Mehling v. New York Life Insurance

246 F.R.D. 467, 42 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2359, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79451, 2007 WL 3145344
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 24, 2007
DocketCivil Action No. 99-5417
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 246 F.R.D. 467 (Mehling v. New York Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mehling v. New York Life Insurance, 246 F.R.D. 467, 42 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2359, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79451, 2007 WL 3145344 (E.D. Pa. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

KAUFFMAN, District Judge.

Now before the Court is Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion for Entry of an Order with Respect to Certification of Modified Settlement Class and Notice and Hearing on Proposed Class Action Settlement (hereinafter “Motion”). In the Motion, Plaintiffs represent that both parties seek preliminary approval of the proposed Settlement (hereinafter “Settlement”), certification of a modified settlement class, and approval of the agreed-upon notice of the Settlement. For the reasons discussed below, Plaintiffs’ Motion will be granted.

I. BACKGROUND

The Court will recite only the facts relevant to resolving this Motion. Defendant New York Life Insurance Company (hereinafter “NYL”) is a life insurance company that, at all times relevant to this litigation, maintained Pension Plans and 401(k) Plans (collectively, the “Plans”) for its employees. Both Plans are managed by the same Board of Trustees, also named as a Defendant. Plaintiffs are former and current employees and agents of NYL.1 According to Plaintiffs, the Board of Trustees was induced by NYL employees to invest assets of the Plans into NYL-owned mutual funds. Plaintiffs allege that this improper investment caused financial harm to the Plans in the form of excessive service fees and lowered rates of return on investment, and to the individual Plaintiffs in the form of less secure pension and welfare benefits as well as reductions to the amounts in the 401 (k) Plans. Defendants’ alleged breach of fiduciary duty to the Plans and Plan participants gave rise to the instant litigation.

Plaintiffs filed the original Complaint on November 1, 1999, the First Amended Complaint on June 14, 2000, and the Second Amended Complaint on July 25, 2000. After this Court dismissed several counts of the Second Amended Complaint on March 29, 2001, Plaintiffs filed a Third Amended Complaint on May 7, 2002, and then a Revised Third Amended Complaint on February 20, 2003. The Revised Third Amended Complaint alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (hereinafter “RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq. and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (hereinafter “ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. However, on July 13, 2005, this Court dismissed Plaintiffs’ RICO claims, leaving only the ERISA counts in the [472]*472Revised Third Amended Complaint. Thereafter, the parties began negotiating a possible settlement in a process overseen by Magistrate Judge Jacob P. Hart. The parties signed the Settlement Agreement on March 22, 2007.

II. PRELIMINARY APPROVAL OF THE SETTLEMENT

A. Legal Standard

The ultimate approval of a class action settlement depends on “whether the settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable.” Walsh v. Great Atl. & Pac. Tea Co., 726 F.2d 956, 965 (3d Cir.1983). In evaluating a proposed settlement for preliminary approval, however, the Court is required to determine only whether “the proposed settlement discloses grounds to doubt its fairness or other obvious deficiencies such as unduly preferential treatment of class representatives or segments of the class, or excessive compensation of attorneys, and whether it appears to fall within the range of possible approval.” Thomas v. NCO Fin. Sys., 2002 WL 1773035, at *5, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14157, at *14 (E.D.Pa. July 31, 2002) (citing In re Prudential Sec. Inc. Ltd. P’ships Litig., 163 F.R.D. 200, 209 (S.D.N.Y.1995)). At this stage, the Court “need not reach any ultimate conclusions on the issues of fact and law that underlie the merits of the dispute.” Id. (citing Detroit v. Grinnell Corp., 495 F.2d 448, 456 (2d Cir.1974)). A common inquiry is whether the proposed settlement is the result of “arms-length negotiations.” Id.; Tenuto v. Transworld Sys., Inc., 2001 WL 1347235, at *1, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17694, at *3 (E.D.Pa. Oct. 31, 2001). After a preliminary determination as to the fairness of the Settlement, the Court must direct notice to class members and hold a final fairness hearing before formally approving the settlement. See Manual for Complex Litigation (Fourth) § 21.632 (2004).

B. Grounds for Preliminary Approval

Upon final approval of the Settlement, Plaintiffs agree to release all claims asserted against Defendants and all claims that might have been asserted with regard to the conduct alleged in this case. Plaintiffs offer three reasons why the Settlement meets the requirements for preliminary approval. First, it will provide Plaintiffs with substantial relief in the form of individual monetary payments and prospective relief to ensure that the Plans make proper investment decisions in the future. Second, it is the result of lengthy, arms-length negotiations overseen by Magistrate Judge Hart. Third, independent fiduciaries have reviewed and approved the terms of the Settlement.

1. Substantial Relief

Under the Settlement, Defendants and/or their insurers will pay a total gross amount of $14,000,000,2 70% of which (equal to $9.8 million plus interest) will be allocated to the 401(k) Plans and then distributed to the eligible current and former participants of the 401(k) Plans who had account balances at any time between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 2005.3 The remainder of the settlement amount, 30% (equal to $4.2 million plus interest), will be allocated between the Employees’ Pension Plan and the Agents’ Pension Plan. After Court-approved payments of attorneys’ fees and expenses,4 administrative expenses, and Named Plaintiffs’ [473]*473compensation,5 the settlement amount for the Pension Plans will be allocated 55.283% to the Employees’ Pension Plan and 44.717% to the Agents’ Pension Plan. These funds will not be used to increase benefits paid to individual class members but instead will bp used to strengthen the funding of Pension Plans.

Additionally, Defendants have agreed to provide prospective relief to safeguard the interests of the class members. The trustees of the Plans will utilize an independent advisor to provide advice to the trustees regarding appropriate investments for each of the Plans. The independent advisor will be retained through May 30, 2010.

2. Arms-Length Negotiations

Plaintiffs explain that the Settlement is the result of a hard-fought and lengthy negotiation process overseen by Magistrate Judge Hart that lasted from 2005 to 2006. After the principal settlement terms were reached in June 2006, the parties investigated and continued to negotiate the methods for allocating the settlement proceeds to class members.

3. Independent Review

Finally, as a condition of the Settlement, the current trustees of the Plans have engaged the services of independent fiduciaries to review the terms of the Settlement and to determine whether the Plans should release any claims in exchange for the settlement benefits.

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Bluebook (online)
246 F.R.D. 467, 42 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2359, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79451, 2007 WL 3145344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mehling-v-new-york-life-insurance-paed-2007.