828
Opinion of the Court
§ 1132(a)(1)(B). On cross-motions for summary judgment, the District Court granted judgment for the Plan, concluding that Black & Decker's denial of Nord's claim was not an abuse of the plan administrator's discretion.
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit roundly reversed and itself "grant[ed] Nord's motion for summary judgment." 296 F. 3d, at 832. Nord's appeal, the Ninth Circuit explained, was controlled by that court's recent decision in Regula v. Delta Family-Care Disability Survivorship Plan, 266 F. 3d 1130 (2001). 296 F. 3d, at 829. The Ninth Circuit had held in Regula that, when making benefit determinations, ERISA plan administrators must follow a "treating physician rule." See 266 F. 3d, at 1139-1144. As described by the appeals court, the rule required an administrator "who rejects [the] opinions [of a claimant's treating physician] to come forward with specific reasons for his decision, based on substantial evidence in the record." Id., at 1139. Declaring that Nord was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the Ninth Circuit emphasized that Black & Decker fell short under the treating physician rule: The plan administrator had not provided adequate justification, the Court of Appeals said, for rejecting opinions held by Dr. Hartman and others treating Nord on Hartman's recommendation. 296 F. 3d, at 830-832.
We granted certiorari, 537 U. S. 1098 (2002), in view of the division among the Circuits on the propriety of judicial installation of a treating physician rule for disability claims within ERISA's domain. Compare Regula, 266 F. 3d, at 1139; Donaho v. FMC Corp., 74 F. 3d 894, 901 (CA8 1996), with Elliott v. Sara Lee Corp., 190 F. 3d 601, 607-608 (CA4 1999); Delta Family-Care Disability and Survivorship Plan v. Marshall, 258 F. 3d 834, 842-843 (CA8 2001); Turner v. Delta Family-Care Disability and Survivorship Plan, 291 F. 3d 1270, 1274 (CA11 2002). See also Salley v. E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 966 F. 2d 1011, 1016 (CA5 1992) (expressing "considerable doubt" on the question whether a
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