Douglin v. GreatBanc Trust Co.

115 F. Supp. 3d 404, 60 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1479, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85006, 2015 WL 3526248
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 30, 2015
DocketNo. 14cv00620 (RA)(MHD)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 115 F. Supp. 3d 404 (Douglin v. GreatBanc Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Douglin v. GreatBanc Trust Co., 115 F. Supp. 3d 404, 60 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1479, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85006, 2015 WL 3526248 (S.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

RONNIE ABRAMS, District Judge:

Plaintiffs bring claims pursuant to Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq., alleging that Defendant breached its fiduciary duty under ERISA and engaged in transactions forbidden by ERISA. Plaintiffs have moved for class certification and for appointment of class counsel. Defendant did not oppose the motion. Before the Court is Magistrate Judge Dolinger’s Report and Recommendation, dated May 21, 2015, recommending that Plaintiffs’ motion be granted. Objections to the Report and Recommendation, if any, were to be filed by June 8, 2015. No objections have been filed.

“Where no timely objection has been made ... a district court need only find that there is no clear error on the face of the record in order to accept the Report and Recommendation.” Pineda v. Masonry Const., Inc., 881 F.Supp.2d 666, 670 (S.D.N.Y.2011) (citation omitted). The Court has reviewed the Report and Recommendation for clear error and found none. The Court therefore adopts the Report and Recommendation.

The Clerk of Court is respectfully requested to close the motion pending at ECF No. 37.

SO ORDERED.

REPORT & RECOMMENDATION

MICHAEL H. DOLINGER, United States Magistrate Judge.

This putative class action arises under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq., and is brought by plaintiffs who are home health aides employed by People Care Holdings, Inc. (“People Care”) against the trustee of their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “ESOP”). Plaintiffs allege that defendant GreatBanc Trust Company, Inc. (“Great-Banc”) breached its fiduciary duty under ERISA and engaged in transactions forbidden by ERISA when it purchased, on behalf of the ESOP, 100 percent of People Care from the company’s Inc. (“Great-Banc”) breached its fiduciary duty under ERISA and engaged in transactions forbidden by ERISA when it purchased, on behalf of the ESOP, 100 percent of People Care from the company’s owners in 2008, causing plaintiffs financial losses when the company’s value diminished significantly thereafter from the purchase price of $80 million. (First Am. Compl. ¶¶ 1-3; Plaintiffs Memorandum in Support of Motion (“Mem.”) 3-6).

Plaintiffs seek a declaration that defendant breached its fiduciary duties and knowingly participated in breaches of fiduciary duty, as well as a declaration that any indemnification agreement between defendant and People Care or the ESOP violates ERISA and is null and void. (First Am. Compl. 26-28). They further seek injunctive relief to prevent future violations by defendant of its fiduciary responsibilities and to remove defendant as Trustee of the ESOP. (Id.). Additionally, plaintiffs seek restoration of losses arising from the breach, and the return of profits that defendant made through use of the ESOP assets, as well as other relief, such as surcharge, an accounting for profits, [409]*409disgorgement of fees that defendant received in conjunction with the February 2008 transaction, the imposition of a constructive trust or equitable lien on any funds wrongfully held by defendant, attorney’s fees and costs, and prejudgment interest. (Id.).

On February 13, 2015, plaintiffs filed their motion for class certification (Doc. 37-41), which defendant does not oppose. (Letter from Marsha J. Indych on behalf of GreatBanc Trust Company, Inc., Doc. 50, March 6, 2015). Plaintiffs seek certification of a class consisting of all persons who were participants in the People Care ESOP on February 1, 2008 or at any time thereafter. (Mem. 2). They exclude from the class the selling shareholders, officers and directors of defendant, and all of their legal representatives, successors, and assigns. (Id. at 2-3). Plaintiffs also seek appointment of their counsel1 as class counsel. For the reasons provided below, we recommend that plaintiffs’ motion be granted.

DISCUSSION

Even when unopposed, a motion for class certification must be evaluated on its merits. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(c)(l)(A)-(B). See In re Longtop Financial Technologies Limited Securities Litigation, 2013 WL 3486990, *1 (S.D.N.Y. July 11, 2013); Assif v. Titleserv, Inc., 288 F.R.D. 18 (E.D.N.Y.2012). This requires our assessment, through “rigorous analysis,” of whether the requirements of Rules 23(a) and 23(b) have been met. Miles v. Merill Lynch & Co. (In re Initial Pub. Offerings Sec. Litig.), 471 F.3d 24, 33 (2d Cir.2006). “The party seeking class certification bears the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that each of Rule 23’s requirements has been met.” Myers v. Hertz Corp., 624 F.3d 537, 547 (2d Cir.2010).

We first scrutinize the putative class to ensure that it satisfies the prerequisites of numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a). If the requirements of Rule 23(a) are met, we then determine whether the proposed class fits within one of the three types of class actions defined by Rule 23(b). In this case, plaintiffs assert that their class may be properly certified under any of the three categories described in Rule 23(b), but suggest certification under either 23(b)(1) or 23(b)(2). (Mem. 13). We address the Rule 23 requirements in order and conclude that certification of a Rule 23(b)(1) class is warranted.

A. Rule 23(a) Requirements

Plaintiffs assert, and we agree, that they form an ascertainable class, defined by their participant/beneficiary status and stock allocations through the ESOP records. (Mem. 8). See Batances v. Fischer, 304 F.R.D. 416, 426 (S.D.N.Y.2015) (citing cases). They also demonstrate that they meet the prerequisites found in 23(a),

1. “The Class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” Rule 23(a)(1).

Plaintiffs represent that their proposed class encompasses more than 5, 000 ESOP participants, as of December 31, 2013, and that this is a sufficiently large class to meet the numerosity requirement of Rule 23(a). (Mem. 9; Feinberg Decl. Ex. 1 page 2, item 6f). Determining nu-merosity is not an exact science, but we recognize “a presumption that joinder is impracticable” when the class exceeds 40 members. Salim Shahriar v. Smith & Wollensky Rest. Group, Inc., 659 F.3d 234, 252 (2d Cir.N.Y.2011) (citing Consol. Rail [410]*410Corp. v. Town of Hyde Park, 47 F.3d 473, 483 (2d Cir.1995)). Certainly the asserted group of 5,000 employee participants satisfies numerosity. .

2.“There are questions of law or fact common to the class.”

Rule 23(a)(2).

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115 F. Supp. 3d 404, 60 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1479, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85006, 2015 WL 3526248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/douglin-v-greatbanc-trust-co-nysd-2015.