183574P.pdf   03/27/2020  Sally Sanzone  v.  Mercy Health
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  18-3574
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis   
   [PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Wollman and Erickson, Circuit Judges] 
   Civil case - ERISA. In action claiming the religiously affiliated 
   hospital's ERISA plan was underfunded and violated the law in other 
   respects, the plan fell within ERISA's exemption for retirement and 
   pension plans of religiously affiliated nonprofits and plaintiff failed to 
   adequately state a claim under ERISA; whether a plan is an ERISA plan is 
   an element of a plaintiff's case and not a jurisdictional inquiry, and the 
   district court erred in dismissing the case for lack of jurisdiction; with 
   respect to plaintiff's claim that the exemption violates the Establishment 
   Clause, the matter must be remanded to permit the district court to 
   determine whether the deprivation of ERISA protections confers Article III 
   standing, and if so, whether the church-plan exemption at issue here 
   violates the Establishment Clause; if there is Article III standing, 
   plaintiff's state law claims should be reinstated pursuant to the court's 
   supplemental jurisdiction.