§ 4.3.6.5.6 Tenuous, Remote, or Peripheral State Laws. The courts have found that there are some state laws whose connection with employee benefit plans is so remote or peripheral that these laws do not "relate to" the plan. These cases are relatively rare. A state statute establishing insurance commission sales was found to be too remote to trigger ERISA preemption, even though there was an indirect cost impact upon employee benefit plans.126 This exemption was also applied in closer factual questions to a state escheat statute and a city income tax provision defining taxable wages to include contributions to ERISA-covered plans.127
Another category of state law claims that are too remote to trigger ERISA preemption are those in which the connection with ERISA is limited to the party bringing or defending the claim. The Supreme Court has taken for granted that claims by or against a plan for unpaid rent and the like would not be preempted simply because one of the parties happened to be an ERISA plan.128 Similarly, a plan's claim for malpractice against its own auditor has been found to escape ERISA preemption.129
In New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Insurance Co.,130 the Supreme Court upheld a New York statute that imposed surcharges on non-Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO...
