Fisher v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

230 F.R.D. 370, 35 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2232, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18274, 2005 WL 2063813
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 25, 2005
DocketNo. 03 Civ. 3252(SHS)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 230 F.R.D. 370 (Fisher v. J.P. Morgan Chase & 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
Fisher v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., 230 F.R.D. 370, 35 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2232, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18274, 2005 WL 2063813 (S.D.N.Y. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

STEIN, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Isadore Fisher, Janna M. Wooten, Kelli M. Bunn, Tammy T. Soileau and Amy K. Harvey have brought this action for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty in violation of section 409(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1109(a). Plaintiffs, who are present and former participants in JP Morgan Chase & Co.’s 401(k) Savings Plan (the “Plan”), contend that defendants are fiduciaries with respect to the Plan who have breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the investment of Plan funds in JP Morgan Chase & Co. (“JPM Chase”) stock. Plaintiffs have now moved for certification of the proposed class of Plan participants whose personal accounts included units of funds that held shares of common stock of JPM Chase. To the extent plaintiffs’ claims are purportedly brought pursuant to the right of action contained in ERISA section 502(a)(2), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(2), plaintiffs lack standing, because they are asserting claims for damages to individuals on behalf of a subset of Plan participants. Insofar as plaintiffs bring their claims pursuant to the right of action contained in ERISA section 502(a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3), they have failed to satisfy their burden to establish compliance with the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23. Accordingly, plaintiffs’ motion for class certification is denied.

I. The Proposed Class

Individual participants in the Plan maintained personal accounts and chose from among a menu of investment options, including the JP Morgan Chase Stock Fund, which in turn made investments in the common stock of JPM Chase. (Id. HIT 35-37). Defendants allegedly violated their fiduciary duties to those Plan participants whose personal accounts contained units of the JP Morgan Chase Stock Fund. Accordingly, plaintiffs seek to certify a class comprised of the following members:

All current and former participants and beneficiaries of the JP Morgan Chase 401(k) Saving Plan (“Plan”) for whose individual accounts the Plan held shares of common stock of the Chase Manhattan Corporation (“Chase”) and/or JP Morgan Chase & Co. (“JPMC” or the “Company”) (such shares of common stock being held in the form of units of the J.P. Morgan Stock Fund and/or the JP Morgan Chase Stock Fund) at any time from April 1,1999 to and including January 2, 2003. Excluded from the Class are Defendants herein, officers and directors of Defendant JPMC, members of their immediate families, and the heirs, successors or assigns of any of the foregoing.

(Pis.’ Supplemental Submission in Supp. of Mot. for Class Cert, at 8).

II. Legal Standard for Certification

When considering a motion for class certification, a court should not address whether the plaintiffs have “stated a cause of action or will prevail on the merits, but whether the requirements of [Federal] Rule [of Civil Procedure] 23 are met.” Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 178, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974) (citation and quotation marks omitted). The burden is on the proponents of the class to establish compliance with Rule 23. Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 614, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997); Caridad v. Metro-North Commuter R.R., 191 F.3d 283, 291 (2d Cir.1999). “Although the determination of whether to certify a class is not an occasion for an examination of the merits of the case, a court must conduct a ‘rigorous analysis’ to decide if the plaintiffs have met their burden of establishing the prerequisites for certification under Rule 23.” Spann v. AOL Time Warner, Inc., 219 F.R.D. 307, 315 [374]*374(S.D.N.Y.2003) (quoting In re Visa Check/MasterMoney, 280 F.3d 124, 135 (2d Cir.2001) (citation omitted), and Gary Plastic Packaging Corp. v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 903 F.2d 176, 180 (2d Cir.1990)).

Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 provides a two-tiered process for determining whether certification of a proposed class is appropriate. First, the Court must examine whether the four threshold requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a) have been met. To achieve certification, the proponents of the class must show that: “(1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a). The proponents must also demonstrate that the action fits into one of the categories set forth in Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b).

Before determining whether a proposed class satisfies the requirements of Fed. R.Civ.P. 23, the Court must be satisfied that plaintiffs possess standing to assert then-claims, since the Court cannot certify a proposed class if the proposed representatives lack standing to sue. See O’Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 494, 94 S.Ct. 669, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974); Murray v. U.S. Bank Trust Nat’l Ass’n, 365 F.3d 1284, 1289 n. 7 (11th Cir.2004); Piazza v. Ebsco Indus., Inc., 273 F.3d 1341, 1351 (11th Cir.2001); Carter v. West Publ’g Co., 225 F.3d 1258, 1267 (11th Cir.2000); Fallick v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., 162 F.3d 410, 423 (6th Cir.1998); Selby v. Principal Mut. Life Ins. Co., 197 F.R.D. 48, 56 (S.D.N.Y.2000); In re Bank of Boston Corp. Sec. Litig., 762 F.Supp. 1525, 1531 (D.Mass.1991); The Canadian St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians v. The State of N.Y., 573 F.Supp. 1530, 1533 (N.D.N.Y.1983).

There are generally two aspects to standing, constitutional standing pursuant to Article III of the Constitution and prudential standing, which involves “‘judicially self-imposed limits on the exercise of federal jurisdiction ____’” Lerner v. Fleet Bank, N.A., 318 F.3d 113, 126 (2d Cir.2003) (quoting Allen v. Wright,

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230 F.R.D. 370, 35 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2232, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18274, 2005 WL 2063813, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fisher-v-jp-morgan-chase-co-nysd-2005.