In Dupree v. Holman Prof'l. Counseling Ctrs., ___ F.3d ___, 2009 WL 2245219 (9th Cir. July 29, 2009), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an ERISA-governed health plan, which repeatedly asserted that non-contracted services were generally not covered, unambiguously excluded coverage of non-emergency treatment at a non-contracted residential treatment center. In doing so, the Ninth Circuit employed the well-established canon of contract interpretation, applicable in ERISA cases, that a contract should be read as a whole, giving effect to every part. The court rejected Plaintiff’s attempt to pick out policy provisions and read them out of context to find ambiguity where none exists.

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