Averhart v. US WEST Management Pension Plan

46 F.3d 1480, 18 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2400, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 30359
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedOctober 28, 1994
DocketNos. 92-1317, 92-1321 and 92-1375
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 46 F.3d 1480 (Averhart v. US WEST Management Pension Plan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Averhart v. US WEST Management Pension Plan, 46 F.3d 1480, 18 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2400, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 30359 (10th Cir. 1994).

Opinions

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiffs/appellants in Averhart v. US WEST Management Pension Plan, No. 92-1317, Sandquist, et al. v. US WEST Management Pension Plan and John G. Shea, No. 92-1321, and Sabell, et al. v. US WEST Management Pension Plan, No. 92-1375, appeal from summary judgments in favor of defendants/appellees US WEST Manage[1483]*1483ment Pension Plan (the Pension Plan) and John G. Shea. We decide these three appeals in this opinion. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

I

Plaintiffs are former employees of US WEST Communications, Inc., or its predecessors or affiliates. Some were of the manager level and some of the director level. They were participants in the Pension Plan. In March 1987, plaintiffs Averhart (No. 92-1317) and the Sandquists (No. 92-1321) took extended leaves of absence under a special severance pay plan in effect at that time— the Enhanced Management Transition Program (EMTP).1 Plaintiffs Sabell, Laird, Wuerker, and White (No. 92-1375) retired between May and October 1989 under no special retirement program.

In April 1989, US WEST implemented a voluntary severance program to reduce the number of director-level employees in the company — the US WEST Management Force Imbalance Guidelines Directors’ Program Amendment (the Directors’ Program). As an early retirement incentive, the Directors’ Program offered certain director-level employees a choice of various severance pay options if they elected to retire or resign during 1989. This program was available only for directors.

On November 29, 1989, the US WEST board of directors adopted a resolution authorizing the Employees’ Benefit Committee (EBC) to amend the Pension Plan, effective January 1, 1990, to provide certain special pension benefits to eligible employees who would elect between January 2 hnd January 31, 1990, to retire as of February 28, 1990. By its terms the amendment — dubbed the “5 + 5 amendment” — limited eligibility to “active employee[s] on the payroll as of February 28, 1990, with five or more years of term of employment as of February 28, 1990[.]” Averhart App. at 197. A principal benefit provided under the 5 + 5 amendment was an increase of five years in the age and term of employment attributed to eligible employees for purposes of calculating their pension benefits. The latter benefit was extended not only to eligible employees, as defined above, but also “employees who terminated during 1989 pursuant to any of the options offered in conjunction with the US WEST Director’s Program.” Averhart App. at 263.

Plaintiffs learned of the 5 + 5 amendment in late 1989 or early 1990 and then submitted claims for benefits thereunder. The Secretary of the EBC, defendant John G. Shea, denied the claims, citing the fact that plaintiffs were not active employees on the payroll as of February 28, 1990, and therefore did not qualify for benefits under the terms of the amendment.

Plaintiffs appealed Shea’s decision to the EBC at large. The Committee denied the appeals on the ground that plaintiffs did not “meet the eligibility requirement of the [5 + 5 amendment that] you must have been an active employee on the payroll as of February 28,1990 or on a leave of absence which guaranteed reinstatement.” Averhart App. at 272; Sandquist App. at 309; Sabell App. at 308 (emphasis in original).

II

In 1991, plaintiffs filed their suits under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), for determinations that they were eligible for benefits under the 5 + 5 amendment. Plaintiffs alleged that US WEST had made certain pre-severance representations which plaintiffs relied on in deciding to retire and which therefore operated to estop the EBC from denying plaintiffs’ benefit claims.2 Plaintiffs further claimed that the EBC had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in denying their claims and that they were entitled to recovery of attor[1484]*1484neys’ fees and costs incurred in bringing suit. The Sandquists also sought civil penalties from defendant Shea for his alleged failure to make a timely response to their written requests for certain documents relating to their retirement.

Upon completion of discovery the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, including a “Joint Stipulation of Facts and Exhibits In Support of Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment.” Averhart Supp.App. at 1; Sabell App. at 33.3 The district court granted defendants’ motions while denying those of plaintiffs, setting forth the bases for its rulings in a combined Opinion and Order in the Averhart/Sandquist cases and a separate Opinion and Order in the Sabell case. Averhart App. at 155; Sabell App. at 162.

First, the court held that plaintiffs’ promissory estoppel theory is barred by ERISA’s preemption provisions. In support, the court cited our ruling that “ ‘ERISA’s express requirement that the written terms of a benefit plan shall govern forecloses the argument that Congress intended for ERISA to incorporate state law notions of promissory estop-pel.’ ” Averhart App. at 160 (quoting Straub v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 851 F.2d 1262, 1265-66 (10th Cir.1988), and citing Peckham v. Gem State Mut. of Utah, 964 F.2d 1043, 1050 (10th Cir.1992)); Sabell App. at 166 (quoting Straub, 851 F.2d at 1265-66).

Second, the court rejected plaintiffs’ claim that the EBC had arbitrarily and capriciously denied their request for 5 + 5 benefits. The court found the committee’s ruling was supported by the requirement in the 5 + 5 amendment that participants be “active employee[s] on the payroll as of February 28, 1991 or on a leave of absence with guaranteed reemployment.” (Emphasis in original.)

Third, as to the company’s extension of 5 + 5 benefits to director-level employees who had left the payroll under the Directors’ Program, the court held this decision to be a matter of plan design beyond the scope of the EBC’s fiduciary responsibilities and therefore unreviewable, citing Fletcher v. Kroger Co., 942 F.2d 1137, 1139-40 (7th Cir.1991).

Fourth, the court rejected as unsupported by the evidence the Sabell plaintiffs’ claim that the 5 + 5 amendment was not properly approved by the US WEST Board of Directors. The court noted that assuming ar-guendo no proper approval had been given, the entire 5 + 5 amendment would be invalid and no one — including plaintiffs — would be entitled to benefits thereunder.

Fifth, the court denied the Sandquist plaintiffs’ claim for civil penalties from defendant Shea for his alleged failure to make a timely response to their written requests for documents. The court held that Mr. Shea did not appear to be a plan “administrator” subject to civil penalties under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(c); that no evidence indicated either bad faith by Shea or prejudice to the Sand-quists; and that in any event Shea was not personally responsible for any delay in providing the relevant materials to the Sand-quists.

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Bluebook (online)
46 F.3d 1480, 18 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2400, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 30359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/averhart-v-us-west-management-pension-plan-ca10-1994.