Petar Mrkonjic v. Delta Family-Care and Survivorship Plan, an ERISA plan;

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
PETAR MRKONJIC,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
DELTA FAMILY-CARE AND
SURVIVORSHIP PLAN, an ERISA plan;
et al.,
Defendants-Appellees.
No. 19-56059
D.C. No.
2:15-cv-02255-JAK-JC
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
John A. Kronstadt, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted May 5, 2021
Pasadena, California
Before: KLEINFELD, WARDLAW, and GOULD, Circuit Judges.
Petar Mrkonjic appeals the denial of his life insurance premium waiver. The
district court erred by concluding Mrkonjic waived his claim for the premium
waiver, as the district court in Mrkonjic I had ordered relief on the Count One
FILED
MAY 24 2021
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

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claim, and Count One included the premium waiver issue. See Ruiz v. Snohomish
Cnty. Pub. Util. Dist. No. 1, 824 F.3d 1161, 1167 (9th Cir. 2016) (noting that, even
if a judgment was ambiguous, the reviewing court should give effect to the
intention of the issuing court). Nor was the issue precluded by the rule of mandate
from this court’s prior ruling in Mrkonjic II because that holding focused
exclusively on long-term disability benefits and did not address the premium
waiver at all. See Stacy v. Colvin, 825 F.3d 563, 568 (9th Cir. 2016) (“The district
court may . . . decide anything not foreclosed by the mandate.”) (cleaned up).
Before us, Mrkonjic argues that the district court’s judgment in Mrkonjic I
entitles him to the premium waiver. This could be so. The premium waiver is part
and parcel of his claim for wrongful denial of long-term disability benefits, and it
flows directly from the rescission of his early retirement decision. The district
court should consider whether Mrkonjic is entitled to the premium waiver under
the Mrkonjic I judgment, along with any related claim preclusion considerations,
on remand.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
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