.” Id. ¶ 20 n.3 (citation",
        "paragraph_id": "para_103"
      },
      {
        "text": "omitted).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_104"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_105"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_106"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 4",
        "paragraph_id": "para_107"
      },
      {
        "text": "Relying on Blue Cross’s statements about the rate of reimbursement, the Medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_108"
      },
      {
        "text": "Providers rendered treatment to Patient AA. The Medical Providers allege that Blue Cross never",
        "paragraph_id": "para_109"
      },
      {
        "text": "advised them that Patient AA’s “policy” was “subject to certain exclusions, limitations, or",
        "paragraph_id": "para_110"
      },
      {
        "text": "qualifications” that could “result in denial of coverage, limitation of payment or any other",
        "paragraph_id": "para_111"
      },
      {
        "text": "method of payment unrelated to the UCR rate.” Id. ¶ 33. Blue Cross also did not “make",
        "paragraph_id": "para_112"
      },
      {
        "text": "reference to any other portion” of the “plan” that would have put the Medical Providers “on",
        "paragraph_id": "para_113"
      },
      {
        "text": "notice of any reduction in the originally stated payment percentage.” Id. ¶ 34. Nor did the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_114"
      },
      {
        "text": "Medical Providers receive a copy of the plan before providing treatment.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_115"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers then “submitted their claims” directly to Blue Cross in the amount",
        "paragraph_id": "para_116"
      },
      {
        "text": "of $342,296. Id. ¶¶ 40, 41. But Blue Cross paid the Medical Providers only $1,598.40; that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_117"
      },
      {
        "text": "amount was “based on Medicare,” not the UCR rate that the Medical Providers expected. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_118"
      },
      {
        "text": "¶¶ 41, 42.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_119"
      },
      {
        "text": "B",
        "paragraph_id": "para_120"
      },
      {
        "text": "In March 2024, the Medical Providers sued La-Z-Boy and unnamed individual",
        "paragraph_id": "para_121"
      },
      {
        "text": "defendants in California state court. After the case was removed to federal court and transferred",
        "paragraph_id": "para_122"
      },
      {
        "text": "to the Eastern District of Michigan, the Medical Providers amended their complaint to add Blue",
        "paragraph_id": "para_123"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cross as a defendant.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_124"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers’ suit contends that Blue Cross made misrepresentations regarding",
        "paragraph_id": "para_125"
      },
      {
        "text": "the rate at which Patient AA’s plan would reimburse them and that the Medical Providers relied",
        "paragraph_id": "para_126"
      },
      {
        "text": "on those misrepresentations to render treatment to Patient AA. The Medical Providers asserted",
        "paragraph_id": "para_127"
      },
      {
        "text": "state-law negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims against the defendants.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_128"
      },
      {
        "text": "For relief, they sought “payment at the UCR rate and not based on Medicare.” Id. ¶ 52.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_129"
      },
      {
        "text": "La-Z-Boy and Blue Cross each moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_130"
      },
      {
        "text": "claim. Relevant here, they argued that ERISA’s express-preemption provision barred the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_131"
      },
      {
        "text": "Medical Providers’ claims. See 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). The Medical Providers opposed dismissal",
        "paragraph_id": "para_132"
      },
      {
        "text": "and, in a single sentence at the end of their opposition brief, requested leave to file a second",
        "paragraph_id": "para_133"
      },
      {
        "text": "amended complaint in the event the district court agreed with the defendants’ preemption",
        "paragraph_id": "para_134"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_135"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_136"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 5",
        "paragraph_id": "para_137"
      },
      {
        "text": "arguments. The Medical Providers did not include a proposed second amended complaint or",
        "paragraph_id": "para_138"
      },
      {
        "text": "explain their case for amendment.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_139"
      },
      {
        "text": "The district court granted the defendants’ motions and dismissed the Medical Providers’",
        "paragraph_id": "para_140"
      },
      {
        "text": "amended complaint with prejudice. Relying on this Court’s decision in Cromwell, 944 F.2d",
        "paragraph_id": "para_141"
      },
      {
        "text": "1272, the district court concluded that ERISA expressly preempts the Medical Providers’ claims",
        "paragraph_id": "para_142"
      },
      {
        "text": "because those claims “‘relate to’ La-Z-Boy’s employee medical plan.” D. Ct. Op., R.26, PageID",
        "paragraph_id": "para_143"
      },
      {
        "text": "150 (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a)). The district court did not discuss the Medical Providers’",
        "paragraph_id": "para_144"
      },
      {
        "text": "fallback request for leave to amend.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_145"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers timely noticed an appeal. Six days later—and two weeks after the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_146"
      },
      {
        "text": "district court entered judgment—the Medical Providers moved for leave to file a second",
        "paragraph_id": "para_147"
      },
      {
        "text": "amended complaint. They contended that “amendment is appropriate as Plaintiffs have",
        "paragraph_id": "para_148"
      },
      {
        "text": "identified a number of factual distinctions in the Court’s dismissal Order that may alter whether",
        "paragraph_id": "para_149"
      },
      {
        "text": "the case is preempted by ERISA.” Mot. for Leave, R.30, PageID 170. The district court denied",
        "paragraph_id": "para_150"
      },
      {
        "text": "the motion because it “lack[ed] jurisdiction to entertain a request for relief touching on the merits",
        "paragraph_id": "para_151"
      },
      {
        "text": "of the case while the plaintiffs’ appeal is pending.” Order Denying Leave, R.31, PageID 188.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_152"
      },
      {
        "text": "II",
        "paragraph_id": "para_153"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers argue that the district court erred in dismissing their operative",
        "paragraph_id": "para_154"
      },
      {
        "text": "complaint on ERISA-preemption grounds. We disagree. Under our current caselaw, ERISA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_155"
      },
      {
        "text": "expressly preempts the Medical Providers’ negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel",
        "paragraph_id": "para_156"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims because they “relate to” La-Z-Boy’s ERISA plan. 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_157"
      },
      {
        "text": "A",
        "paragraph_id": "para_158"
      },
      {
        "text": "We begin with a procedural issue. The Medical Providers request that we apply ERISA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_159"
      },
      {
        "text": "to the new allegations and claims contained in their proposed second amended complaint, rather",
        "paragraph_id": "para_160"
      },
      {
        "text": "than limit our review to the operative first amended complaint. We decline that invitation.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_161"
      },
      {
        "text": "When the district court dismissed the Medical Providers’ claims with prejudice, it had",
        "paragraph_id": "para_162"
      },
      {
        "text": "only the first amended complaint before it. The Medical Providers moved for leave to file their",
        "paragraph_id": "para_163"
      },
      {
        "text": "proposed second amended complaint only after the district court entered judgment and the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_164"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_165"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_166"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 6",
        "paragraph_id": "para_167"
      },
      {
        "text": "Medical Providers appealed. The district court explained that, in view of that timing, it had no",
        "paragraph_id": "para_168"
      },
      {
        "text": "authority to rule on the Medical Providers’ motion because jurisdiction transferred to this Court.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_169"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers do not contest this order of events. Nor do they dispute that the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_170"
      },
      {
        "text": "first amended complaint is the “operative” complaint. Reply Br. 10. Still, the Medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_171"
      },
      {
        "text": "Providers’ appellate arguments rely on new allegations and claims—like breach of oral",
        "paragraph_id": "para_172"
      },
      {
        "text": "contract—present only in their post-judgment amendment attempt.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_173"
      },
      {
        "text": "We disregard the new material in the proposed second amended complaint because it is",
        "paragraph_id": "para_174"
      },
      {
        "text": "not part of the appellate record. The “record on appeal” includes “(1) the original papers and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_175"
      },
      {
        "text": "exhibits filed in the district court; (2) the transcript of proceedings, if any; and (3) a certified",
        "paragraph_id": "para_176"
      },
      {
        "text": "copy of the docket entries prepared by the district clerk.” Fed. R. App. P. 10(a). “Although Rule",
        "paragraph_id": "para_177"
      },
      {
        "text": "10(a), read literally, might suggest that all items filed with the district court are part of the record",
        "paragraph_id": "para_178"
      },
      {
        "text": "on appeal,” federal appellate courts usually “will not consider matter that was filed with the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_179"
      },
      {
        "text": "district court . . . after the date of the judgment or order that is challenged on appeal.” 16A",
        "paragraph_id": "para_180"
      },
      {
        "text": "Wright & Miller’s Federal Practice & Procedure § 3956.1 (5th ed. 2026). That is the going rule",
        "paragraph_id": "para_181"
      },
      {
        "text": "in our Circuit. See Clark v. Warden, 934 F.3d 483, 490 (6th Cir. 2019). For “purposes of this",
        "paragraph_id": "para_182"
      },
      {
        "text": "appeal” from the district court’s judgment of dismissal, we will “review only the documents",
        "paragraph_id": "para_183"
      },
      {
        "text": "considered by the district court” in entering that judgment. Chelf v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am.,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_184"
      },
      {
        "text": "31 F.4th 459, 464 n.2 (6th Cir. 2022). Those documents do not include the proposed second",
        "paragraph_id": "para_185"
      },
      {
        "text": "amended complaint.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_186"
      },
      {
        "text": "B",
        "paragraph_id": "para_187"
      },
      {
        "text": "With the scope of our review set, we next move to the merits of the parties’ ERISA-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_188"
      },
      {
        "text": "preemption dispute. Whether ERISA preempts a state-law claim is a question of federal law that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_189"
      },
      {
        "text": "we review de novo. Self-Ins. Inst. of Am., Inc. v. Snyder, 827 F.3d 549, 554 (6th Cir. 2016).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_190"
      },
      {
        "text": "By its express terms, ERISA preempts “any and all State laws insofar as they may now or",
        "paragraph_id": "para_191"
      },
      {
        "text": "hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan” that ERISA regulates. 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). That",
        "paragraph_id": "para_192"
      },
      {
        "text": "“expansive” provision operates to “ensure that employee benefit plan regulation” is “exclusively",
        "paragraph_id": "para_193"
      },
      {
        "text": "a federal concern.” Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila, 542 U.S. 200, 208 (2004) (citation omitted).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_194"
      },
      {
        "text": "The provision’s preemptive effect extends to state “common law causes of action” that fall",
        "paragraph_id": "para_195"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_196"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_197"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 7",
        "paragraph_id": "para_198"
      },
      {
        "text": "within its domain. Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41, 47 (1987); see also 29 U.S.C.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_199"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ 1144(c).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_200"
      },
      {
        "text": "The “literal text” of the phrase “relate to,” the Supreme Court has recognized, cannot “be",
        "paragraph_id": "para_201"
      },
      {
        "text": "read to extend to the furthest stretch of its indeterminacy, or for all practical purposes preemption",
        "paragraph_id": "para_202"
      },
      {
        "text": "would never run its course.” De Buono v. NYSA-ILA Med. & Clinical Servs. Fund, 520 U.S.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_203"
      },
      {
        "text": "806, 813 (1997) (cleaned up). After all, “everything is related to everything else.” Cal. Div. of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_204"
      },
      {
        "text": "Lab. Standards Enf’t v. Dillingham Constr., N.A., Inc., 519 U.S. 316, 335 (1997) (Scalia, J.,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_205"
      },
      {
        "text": "concurring). So, to avoid “limitless application” of preemption, the Court has attempted to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_206"
      },
      {
        "text": "develop “workable standards” for applying § 1144(a). Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 577",
        "paragraph_id": "para_207"
      },
      {
        "text": "U.S. 312, 319-20 (2016).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_208"
      },
      {
        "text": "Through those efforts, the Court has identified “two categories of state laws that ERISA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_209"
      },
      {
        "text": "pre-empts.” Id. at 319. First, ERISA preemption applies to state laws that make “reference to”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_210"
      },
      {
        "text": "an ERISA plan. Id. (citation omitted). A state law makes “reference to” ERISA-governed plans",
        "paragraph_id": "para_211"
      },
      {
        "text": "when the state law “acts immediately and exclusively upon ERISA plans,” or when the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_212"
      },
      {
        "text": "“existence of ERISA plans is essential” to the state law’s “operation.” Id. at 319-20 (citation",
        "paragraph_id": "para_213"
      },
      {
        "text": "omitted). Second, ERISA preemption applies to state laws that have a “connection with” ERISA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_214"
      },
      {
        "text": "plans. Dillingham, 519 U.S. at 325. That “connection with” inquiry turns on ERISA’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_215"
      },
      {
        "text": "“objectives” and the “nature of the effect of the state law on ERISA plans.” Id. (citation",
        "paragraph_id": "para_216"
      },
      {
        "text": "omitted). “As a shorthand” for the relevant “considerations,” the Supreme Court “asks whether a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_217"
      },
      {
        "text": "state law governs a central matter of plan administration or interferes with nationally uniform",
        "paragraph_id": "para_218"
      },
      {
        "text": "plan administration.” Rutledge v. Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass’n, 592 U.S. 80, 87 (2020) (citation",
        "paragraph_id": "para_219"
      },
      {
        "text": "omitted).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_220"
      },
      {
        "text": "State-law claims, this Court has instructed, might sometimes warrant application of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_221"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA preemption. If a state-law claim “in essence” seeks the “recovery of an ERISA plan",
        "paragraph_id": "para_222"
      },
      {
        "text": "benefit,” it has the requisite connection with an ERISA plan and is thus “preempted.”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_223"
      },
      {
        "text": "Penny/Ohlmann/Nieman, Inc. v. Miami Valley Pension Corp. (PONI), 399 F.3d 692, 702 (6th",
        "paragraph_id": "para_224"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cir. 2005) (citation omitted). That is true no matter the “label” placed on a state-law claim.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_225"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cromwell, 944 F.2d at 1276. A state-law claim might also trigger ERISA preemption if it",
        "paragraph_id": "para_226"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_227"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_228"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 8",
        "paragraph_id": "para_229"
      },
      {
        "text": "“implicate[s] the relations among the traditional ERISA plan entities, including the principals,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_230"
      },
      {
        "text": "the employer, the plan, the plan fiduciaries, and the beneficiaries.” PONI, 399 F.3d at 698",
        "paragraph_id": "para_231"
      },
      {
        "text": "(citation omitted).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_232"
      },
      {
        "text": "We now turn to applying those standards to the state-law claims in this case.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_233"
      },
      {
        "text": "C",
        "paragraph_id": "para_234"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers contend that their negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_235"
      },
      {
        "text": "estoppel claims neither make “reference to” nor have a “connection with” La-Z-Boy’s ERISA-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_236"
      },
      {
        "text": "governed plan. Gobeille, 577 U.S. at 319-20 (citation omitted). But our decision in Cromwell",
        "paragraph_id": "para_237"
      },
      {
        "text": "counsels otherwise. Cromwell considered materially identical state-law claims to those we now",
        "paragraph_id": "para_238"
      },
      {
        "text": "confront: There, healthcare providers asserted negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_239"
      },
      {
        "text": "estoppel claims against an ERISA-plan administrator based on the administrator’s false",
        "paragraph_id": "para_240"
      },
      {
        "text": "assurances of coverage. 944 F.2d at 1274-75. We held that ERISA expressly preempted the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_241"
      },
      {
        "text": "providers’ state-law claims because they “relate[d] to” an ERISA-governed plan. Id. at 1278-79;",
        "paragraph_id": "para_242"
      },
      {
        "text": "see 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). The same conclusion follows here.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_243"
      },
      {
        "text": "1",
        "paragraph_id": "para_244"
      },
      {
        "text": "Some Cromwell discussion is useful. The case involved Lawrence Reinke, who had",
        "paragraph_id": "para_245"
      },
      {
        "text": "participated in his employer’s ERISA-covered plan until his termination from employment. 944",
        "paragraph_id": "para_246"
      },
      {
        "text": "F.2d at 1274. The next year, Reinke’s wife suffered a stroke. Id. The Reinkes then sought",
        "paragraph_id": "para_247"
      },
      {
        "text": "home-healthcare services from two providers. Id. Before rendering treatment, the providers",
        "paragraph_id": "para_248"
      },
      {
        "text": "received over-the-phone assurances from Equicor, the ERISA-plan administrator, that Reinke’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_249"
      },
      {
        "text": "plan covered the relevant medical services. Id. at 1274-75. The providers agreed to provide",
        "paragraph_id": "para_250"
      },
      {
        "text": "services based on those assurances. Id. at 1275. To facilitate reimbursement, Reinke and the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_251"
      },
      {
        "text": "healthcare providers executed an assignment-of-benefits agreement. Id. Under it, Equicor could",
        "paragraph_id": "para_252"
      },
      {
        "text": "directly reimburse the healthcare providers for any amount due under Reinke’s plan terms. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_253"
      },
      {
        "text": "The providers began treating Reinke’s wife and, for a few months, received reimbursement from",
        "paragraph_id": "para_254"
      },
      {
        "text": "Equicor. Id. But Equicor ceased payment upon realizing that Reinke’s employment had been",
        "paragraph_id": "para_255"
      },
      {
        "text": "terminated years earlier. Id. That termination meant that Reinke and his wife were no longer",
        "paragraph_id": "para_256"
      },
      {
        "text": "covered by—or entitled to any benefits under—the plan at issue. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_257"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_258"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_259"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 9",
        "paragraph_id": "para_260"
      },
      {
        "text": "The healthcare providers sued to recover the outstanding balance of the payments",
        "paragraph_id": "para_261"
      },
      {
        "text": "Equicor denied. Relevant here, the providers asserted four claims against Equicor “based on",
        "paragraph_id": "para_262"
      },
      {
        "text": "their reasonable reliance on Equicor’s oral assurances of coverage.” Id. Two claims—for breach",
        "paragraph_id": "para_263"
      },
      {
        "text": "of contract and breach of good faith—“were premised exclusively on” the assignment-of-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_264"
      },
      {
        "text": "benefits agreement. Id. at 1277. The other two—for negligent misrepresentation and promissory",
        "paragraph_id": "para_265"
      },
      {
        "text": "estoppel—were “state law claims” arising separately from the assignment provision. Id. The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_266"
      },
      {
        "text": "district court determined that ERISA expressly preempted those state-law claims. Id. at 1275.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_267"
      },
      {
        "text": "A divided panel of this Court affirmed. We accepted the providers’ premise that ERISA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_268"
      },
      {
        "text": "preemption does not bar state-law claims “whose effect on employee benefit plans is merely",
        "paragraph_id": "para_269"
      },
      {
        "text": "tenuous, remote or peripheral.” Id. at 1276; see also id. at 1279 (Jones, J., dissenting). But in",
        "paragraph_id": "para_270"
      },
      {
        "text": "assessing state-law claims’ effect on ERISA plans, Cromwell rejected reliance on “label[s]” in",
        "paragraph_id": "para_271"
      },
      {
        "text": "favor of asking “whether in essence such a claim is for the recovery of an ERISA plan benefit.”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_272"
      },
      {
        "text": "Id. at 1276 (majority opinion). Applying that reasoning, we rejected the contention that the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_273"
      },
      {
        "text": "providers’ negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims were merely tangential to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_274"
      },
      {
        "text": "Reinke’s ERISA plan. We explained that the claims effectively sought “the recovery of benefits",
        "paragraph_id": "para_275"
      },
      {
        "text": "from the [ERISA] plan for health care services rendered to the Reinkes.” Id. So understood, we",
        "paragraph_id": "para_276"
      },
      {
        "text": "continued, those claims were “at the very heart of issues within the scope of ERISA’s exclusive",
        "paragraph_id": "para_277"
      },
      {
        "text": "regulation” and were “[c]learly” preempted. Id. That conclusion followed even though the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_278"
      },
      {
        "text": "providers were not traditional plan entities and could not sue to enforce any ERISA rights. See",
        "paragraph_id": "para_279"
      },
      {
        "text": "id. at 1278. That is because permitting liability on the state-law claims, even to providers outside",
        "paragraph_id": "para_280"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA’s scope, would “affect the relationship between plan principals by extending coverage",
        "paragraph_id": "para_281"
      },
      {
        "text": "beyond the terms of the plan.” Id. at 1276.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_282"
      },
      {
        "text": "2",
        "paragraph_id": "para_283"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cromwell covers the Medical Providers’ claims in this case. Like Equicor, which gave",
        "paragraph_id": "para_284"
      },
      {
        "text": "oral representations of ERISA-plan coverage to the providers in Cromwell, Blue Cross gave oral",
        "paragraph_id": "para_285"
      },
      {
        "text": "assurances to the Medical Providers regarding coverage under La-Z-Boy’s ERISA plan. Id. at",
        "paragraph_id": "para_286"
      },
      {
        "text": "1275. Here, as in Cromwell, those assurances were false, and Blue Cross reimbursed the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_287"
      },
      {
        "text": "Medical Providers at a rate lower than what was represented over the phone. Id. As in",
        "paragraph_id": "para_288"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_289"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_290"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 10",
        "paragraph_id": "para_291"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cromwell, the Medical Providers brought negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel",
        "paragraph_id": "para_292"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims seeking to recover the difference between the amount orally represented and the amount",
        "paragraph_id": "para_293"
      },
      {
        "text": "reimbursed. Id. Cromwell held that ERISA expressly preempted the providers’ negligent-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_294"
      },
      {
        "text": "misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims. Given the materially similar facts here, we",
        "paragraph_id": "para_295"
      },
      {
        "text": "are constrained to reach the same preemption result.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_296"
      },
      {
        "text": "Indeed, this is arguably a stronger case for applying ERISA preemption than Cromwell.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_297"
      },
      {
        "text": "After all, Cromwell involved an employee—Reinke—who was unemployed at all relevant times.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_298"
      },
      {
        "text": "That meant Reinke was no longer a participant in any ERISA plan when the healthcare providers",
        "paragraph_id": "para_299"
      },
      {
        "text": "received oral assurances of coverage. Id. at 1274-75. If Cromwell’s negligent-misrepresentation",
        "paragraph_id": "para_300"
      },
      {
        "text": "and promissory-estoppel claims “relate[d] to an employee benefit plan” even in the absence of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_301"
      },
      {
        "text": "any ERISA-plan coverage, id. at 1278-79, the same should follow with greater force for claims",
        "paragraph_id": "para_302"
      },
      {
        "text": "that implicate the terms of Patient AA’s still-operative ERISA plan.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_303"
      },
      {
        "text": "3",
        "paragraph_id": "para_304"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers make several attempts at sidestepping Cromwell. None succeeds.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_305"
      },
      {
        "text": "First, the Medical Providers seize on the assignment-of-benefits agreement in Cromwell.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_306"
      },
      {
        "text": "By way of background, sometimes a party to an ERISA-covered health plan can enter into a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_307"
      },
      {
        "text": "contract assigning its rights under the plan to a third party. An assignment agreement in turn",
        "paragraph_id": "para_308"
      },
      {
        "text": "confers “derivative standing” on the third party to pursue claims under ERISA’s enforcement",
        "paragraph_id": "para_309"
      },
      {
        "text": "provision, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a). Brown v. BlueCross BlueShield of Tenn., Inc., 827 F.3d 543,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_310"
      },
      {
        "text": "546 (6th Cir. 2016). That permits the third party to file an ERISA suit “in place” of the assignor",
        "paragraph_id": "para_311"
      },
      {
        "text": "to recover plan benefits. Id. (citation omitted). Such assignments, though, do not enlarge a third",
        "paragraph_id": "para_312"
      },
      {
        "text": "party’s rights beyond those available under ERISA. So even with an assignment agreement, a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_313"
      },
      {
        "text": "third-party assignee cannot assert state-law claims as a means to recover ERISA-plan benefits.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_314"
      },
      {
        "text": "See, e.g., Meadows v. Emps. Health Ins., 47 F.3d 1006, 1008 (9th Cir. 1995). That is the type of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_315"
      },
      {
        "text": "“alternate enforcement mechanism[]” to § 1132(a) that calls for application of ERISA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_316"
      },
      {
        "text": "preemption. PONI, 399 F.3d at 698 (citation omitted).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_317"
      },
      {
        "text": "That brings us to the assignment-of-benefits agreement in Cromwell. There, as the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_318"
      },
      {
        "text": "Medical Providers point out, Reinke entered into an assignment-of-benefits agreement with the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_319"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_320"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_321"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 11",
        "paragraph_id": "para_322"
      },
      {
        "text": "healthcare providers. That agreement purported to permit the healthcare providers to enforce",
        "paragraph_id": "para_323"
      },
      {
        "text": "Reinke’s rights under his (former) ERISA plan. From there, the Medical Providers contend that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_324"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cromwell is best understood as a case that applied ERISA-preemption rules to a party seeking to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_325"
      },
      {
        "text": "press state-law claims as an “alternate” means of enforcing their assigned ERISA rights. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_326"
      },
      {
        "text": "(citation omitted). So they seek to limit Cromwell’s preemption holding to only those state-law",
        "paragraph_id": "para_327"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims that implicate similar assignment-of-benefits agreements.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_328"
      },
      {
        "text": "That account overreads the relevance of the parties’ assignment agreement to Cromwell’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_329"
      },
      {
        "text": "preemption analysis. Nothing about Cromwell’s preemption discussion turned on the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_330"
      },
      {
        "text": "assignment-of-benefits agreement. Indeed, that portion of Cromwell mentions the agreement",
        "paragraph_id": "para_331"
      },
      {
        "text": "only in a passing reference in a footnote. See 944 F.2d at 1276 & n.3. That omission was no",
        "paragraph_id": "para_332"
      },
      {
        "text": "accident, but instead reflects how Cromwell divided the various claims at issue. On one hand,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_333"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cromwell cast the providers’ breach-of-contract and breach-of-good-faith claims as arising",
        "paragraph_id": "para_334"
      },
      {
        "text": "directly from the assignment-of-benefits agreement. Id. at 1277. On the other hand, Cromwell",
        "paragraph_id": "para_335"
      },
      {
        "text": "understood the negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims to be “purely state",
        "paragraph_id": "para_336"
      },
      {
        "text": "law claims” that were separate from the assignment agreement. Id. Yet Cromwell held that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_337"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA expressly preempted those state-law claims all the same. Id. at 1276. Cromwell, then,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_338"
      },
      {
        "text": "did not link preemption of the negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims with",
        "paragraph_id": "para_339"
      },
      {
        "text": "the parties’ assignment-of-benefits agreement. So the lack of such an agreement here is beside",
        "paragraph_id": "para_340"
      },
      {
        "text": "the point.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_341"
      },
      {
        "text": "Second, the Medical Providers contend that “the question” in Cromwell “was one of a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_342"
      },
      {
        "text": "right to payment,” while the question in this case concerns “the extent of payment.” Medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_343"
      },
      {
        "text": "Providers Br. 49. They suggest that only right-to-payment claims brought under assignment",
        "paragraph_id": "para_344"
      },
      {
        "text": "agreements should implicate preemption because they are purely derivative of a beneficiary’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_345"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA-plan terms. By contrast, they continue, extent-of-payment claims arise out of “separate",
        "paragraph_id": "para_346"
      },
      {
        "text": "agreements” about rates between healthcare providers and plan administrators and thus “do not",
        "paragraph_id": "para_347"
      },
      {
        "text": "fall within ERISA’s enforcement provision.” Blue Cross of Cal. v. Anesthesia Care Assocs.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_348"
      },
      {
        "text": "Med. Grp., Inc., 187 F.3d 1045, 1052 (9th Cir. 1999); see also Brown, 827 F.3d at 544, 548-49;",
        "paragraph_id": "para_349"
      },
      {
        "text": "Conn. State Dental Ass’n v. Anthem Health Plans, Inc., 591 F.3d 1337, 1350-53 (11th Cir. 2009).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_350"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_351"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_352"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 12",
        "paragraph_id": "para_353"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers’ attempt to draw a line between Cromwell and their claims fails",
        "paragraph_id": "para_354"
      },
      {
        "text": "from both directions. We begin with their characterization of Cromwell as a “right to payment”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_355"
      },
      {
        "text": "case involving an assignment-of-benefits agreement. Medical Providers Br. 49. As just",
        "paragraph_id": "para_356"
      },
      {
        "text": "discussed, Cromwell did not view the negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel",
        "paragraph_id": "para_357"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims as implicating the parties’ assignment agreement. The Medical Providers therefore",
        "paragraph_id": "para_358"
      },
      {
        "text": "cannot cordon off Cromwell’s dismissal of those claims into their proposed “right to payment”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_359"
      },
      {
        "text": "category. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_360"
      },
      {
        "text": "Nor have the Medical Providers pled pure “extent of payment” claims, id.—that is,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_361"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims involving the “breach” of an “agreement” for a rate of payment that is purely “separate”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_362"
      },
      {
        "text": "from the ERISA plan, Anesthesia Care, 187 F.3d at 1051-52; Conn. State Dental, 591 F.3d at",
        "paragraph_id": "para_363"
      },
      {
        "text": "1350. To be sure, the Medical Providers at one point allege that Blue Cross’s assurances “had no",
        "paragraph_id": "para_364"
      },
      {
        "text": "relation” to Patient AA’s “plan document.” Am. Compl., R.11, ¶ 39. But that is a “legal",
        "paragraph_id": "para_365"
      },
      {
        "text": "conclusion couched as a factual allegation” that “we need not accept as true.” Hensley Mfg. v.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_366"
      },
      {
        "text": "ProPride, Inc., 579 F.3d 603, 609 (6th Cir. 2009) (cleaned up). Merely saying that claims do not",
        "paragraph_id": "para_367"
      },
      {
        "text": "relate to an ERISA plan does not defeat preemption.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_368"
      },
      {
        "text": "We instead assess the substance of the Medical Providers’ allegations. Doing so",
        "paragraph_id": "para_369"
      },
      {
        "text": "confirms that the Medical Providers tethered their claims to the terms of the ERISA plan. The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_370"
      },
      {
        "text": "Medical Providers asked Blue Cross about Patient AA’s coverage under the terms of La-Z-Boy’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_371"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA plan. Specifically, they inquired whether reimbursement for particular procedures would",
        "paragraph_id": "para_372"
      },
      {
        "text": "be calculated at the UCR rate—a limit they allege is industry standard for the “amount your",
        "paragraph_id": "para_373"
      },
      {
        "text": "health plan will pay.” Am. Compl., R.11, ¶ 20 n.3 (citation omitted). Blue Cross allegedly",
        "paragraph_id": "para_374"
      },
      {
        "text": "confirmed as much, without stating whether Patient AA’s “policy” was “subject to certain",
        "paragraph_id": "para_375"
      },
      {
        "text": "exclusions, limitations, or qualifications.” Id. ¶ 33. And Blue Cross did not “make reference to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_376"
      },
      {
        "text": "any other portion” of the “plan” that would put the Medical Providers “on notice of any",
        "paragraph_id": "para_377"
      },
      {
        "text": "reduction” in the reimbursement rate. Id. ¶ 34 (emphasis added). As alleged in the operative",
        "paragraph_id": "para_378"
      },
      {
        "text": "complaint, then, the terms of La-Z-Boy’s ERISA plan itself—not any separate contract between",
        "paragraph_id": "para_379"
      },
      {
        "text": "the Medical Providers and Blue Cross—set the rate of reimbursement for the relevant",
        "paragraph_id": "para_380"
      },
      {
        "text": "procedures. That means the alleged “misrepresentations” and “promises” related to the contents",
        "paragraph_id": "para_381"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_382"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_383"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 13",
        "paragraph_id": "para_384"
      },
      {
        "text": "of the plan’s terms. Id. ¶¶ 57, 59. Because the Medical Providers asserted plan-related claims,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_385"
      },
      {
        "text": "caselaw about non-plan-related claims lends them no help.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_386"
      },
      {
        "text": "Third, the Medical Providers suggest that Cromwell does not bind us because it is",
        "paragraph_id": "para_387"
      },
      {
        "text": "inconsistent with later Supreme Court decisions. We disagree. “One panel is usually bound by",
        "paragraph_id": "para_388"
      },
      {
        "text": "the ruling of a previous one.” United States v. Fields, 53 F.4th 1027, 1046 (6th Cir. 2022). And",
        "paragraph_id": "para_389"
      },
      {
        "text": "the Medical Providers identify neither “on-point dictum” nor “‘directly applicable’ legal",
        "paragraph_id": "para_390"
      },
      {
        "text": "reasoning” from an intervening decision of the Supreme Court, id. at 1047 (citation omitted), that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_391"
      },
      {
        "text": "is “inconsistent” with or “requires modification of” Cromwell, Salmi v. Sec’y of Health and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_392"
      },
      {
        "text": "Hum. Servs., 774 F.2d 685, 689 (6th Cir. 1985).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_393"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers instead discuss various Supreme Court decisions at a high level of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_394"
      },
      {
        "text": "generality, reciting the reference-to and connection-with standards and asserting that they",
        "paragraph_id": "para_395"
      },
      {
        "text": "collectively stand for the proposition that “preemption must be interpreted narrowly and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_396"
      },
      {
        "text": "judiciously, to not override state law except where specifically bargained for.” Medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_397"
      },
      {
        "text": "Providers Br. 32. But that does not constitute the type of “legal reasoning” that would allow us",
        "paragraph_id": "para_398"
      },
      {
        "text": "to disregard Cromwell. Fields, 53 F.4th at 1047. Moreover, Cromwell’s rationale—that the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_399"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims essentially sought “the recovery of benefits” and would “affect the relationship between",
        "paragraph_id": "para_400"
      },
      {
        "text": "plan principals,” 944 F.2d at 1276—aligns with more recent decisions cited by the Medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_401"
      },
      {
        "text": "Providers, see, e.g., N.Y. State Conf. of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514",
        "paragraph_id": "para_402"
      },
      {
        "text": "U.S. 645, 658 (1995) (“[W]e have held that state laws providing alternative enforcement",
        "paragraph_id": "para_403"
      },
      {
        "text": "mechanisms also relate to ERISA plans, triggering pre-emption.”); PONI, 399 F.3d at 700 (state-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_404"
      },
      {
        "text": "law claims have connection with plan whenever they “implicate” the “relations among the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_405"
      },
      {
        "text": "traditional ERISA plan entities” (citation omitted)).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_406"
      },
      {
        "text": "Fourth, to bolster their case against applying Cromwell, the Medical Providers cite out-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_407"
      },
      {
        "text": "of-circuit decisions that either decline preemption of similar claims or expressly critique",
        "paragraph_id": "para_408"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cromwell’s reasoning. Suffice it to say, several of the cited decisions implicate factual or legal",
        "paragraph_id": "para_409"
      },
      {
        "text": "distinctions that might explain any difference in outcome. Plastic Surgery Ctr., P.A. v. Aetna",
        "paragraph_id": "para_410"
      },
      {
        "text": "Life Ins. Co., 967 F.3d 218, 224 (3d Cir. 2020) (addressing an “oral agreement[]” separate from",
        "paragraph_id": "para_411"
      },
      {
        "text": "plan terms); Franciscan Skemp Healthcare, Inc. v. Cent. States Joint Bd. Health & Welfare Tr.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_412"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_413"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_414"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 14",
        "paragraph_id": "para_415"
      },
      {
        "text": "Fund, 538 F.3d 594, 601 (7th Cir. 2008) (analyzing complete preemption only); McCulloch",
        "paragraph_id": "para_416"
      },
      {
        "text": "Orthopaedic Surgical Servs., PLLC v. Aetna Inc., 857 F.3d 141, 145-46 (2d Cir. 2017) (same).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_417"
      },
      {
        "text": "And in any event, we may not cast aside Cromwell’s controlling reasoning—regardless of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_418"
      },
      {
        "text": "whether we would approach preemption the same way if writing on a blank slate.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_419"
      },
      {
        "text": "* * *",
        "paragraph_id": "para_420"
      },
      {
        "text": "Our holding is narrow. Under Cromwell, ERISA expressly preempts third-party",
        "paragraph_id": "para_421"
      },
      {
        "text": "healthcare providers’ negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims when those",
        "paragraph_id": "para_422"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims arise out of an ERISA-plan administrator’s oral assurances about the terms of coverage or",
        "paragraph_id": "para_423"
      },
      {
        "text": "reimbursement under an ERISA-governed plan. Because the Medical Providers’ operative",
        "paragraph_id": "para_424"
      },
      {
        "text": "complaint falls within Cromwell’s confines, the district court properly dismissed it. We do not",
        "paragraph_id": "para_425"
      },
      {
        "text": "determine whether ERISA expressly preempts other state-law claims brought by third-party",
        "paragraph_id": "para_426"
      },
      {
        "text": "healthcare providers against plan administrators in different factual scenarios.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_427"
      },
      {
        "text": "III",
        "paragraph_id": "para_428"
      },
      {
        "text": "One issue remains. In their opposition to the defendants’ motions to dismiss, the Medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_429"
      },
      {
        "text": "Providers—in a single sentence at the conclusion of their brief—requested leave to file a second",
        "paragraph_id": "para_430"
      },
      {
        "text": "amended complaint should the district court deem their existing claims preempted. The district",
        "paragraph_id": "para_431"
      },
      {
        "text": "court implicitly rejected that request when it dismissed the operative complaint with prejudice.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_432"
      },
      {
        "text": "The Medical Providers contend that the district court erred in doing so. We review the district",
        "paragraph_id": "para_433"
      },
      {
        "text": "court’s decision for abuse of discretion. Beydoun v. Sessions, 871 F.3d 459, 464 (6th Cir. 2017).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_434"
      },
      {
        "text": "At the outset, the Medical Providers’ briefing to this Court fails to support their “skeletal”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_435"
      },
      {
        "text": "amendment argument with any relevant citations, “leaving the court to put flesh on its bones.”",
        "paragraph_id": "para_436"
      },
      {
        "text": "Buetenmiller v. Macomb Cnty. Jail, 53 F.4th 939, 946 (6th Cir. 2022) (cleaned up). We usually",
        "paragraph_id": "para_437"
      },
      {
        "text": "consider such undeveloped appellate arguments forfeited. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_438"
      },
      {
        "text": "Regardless, the district court did not abuse its discretion. A district court “should freely",
        "paragraph_id": "para_439"
      },
      {
        "text": "give leave” to amend “when justice so requires.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a). But “implicit in Rule",
        "paragraph_id": "para_440"
      },
      {
        "text": "15(a) is that the district court must be able to determine whether justice so requires, and in order",
        "paragraph_id": "para_441"
      },
      {
        "text": "to do this, the court must have before it the substance of the proposed amendment.” Beydoun,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_442"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_443"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_444"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 15",
        "paragraph_id": "para_445"
      },
      {
        "text": "871 F.3d at 469 (cleaned up). “Indeed, ‘a bare request in an opposition to a motion to dismiss—",
        "paragraph_id": "para_446"
      },
      {
        "text": "without any indication of the particular grounds on which amendment is sought—does not",
        "paragraph_id": "para_447"
      },
      {
        "text": "constitute a motion within the contemplation of Rule 15(a).’” Id. (citation omitted). The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_448"
      },
      {
        "text": "“district court did not abuse its discretion in this case by failing to rule on a motion that was",
        "paragraph_id": "para_449"
      },
      {
        "text": "never before it.” Bunn v. Navistar, Inc., 797 F. App’x 247, 257 (6th Cir. 2020); see also Evans v.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_450"
      },
      {
        "text": "Pearson Enters., Inc., 434 F.3d 839, 853 (6th Cir. 2006) (no abuse of discretion where plaintiff",
        "paragraph_id": "para_451"
      },
      {
        "text": "“requested leave to amend in a single sentence without providing grounds or a proposed",
        "paragraph_id": "para_452"
      },
      {
        "text": "amended complaint to support her request”).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_453"
      },
      {
        "text": "* * *",
        "paragraph_id": "para_454"
      },
      {
        "text": "We affirm.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_455"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_456"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_457"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 16",
        "paragraph_id": "para_458"
      },
      {
        "text": "_________________",
        "paragraph_id": "para_459"
      },
      {
        "text": "CONCURRENCE",
        "paragraph_id": "para_460"
      },
      {
        "text": "_________________",
        "paragraph_id": "para_461"
      },
      {
        "text": "MURPHY, Circuit Judge, concurring. The administrator of an employer healthcare plan",
        "paragraph_id": "para_462"
      },
      {
        "text": "cannot manage that plan on its own. Just think of all the contracts the administrator might enter.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_463"
      },
      {
        "text": "The administrator will likely hire employees to help it implement its claims-processing duties.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_464"
      },
      {
        "text": "And it might lease office space to house its operations. It might also buy all sorts of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_465"
      },
      {
        "text": "equipment—ranging from computers to cellphones—to conduct those operations. And it might",
        "paragraph_id": "para_466"
      },
      {
        "text": "hire outside law or accounting firms to handle litigation or audits that arise. Any of these",
        "paragraph_id": "para_467"
      },
      {
        "text": "relationships could lead to state-law contract disputes if one side believes the other has not lived",
        "paragraph_id": "para_468"
      },
      {
        "text": "up to its promises.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_469"
      },
      {
        "text": "The administrator’s operations will not just implicate the common law of contracts. They",
        "paragraph_id": "para_470"
      },
      {
        "text": "will also implicate other nonconsensual duties that States impose on their residents. The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_471"
      },
      {
        "text": "operations could affect third parties in many ways. Suppose that an administrator’s employee",
        "paragraph_id": "para_472"
      },
      {
        "text": "negligently speeds to a business appointment and hits a pedestrian. This conduct might trigger a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_473"
      },
      {
        "text": "negligence suit. Or suppose another employee attempts to defraud a landlord by manufacturing",
        "paragraph_id": "para_474"
      },
      {
        "text": "fraudulent records to conceal the administrator’s financial problems. This conduct might trigger",
        "paragraph_id": "para_475"
      },
      {
        "text": "a fraud suit. Or suppose an administrator’s supervisors engage in sex or racial discrimination in",
        "paragraph_id": "para_476"
      },
      {
        "text": "their hiring practices. This conduct might trigger a suit under a State’s antidiscrimination laws.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_477"
      },
      {
        "text": "What happens, though, if a plan administrator manages an employer healthcare plan that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_478"
      },
      {
        "text": "falls within the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)? ERISA has a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_479"
      },
      {
        "text": "broad preemption clause indicating that the law’s “provisions” generally “supersede” state law:",
        "paragraph_id": "para_480"
      },
      {
        "text": "“the provisions of this subchapter and subchapter III shall supersede any and all State laws",
        "paragraph_id": "para_481"
      },
      {
        "text": "insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any” covered healthcare plan. 29 U.S.C.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_482"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ 1144(a). At the same time, ERISA has a narrow civil-enforcement provision permitting only",
        "paragraph_id": "para_483"
      },
      {
        "text": "specific types of private suits. See id. § 1132(a). This “carefully crafted” provision allows plan",
        "paragraph_id": "para_484"
      },
      {
        "text": "beneficiaries, participants, and fiduciaries to sue over various things. Aldridge v. Regions Bank,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_485"
      },
      {
        "text": "144 F.4th 828, 844 (6th Cir. 2025) (quoting Mertens v. Hewitt Assocs., 508 U.S. 248, 254",
        "paragraph_id": "para_486"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_487"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_488"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 17",
        "paragraph_id": "para_489"
      },
      {
        "text": "(1993)). But the provision does not contemplate any of the hypothetical suits that I have",
        "paragraph_id": "para_490"
      },
      {
        "text": "mentioned between plan administrators and the outside parties that they contract with or injure.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_491"
      },
      {
        "text": "This fact poses a conundrum. If we read the preemption provision as broadly as its text",
        "paragraph_id": "para_492"
      },
      {
        "text": "might allow, any of the hypothetical suits could be said to “relate to” an ERISA plan. 29 U.S.C.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_493"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ 1144(a). To give an example, one might say that a contract between a plan administrator and a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_494"
      },
      {
        "text": "law firm to defend against a participant’s suit to recover benefits “relate[s] to” the plan. Id. And",
        "paragraph_id": "para_495"
      },
      {
        "text": "the state contract law making that contract enforceable might be said to “relate to” it too. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_496"
      },
      {
        "text": "Under this view, ERISA would preempt state contract, tort, and employment laws as applied to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_497"
      },
      {
        "text": "plan-related suits. But none of the parties who sued would have a federal cause of action under",
        "paragraph_id": "para_498"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ 1132(a) to challenge the alleged misconduct of the plan administrator or its agents. And",
        "paragraph_id": "para_499"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA’s substantive requirements likely would not cover the conduct underlying these suits",
        "paragraph_id": "para_500"
      },
      {
        "text": "either. The result? No enforceable legal duties—neither federal nor state—would apply to the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_501"
      },
      {
        "text": "relationship between ERISA plan administrators and outside parties who they contract with to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_502"
      },
      {
        "text": "operate the plan or injure during those operations. By passing ERISA, did Congress want to test",
        "paragraph_id": "para_503"
      },
      {
        "text": "whether Thomas Hobbes or John Locke was right about human conduct in the state of nature?",
        "paragraph_id": "para_504"
      },
      {
        "text": "No, the Supreme Court and our court have instead read the preemption provision’s “relate",
        "paragraph_id": "para_505"
      },
      {
        "text": "to” language more narrowly. The Court has suggested that ERISA does not preempt “run-of-the-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_506"
      },
      {
        "text": "mill state-law claims” against plan administrators—for things like “unpaid rent” or tortious",
        "paragraph_id": "para_507"
      },
      {
        "text": "conduct—even if those claims affect the plan. See Mackey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Serv.,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_508"
      },
      {
        "text": "Inc., 486 U.S. 825, 833 (1988). And we have held that ERISA does not preempt contract and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_509"
      },
      {
        "text": "tort claims between a plan administrator and a “non-fiduciary service provider” that the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_510"
      },
      {
        "text": "administrator hires to help it operate the plan. Penny/Ohlmann/Nieman, Inc. v. Mia. Valley",
        "paragraph_id": "para_511"
      },
      {
        "text": "Pension Corp. (PONI), 399 F.3d 692, 700–04 (6th Cir. 2005); see Aldridge, 144 F.4th at 840.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_512"
      },
      {
        "text": "If these cases are right, it is not obvious why we have taken a different path for the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_513"
      },
      {
        "text": "relationship between a plan administrator and the medical providers that it relies on to provide",
        "paragraph_id": "para_514"
      },
      {
        "text": "healthcare services to plan participants. See Cromwell v. Equicor-Equitable HCA Corp., 944",
        "paragraph_id": "para_515"
      },
      {
        "text": "F.2d 1272, 1276 (6th Cir. 1991). In Cromwell, a plan administrator promised medical providers",
        "paragraph_id": "para_516"
      },
      {
        "text": "that the plan would cover services to an individual thought to be a plan participant. Id. at 1275.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_517"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_518"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_519"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 18",
        "paragraph_id": "para_520"
      },
      {
        "text": "The providers also got an assignment of rights from this individual that allowed them to seek",
        "paragraph_id": "para_521"
      },
      {
        "text": "benefits on his behalf under the plan. Id. But the administrator later found out that the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_522"
      },
      {
        "text": "individual was ineligible for benefits. Id. It thus refused to pay some of the providers’ bills. Id.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_523"
      },
      {
        "text": "The providers brought breach-of-contract and breach-of-good-faith claims based on the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_524"
      },
      {
        "text": "assignment of rights. See id. at 1275, 1277. They also brought negligent-misrepresentation and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_525"
      },
      {
        "text": "promissory-estoppel claims based on independent tort and contract duties. Id. We held that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_526"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA preempted all four state-law claims. See id. at 1276.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_527"
      },
      {
        "text": "This “poorly reasoned” opinion represents an “outlier” in the courts. Plastic Surgery",
        "paragraph_id": "para_528"
      },
      {
        "text": "Ctr., P.A. v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 967 F.3d 218, 236 (3d Cir. 2020) (quoting Franciscan Skemp",
        "paragraph_id": "para_529"
      },
      {
        "text": "Healthcare, Inc. v. Cent. States Joint Bd. Health & Welfare Tr. Fund, 538 F.3d 594, 601 (7th",
        "paragraph_id": "para_530"
      },
      {
        "text": "Cir. 2008)). To be clear, all agree that Cromwell got things half right. If a plan participant",
        "paragraph_id": "para_531"
      },
      {
        "text": "assigns medical providers the right to benefits, the providers’ suit enforcing this assignment",
        "paragraph_id": "para_532"
      },
      {
        "text": "looks identical to “[a] civil action” “by a participant” “to recover benefits due to him under the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_533"
      },
      {
        "text": "terms of his plan[.]” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B). And a state-law breach-of-contract suit seeking",
        "paragraph_id": "para_534"
      },
      {
        "text": "plan benefits is perhaps the prototypical example of a claim that ERISA preempts. See Pilot Life",
        "paragraph_id": "para_535"
      },
      {
        "text": "Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41, 47–57 (1987); Transitional Hosps. Corp. v. Blue Cross & Blue",
        "paragraph_id": "para_536"
      },
      {
        "text": "Shield of Tex., Inc., 164 F.3d 952, 954 (5th Cir. 1999); Misic v. Bldg. Serv. Emps. Health &",
        "paragraph_id": "para_537"
      },
      {
        "text": "Welfare Tr., 789 F.2d 1374, 1377–78 (9th Cir. 1986) (per curiam). So Cromwell properly found",
        "paragraph_id": "para_538"
      },
      {
        "text": "preempted the breach-of-contract and breach-of-good-faith claims tied to the assignment of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_539"
      },
      {
        "text": "rights that the medical providers obtained from the purported plan participant. See 944 F.2d at",
        "paragraph_id": "para_540"
      },
      {
        "text": "1276.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_541"
      },
      {
        "text": "But Cromwell’s resolution of the negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel",
        "paragraph_id": "para_542"
      },
      {
        "text": "claims is another matter. To explain why, I will start with a hypothetical: Suppose that a plan",
        "paragraph_id": "para_543"
      },
      {
        "text": "administrator signs a contract with a medical provider to pay a specific price for a medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_544"
      },
      {
        "text": "procedure offered to plan participants. But suppose that the administrator later regrets the price",
        "paragraph_id": "para_545"
      },
      {
        "text": "and starts paying a lower amount—in breach of this contract. Could the provider sue for breach?",
        "paragraph_id": "para_546"
      },
      {
        "text": "That suit would arise from contractual duties independent of the duties in the plan (unlike in the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_547"
      },
      {
        "text": "assignment-of-rights context), so the provider would lack “derivative standing” to sue under",
        "paragraph_id": "para_548"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA’s cause of action in § 1132(a). Brown v. BlueCross BlueShield of Tenn., Inc., 827 F.3d",
        "paragraph_id": "para_549"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_550"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_551"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 19",
        "paragraph_id": "para_552"
      },
      {
        "text": "543, 546–47, 549 (6th Cir. 2016). Yet if we held that the contract claim “relate[d] to” the plan",
        "paragraph_id": "para_553"
      },
      {
        "text": "under § 1144(a), ERISA would preempt a state-law contract suit. Under this view, the law",
        "paragraph_id": "para_554"
      },
      {
        "text": "would effectively bar administrators from entering legally enforceable contracts with medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_555"
      },
      {
        "text": "providers.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_556"
      },
      {
        "text": "I doubt that Congress meant to deprive administrators of the right to strike deals they",
        "paragraph_id": "para_557"
      },
      {
        "text": "deem beneficial—to the detriment of the participants they serve. Rather, a medical provider’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_558"
      },
      {
        "text": "contract claim against a plan administrator (or vice versa) would seem to survive ERISA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_559"
      },
      {
        "text": "preemption under the Supreme Court’s framework. See Rutledge v. Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass’n,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_560"
      },
      {
        "text": "592 U.S. 80, 86–89 (2020); Aldridge, 144 F.4th at 838–40. A state’s generally applicable law of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_561"
      },
      {
        "text": "contracts would not have an improper “reference to” ERISA plans because it would apply across",
        "paragraph_id": "para_562"
      },
      {
        "text": "the board—not just to those plans. Aldridge, 144 F.4th at 838. And a medical provider’s",
        "paragraph_id": "para_563"
      },
      {
        "text": "contract claim against a plan administrator (or vice versa) would not have an improper",
        "paragraph_id": "para_564"
      },
      {
        "text": "“connection with” the plan because the duties that the contract creates exist independently of the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_565"
      },
      {
        "text": "plan and do not “touch matters that ERISA already covers.” Id. at 838–39; cf. Rutledge, 592",
        "paragraph_id": "para_566"
      },
      {
        "text": "U.S. at 93–94 (Thomas, J., concurring). Indeed, I see little daylight between this hypothetical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_567"
      },
      {
        "text": "agreement and the one I mentioned between an administrator and a law firm to defend against a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_568"
      },
      {
        "text": "participant’s suit. Unsurprisingly, then, courts have generally held that ERISA would permit",
        "paragraph_id": "para_569"
      },
      {
        "text": "state-law contract claims seeking to enforce contractual duties that arise from these separate",
        "paragraph_id": "para_570"
      },
      {
        "text": "agreements. See Plastic Surgery, 967 F.3d at 236; Lone Star OB/GYN Assocs. v. Aetna Health",
        "paragraph_id": "para_571"
      },
      {
        "text": "Inc., 579 F.3d 525, 530–32 (5th Cir. 2009); Blue Cross of Cal. v. Anesthesia Care Assocs. Med.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_572"
      },
      {
        "text": "Grp., Inc., 187 F.3d 1045, 1050–54 (9th Cir. 1999).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_573"
      },
      {
        "text": "But why should things change when we switch from consensual duties created by state",
        "paragraph_id": "para_574"
      },
      {
        "text": "contract law to nonconsensual duties created by state tort law? Consider a second hypothetical:",
        "paragraph_id": "para_575"
      },
      {
        "text": "Suppose that an out-of-network provider asks a plan administrator what it will pay for the out-of-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_576"
      },
      {
        "text": "network care of a plan participant. Suppose the administrator intentionally lies by claiming that",
        "paragraph_id": "para_577"
      },
      {
        "text": "the plan will pay much more than its terms permit to induce the provider to provide the care. But",
        "paragraph_id": "para_578"
      },
      {
        "text": "the administrator then pays a much lower amount (and saves the amount it would have had to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_579"
      },
      {
        "text": "pay for in-network care). Could the provider sue the administrator for this blatant fraud? The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_580"
      },
      {
        "text": "provider is not a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary and thus would lack a cause of action under",
        "paragraph_id": "para_581"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_582"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_583"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 20",
        "paragraph_id": "para_584"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ 1132(a). So like the hypothetical contract claim, if we held that the provider’s state-law fraud",
        "paragraph_id": "para_585"
      },
      {
        "text": "claim “relate[d] to” the plan under § 1144(a), the provider could not recover for the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_586"
      },
      {
        "text": "administrator’s fraud.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_587"
      },
      {
        "text": "In my mind, though, the same reasons why ERISA does not preempt the contract claim",
        "paragraph_id": "para_588"
      },
      {
        "text": "would extend to this tort claim. In both contexts, medical providers sue to enforce generally",
        "paragraph_id": "para_589"
      },
      {
        "text": "applicable duties that exist independently of the plan—whether consensual contract duties or",
        "paragraph_id": "para_590"
      },
      {
        "text": "mandatory tort duties. See Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 552–53 (A.L.I. 1977). And, as far",
        "paragraph_id": "para_591"
      },
      {
        "text": "as I am aware, ERISA says no more about how administrators should interact with medical",
        "paragraph_id": "para_592"
      },
      {
        "text": "providers than it details how they should interact with other third parties, such as lawyers,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_593"
      },
      {
        "text": "landlords, or employees. (Interactions with participants or beneficiaries would be different.) So",
        "paragraph_id": "para_594"
      },
      {
        "text": "the weight of authority at least allows some negligent-misrepresentation claims to escape",
        "paragraph_id": "para_595"
      },
      {
        "text": "preemption when medical providers allege that administrators gave them wrong information",
        "paragraph_id": "para_596"
      },
      {
        "text": "about the plan to induce their medical care. See Healthcare Ally Mgmt. of Cal., LLC v. WSP",
        "paragraph_id": "para_597"
      },
      {
        "text": "USA, Inc., __ F.4th __, 2026 WL 2319896, at *6–18 (9th Cir. Aug. 11, 2026); In Home Health,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_598"
      },
      {
        "text": "Inc. v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 101 F.3d 600, 604–07 (8th Cir. 1996); Meadows v. Emps.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_599"
      },
      {
        "text": "Health Ins., 47 F.3d 1006, 1009–11 (9th Cir. 1995); Lordmann Enters., Inc. v. Equicor, Inc., 32",
        "paragraph_id": "para_600"
      },
      {
        "text": "F.3d 1529, 1532–34 (11th Cir. 1994); Mem’l Hosp. Sys. v. Northbrook Life Ins. Co., 904 F.2d",
        "paragraph_id": "para_601"
      },
      {
        "text": "236, 243–50 (5th Cir. 1990). Cromwell (which predates most of these cases) sits uncomfortably",
        "paragraph_id": "para_602"
      },
      {
        "text": "next to them.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_603"
      },
      {
        "text": "Where does this analysis leave things? I agree with Judge Hermandorfer’s persuasive",
        "paragraph_id": "para_604"
      },
      {
        "text": "showing that we must follow Cromwell because this case involves the same types of negligent-",
        "paragraph_id": "para_605"
      },
      {
        "text": "misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims that it found preempted. Going forward,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_606"
      },
      {
        "text": "though, I would interpret Cromwell as narrowly as its logic would allow. The majority, for",
        "paragraph_id": "para_607"
      },
      {
        "text": "example, rightly notes that nothing we said in Cromwell resolves whether providers or plan",
        "paragraph_id": "para_608"
      },
      {
        "text": "administrators may pursue state-law contract claims for breaches of agreements that they enter.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_609"
      },
      {
        "text": "* * *",
        "paragraph_id": "para_610"
      },
      {
        "text": "I suspect that some cases finding ERISA preemption in this area might be influenced by",
        "paragraph_id": "para_611"
      },
      {
        "text": "skepticism over the underlying state-law claims. Here, for example, the medical providers",
        "paragraph_id": "para_612"
      },
      {
        "text": "No. 25-1727 Laurel Hill Mgmt. Servs., Inc, et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_613"
      },
      {
        "text": "v. La-Z-Boy Inc., et al.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_614"
      },
      {
        "text": "Page 21",
        "paragraph_id": "para_615"
      },
      {
        "text": "suggest that they agreed to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in care based on nothing",
        "paragraph_id": "para_616"
      },
      {
        "text": "more than oral assurances in two phone calls—without seeing the plan or asking for written",
        "paragraph_id": "para_617"
      },
      {
        "text": "assurances. And the allegations suggest the care was not for an emergency. The providers called",
        "paragraph_id": "para_618"
      },
      {
        "text": "the insurer to determine whether to provide medical services at the beginning of January but did",
        "paragraph_id": "para_619"
      },
      {
        "text": "not render care until the end of February. Perhaps this practice of placing a “‘verification call’ to",
        "paragraph_id": "para_620"
      },
      {
        "text": "the plan administrator” before delivering care is the industry custom. Healthcare Ally Mgmt.,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_621"
      },
      {
        "text": "2026 WL 2319896, at *2. Still, there may have been questions down the road about whether the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_622"
      },
      {
        "text": "providers could prove “justifiable reliance” on the calls. Restatement (Second) of Torts",
        "paragraph_id": "para_623"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ 552(1). But courts should not allow the merits of the state-law claims to affect the proper",
        "paragraph_id": "para_624"
      },
      {
        "text": "ERISA preemption analysis.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_625"
      }
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