Miles v. Corning Inc. Long Term Disability Plan

948 F. Supp. 2d 295, 2013 WL 2420845, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79001
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedJune 5, 2013
DocketNo. 12-CV-6063L
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 948 F. Supp. 2d 295 (Miles v. Corning Inc. Long Term Disability Plan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miles v. Corning Inc. Long Term Disability Plan, 948 F. Supp. 2d 295, 2013 WL 2420845, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79001 (W.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

DAVID G. LARIMER, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Kathy Miles, (“Miles”), a former employee of Corning Incorporated and' a participant in the Corning Incorporated Long Term Disability Plan (the “Plan”), brings this action against the Plan and its administrators, claiming that her long term disability benefits payments [297]*297were improperly and prematurely discontinued, pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and the Plan terms. Count I of the Amended Complaint seeks review of the denial of plaintiffs disability claim. Count II seeks a declaratory judgment declaring that plaintiff is entitled to the benefits sought in Count I. Count III seeks alternative equitable relief pursuant to ERISA § 502(a)(3), “in the event that [the] Court determines that the ‘arbitrary and capricious’ standard of review applies to the benefit denial decision [that is the subject of Count I].” (Dkt. # 1 at ¶ 13).

The defendants now move solely to dismiss Count III of the Amended Complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 12(b)(1) and (6). (Dkt. # 13). For the reasons set forth below, that motion is granted, and Count III is dismissed.

DISCUSSION

I. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) provides that a claim may be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 12(b)(6). In deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a court must “accept the allegations contained in the complaint as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-movant.” Sheppard v. Beerman, 18 F.3d 147, 150 (2d Cir.1994), citing Ad-Hoc Comm. of Baruch Black & Hispanic Alumni Ass’n v. Bernard M. Baruch College, 835 F.2d 980, 982 (2d Cir. 1987). Nonetheless, “a plaintiffs obligation ... requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do. Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).

II. Count III of the Amended Complaint

The question posed on the instant motion is a narrow one: does the Amended Complaint sufficiently allege a cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty against the Plan administrator, the Corning Benefits Committee (the “Committee”), by virtue of its alleged failure to furnish plaintiff with a copy of the summary plan description (“Plan summary”)? Plaintiff alleges that because she did not read the Plan summary, she was unaware of the “arbitrary and capricious” standard of review that it stated would apply to any decision by the Committee to deny benefits. Plaintiff contends that had she known that the “arbitrary and capricious” standard would be applied to the Committee’s decisions, she would have stopped paying premiums on the Plan and would have sought “consumer-friendly” disability insurance which did not incorporate that standard, instead. She contends that she has been harmed by paying premiums for a Plan about which she had not been fully informed, and also seeks damages in the amount of “the value of coverage which does not designate the carrier or administrator as entity [sic] with ‘sole and exclusive authority’ to determine benefit questions.” (Dkt. # 15 at 13).

Section 502(a)(1)(b) of ERISA empowers a plan participant or beneficiary to bring a civil action to recover benefits due, enforce rights, or clarify rights to future benefits, which arise under ERISA-governed plans. 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(b). Section 503(a)(3) permits plan participants, beneficiaries and fiduciaries to pursue equitable relief to enforce plan provisions and ERISA regulations where such relief is unavailable elsewhere. 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3). Section 502(a)(3) relief is available only to obtain those categories of [298]*298relief that were customarily available in equity. See CIGNA Corp. v. Amara, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 1866, 1878, 179 L.Ed.2d 843 (2011); Wilkins v. Mason Tenders District Council Pension Fund, 445 F.3d 572, 582 (2d Cir.2006). Here, the equitable remedy plaintiff purports to seek is a surcharge, based on defendants’ alleged breach of fiduciary duty.1

In order to state a claim for surcharge under section 503(a)(3) stemming from a failure to provide a plan summary as required by 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(1)(A), a plaintiff must plausibly allege: (1) that the Plan administrator had a fiduciary duty to the plaintiff; (2) that the fiduciary breached that duty; and (3) that “actual harm” resulted, which may take the form of detrimental reliance, unjust enrichment, or the “loss of a right protected by ERISA [such as] the failure to provide proper summary information, in violation of the statute” coupled with resulting damages. CIGNA Corp., — U.S. - at -, 131 S.Ct. 1866 at 1881. See also D’Iorio v. Winebow, Inc., 920 F.Supp.2d 313, 321-23 (E.D.N.Y.2013) (denying motion to dismiss claim by plaintiff seeking surcharge remedy, where plaintiff plausibly alleged that her employer provided her with an inaccurate plan summary, causing plaintiff to make decisions concerning compensation and insurance that negatively impacted the amount of available benefits). Construing all inferences in plaintiffs favor, her allegations fail to plausibly allege actual harm.

Initially, I note that the Committee’s failure to provide plaintiff with the Plan summary cannot, by itself, comprise sufficient harm to plaintiff to state a claim: rather, plaintiff must plausibly allege that the deprivation of a Plan summary resulted in a benefit to the Committee or damages to plaintiff—here, the loss of the opportunity to gain alternate insurance coverage and/or to appeal unfavorable decisions by plan administrators without their decision making being subject to any special deference. See Amara, — U.S.-at-, 131 S.Ct. 1866 at 1881 (actual harm may come from failure to provide proper summary information, where the lack of such information causes employees to make decisions, or rest on rights, in ways that “prove harmful” to them). See also Osberg v. Foot Locker, Inc., 907 F.Supp.2d 527, 533-34 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (“under Amara, deprivation of an accurate [plan summary] in itself is an insufficient harm—holding otherwise would subject plan administrators to strict liability on [plan summary] claims”).

Insofar as the harm alleged by plaintiff goes beyond the mere denial of a Plan summary, it is entirely speculative.

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948 F. Supp. 2d 295, 2013 WL 2420845, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79001, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miles-v-corning-inc-long-term-disability-plan-nywd-2013.