Happy Sunday, ERISA Watchers! This week I want to highlight two unpublished decisions from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, both of which are plan participant friendly. The first case, Odle v. UMWA 1974 Pension Plan, No. 18-1398, __F.App’x__, 2019 WL 2539260 (4th Cir. June 20, 2019), involves a dispute over the amount of a survivor’s annuity benefit award under the United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan. The court reversed the grant of summary judgment for the Plan and remanded for further proceedings. The court found that the Plan erred by denying Plaintiff the opportunity to review the Dale Coal audit during the administrative process because it prejudiced her ability to pursue further investigation and argument in support of her claim. The audit documented potentially fraudulent underreporting of classified hours and Plaintiff must be given the opportunity to contest the Plan’s denial based on a full disclosure of documents relevant to her claim. The court explained that “procedural guidelines including the right to a full and fair review ‘are at the foundation of ERISA.’”
Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Enforces the Right to a Full and Fair Review under ERISA
Ninth Circuit Holds that Same-Sex Domestic Partner Is Entitled to Joint-and-Survivor Pension Benefits
This week’s notable decision is a short and sweet read in the matter of Reed v. KRON/IBEW Local 45 Pension Plan, No. 17-17176, __F.App’x__, 2019 WL 2145652 (9th Cir. May 16, 2019), where the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision finding that it was not an abuse of discretion for Defendant to deny survivor-spousal benefits to a same-sex domestic partner.
By way of background, Plaintiff David Reed and Donald Lee Gardner, an employee of KRON-TV, were registered as domestic partners in California on 2004. Mr. Gardner retired in 2009 and elected a single-life annuity pension under the KRON/IBEW Local 45 Pension Plan (the “Plan”). Reed claimed that KRON-TV’s HR department never mentioned the availability of a joint-and-survivor form of benefit although they knew he and Gardner were registered domestic partners. In May 2014, Reed and Gardner got married and then Gardner passed away five days later. Reed submitted a claim for a survivor benefit to the KRON/IBEW Local 45 Pension Plan (the “Committee”), which it denied.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Holds that Same-Sex Domestic Partner Is Entitled to Joint-and-Survivor Pension Benefits
Sixth Circuit Holds that Contra Proferentum and Firestone Deference Are Incompatible on Issues of ERISA Plan Interpretation
The Sixth Circuit is back in the news. This week’s notable decision is Clemons v. Norton Healthcare Inc. Ret. Plan, No. 16-5063, __F.3d__, 2018 WL 2142640 (6th Cir. May 10, 2018), an upset to the Plaintiff-Retirees who had prevailed on behalf of a certified class at the district court on their claim for underpaid pension benefits. This lengthy opinion is succinctly summarized by the Court as follows:
This appeal is the latest installment in an ERISA litigation saga that has spanned almost ten years. At the risk of oversimplifying their case, the Plaintiff–Retirees claim that Defendant Norton Healthcare, Inc. Retirement Plan (“Norton”) underpaid them under the terms of the plan. The district court found that the plan was unambiguous in the Retirees’ favor. We agree with the district court on most issues.
Continue Reading Sixth Circuit Holds that Contra Proferentum and Firestone Deference Are Incompatible on Issues of ERISA Plan Interpretation