Mitchell v. NFL Player Annuity Program

255 F. Supp. 3d 781, 2017 WL 2424218, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85519
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 5, 2017
DocketNo. 16 C 146
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 255 F. Supp. 3d 781 (Mitchell v. NFL Player Annuity Program) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. NFL Player Annuity Program, 255 F. Supp. 3d 781, 2017 WL 2424218, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85519 (N.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JORGE L.. ALONSO, United States District Judge

Before the Court are plaintiffs amended motion for entry of judgment. ,and defendants’ motion to dismiss and for summary judgment.1 For the reasons explained be[784]*784low, plaintiffs motion-is denied and defendants’ motion is granted to the extent that this action is dismissed.

BACKGROUND

Defendants, the NFL Player Annuity Program (“Annuity Program”) and the NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan (“Disability Plan”) (collectively, the “Plans”), removed this' third-party citation action to this court from the Circuit Court of Cook County. This supplementary proceeding arises out of a judgment in a state-court divorce action between Laura Mitchell (“Laura”) and’ Qasim Mitchell (“Qasim”), a former National Football League (“NFL”) player and participant in the Plans. The divorce judgment provides that Laura is entitled to certain monies Qasim was “scheduled to receive” from the NFL “in 2011 or/and 2012”, as well as half of Qasim’s NFL pension fund and half of “various monies from” Qasim’s “401(k) fund.” (ECF No. 18 — 1, J. for Dissolution of Marriage at 5.)2 The Plans are employee benefits plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq.3 Before relating the complicated history of this citation action, the- Court first will outline the Plans’ relevant policies and procedures for alternate payees, such as ex-spouses, to establish their right to a portion of a plan participant’s benefits.

Plan Provisions

The Annuity Program- provides that, subject to an exception for qualified domestic relations orders (“QDROs”),4 no benefit under the Program “will be subject in any manner to anticipation, pledge, encumbrance, alienation, levy or assignment, nor to seizure, attachment or other legal process for the debts of any Participant or Beneficiary, unless required by law.” (ECF No. 26-4, Ex. 2 to Defs.’ Mem. Supp. Mot., NFL Player Annuity Program § 8.1.) The Disability Plan provides that, subject to an excéption for QDROs and as allowed by 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(13) (the Internal Revenue Code’s non-alienation provision for pension and annuity benefits), no benefit under the Plan “will be subject in any manner to anticipation, pledge, encumbrance, alienation, levy or assignment, nor to seizure, attachment or other legal process for the debts of any Player, unless required by law.” (ECF No. 26-5, Ex. 3 to Defs/ Mem. Supp. Mot., NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan § 13.5.) The Plans have identical procedures through which individuals who seek to become alternate payees may submit a QDRO.5 (ECF No. 26-6, Ex. 4 to Defs.’ [785]*785Mem. Supp. Mot., Qualified Domestic Relations Order — Procedures.) Those procedures spell out the requirements for an order to be recognized as a QDRO as well as the requirements for restricting a participant’s benefits pending submission of an order and approval by the relevant Board. They also state that a player’s “access to plan benefits can be restricted once the Qualified Order Center receives a draft domestic relations order, court order, or joinder.” (Id. at 4.)

Regarding such restriction on a participant’s access to funds, the Plans’ internal policies provide that benefits “will only be restricted or suspended if the Qualified] 0[rder] office receives a draft DRO, signed DRO, Joinder, or restraining order. Benefits will not be restricted or suspended for any other reason including request for models, subpoenas for plan information, or other written communication from an attorney.” (EOF No. 26-7, Ex. 5 to Defs.’ Mem. Supp. Mot., Qualified Domestic Relations Order Administration Manual at 10.) As for restraining orders, the Plans restrict benefits only upon receipt of orders that “specifically restraint ] (i) a Board or (ii) a Plan from allowing a Player to take a loan, withdrawal, and/or distribution.” (Id. at 14.)

The State-CouH Proceedings

Laura and Qasim’s divorce judgment was entered in March 2011. Later that year, Laura obtained a QDRO that entitled her to fifty percent of the balance in Qas-im’s NFL Player Second Career Savings Plan.

In 2014, Laura submitted to the Annuity Program a draft domestic relations order for child support under which she would be an alternate payee to receive a portion of Qasim’s Program benefits. Eventually, on February 26, 2015, the Annuity Program preapproved the draft as a QDRO. The notice informing Laura of the preapproval stated that the proposed order would satisfy the requirements of a QDRO based on the Plan’s requirements “once the court signs and certifies the order”; the “court signed” order would have to be returned to the NFL Player- Benefits Office (the “Benefits Office”) and be accepted as a [QDRO] before any benefits would be awarded to Laura; Qasim’s “benefit activity” had been restricted upon receipt of the proposed order; and if a certified domestic relations order was not received within ninety days of the notice date, the restrictions on Qas-im’s benefits would be removed. (EOF No. 26-12, Ex. 10 to Defs.’ Mem. Supp. Mot., Domestic Relations Order Preapproval Notice.) After the Benefits Office did not receive a certified copy of the QDRO from Laura, the Annuity Program sent her a warning notice on April 27, 2015, reminding her that if it did not receive a revised domestic relations order in thirty days, the existing restrictions on Qasim’s benefits would be lifted, and Qasim would have “unrestricted access to” the Program. (EOF No. 26-13, Ex. 11 to Defs.’ Mem. Supp. Mot., Domestic Relations Order Restriction Lift Warning Notice.)' On May 1, 2015, a court presiding over the post-dissolution proceedings related to the divorce judgment entered a $306,220.04 judgment against Qasim based on his failure to pay child support as ordered in the divorce judgment.

Thereafter, Laura did not submit a certified domestic relations order to the Annuity Program for approval. On May 12, 2015, however, her divorce attorney, Leslie Fineberg, issued citations to discover-assets' that noted the $306,220.04 unsatisfied judgment against Qasim and" named as respondents the NFL and the NFL Players Association (the “Players Association”), which are separate entities from the Plans. The citations included the following language: “You are PROHIBITED from making or allowing any transfer or other disposition of, or interfering with, any [786]*786property not exempt from the enforcement of a judgment, a deduction order or garnishment, property belonging to the judgment debtor to which s/he may be entitled ..., and from paying over or otherwise disposing of any monies not so exempt....” (ECF No. 18-2, Citations to Discover Assets to a Third Party (boldface omitted).) They also stated that this prohibition would remain in effect until further order of,court or termination of the proceeding. The citations were not .served o.n the NFL or Players Association; ■ rather; they were mailed to the Benefits Office, which handles the day-to-day operations of the Plans. The Benefits Office received the citations in mid-May.

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255 F. Supp. 3d 781, 2017 WL 2424218, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85519, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-nfl-player-annuity-program-ilnd-2017.