Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers, International Union, Local 4-23 v. Texaco, Inc.

88 F.R.D. 86, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9431
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedOctober 16, 1980
DocketCiv. A. No. B-78-735-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 88 F.R.D. 86 (Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers, International Union, Local 4-23 v. Texaco, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers, International Union, Local 4-23 v. Texaco, Inc., 88 F.R.D. 86, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9431 (E.D. Tex. 1980).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JOE J. FISHER, District Judge.

CAME ON THIS DAY to be heard the Motion of the plaintiff to reinstate the jury demand, and the Court, having considered the motion and the response of the defendant, is of the opinion that the motion should be GRANTED

The plaintiff, Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, International Union, Local 4-23 (OCAW), in this cause is suing for breach of the collective bargaining agreement between it and Texaco, Inc. (Texaco). OCAW claims that Texaco breached the agreement by decreasing a benefit under the pension plan in contravention of a specific prohibition in the agreement. The pension plan allows an employee to take his normal retirement income in a lump sum upon retirement. Texaco has increased the discount rate used in computing the lump sum payment option, and this has resulted in the final lump sum payment being smaller. Texaco claims that it has the right under the pension plan to vary the “applicable actuarial tables” to keep the lump sum payment “actuarially equivalent” to the normal retirement income. OCAW claims that this is a decrease in a benefit under the plan in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. At the pretrial conference, the Court granted Texaco’s motion to strike OCAW’s jury demand.

In its original motion to strike the jury demand, Texaco cited several cases which hold that in a suit by an employee against the plan administrator for a determination of entitlement to pension benefits, there was no right to a trial by jury because the only issue was whether the administrator acted arbitrarily or capriciously. See Nedd v. United Mine Workers, 556 F.2d 190 (3d Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1013, 98 S.Ct. 727, 54 L.Ed.2d 757 (1978); Genesta v. San Diego County Laborers’ Pension Plan, 87 Lab.Cas. ¶ 11,702 (S.D.Cal.1979); Wardle v. Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, Lab.Rel.Rep. (BNA), No. 239 D-1 (S.D.Ind.1979); Porter v. Pension Fund, 98 L.R.R.M. 3210 (N.D.Iowa 1978); Davis v. Huge, 91 L.R.R.M. 2234 [88]*88(E.D.Ky.1975). The courts in these cases characterized the action as one by a beneficiary of a trust fund against a trustee for payment of trust assets. They reasoned that this kind of relief was traditionally equitable.

In Nedd v. United Mine Workers of America, 556 F.2d 190 (3d Cir. 1977), “[t]he gravamen of the pensioners’ complaint .. . [was] that the Trustees and the Union favored the interests of working miners over those of retirees and therefore failed to take prudent action to collect delinquencies from mine operators . . . . ” Id. at 195. The pensioners claimed that the union did not enforce contractual obligations of the mine operators to contribute to the pension fund. Id. at 194. The court held that “[r]egardless of their statutory source, the relief sought by the beneficiaries is to have the Trustees account to the fund for their breach of duty in neglecting to enforce claims belonging to it.” Id. at 207.

Similarly, in Genesta v. San Diego County Laborers’ Pension Plan, 87 Lab.Cas. ¶ 11,702 (S.D.Cal.1979), the plaintiff brought an action to overturn the decision of the trustees denying his claim for benefits. The standard of review in the case was “whether the trustees’ decision was arbitrary or capricious, erroneous on a question of law, or not supported by substantial evidence .. . . ” Id. at 22,827.

In Wardle v. Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, Lab. Rel.Rep. (BNA), No. 239 D-l (S.D.Ind. 1979), the court said that the pensioners, “in order to recover, must show more than a contractual right by a preponderance of the evidence but rather must show by such evidence that the trustees have acted arbitrarily and capriciously,” id. at D-2, and “[t]he question is not whether the plaintiff has a contractual right to receive benefits from the defendant but rather whether it has acted improperly in making the determination that he was not so entitled.” Id. Likewise, in Davis v. Huge, 91 L.R.R.M. 2234, 2235 (E.D.Ky.1975), and Porter v. Pension Plan, 98 L.R.R.M. 3210 (N.D.Iowa), the issue was entitlement to a pension fund.

The Nedd line of cases is not controlling, however, as this action is not one by an employee seeking benefits from a pension trust. Rather, it is a suit by the union against the employer for breach of a collective bargaining agreement. Furthermore, the courts are split on whether there is a right to a jury trial in a suit against a pension fund. In Stamps v. Michigan Teamsters Joint Council No. 43, 431 F.Supp. 745 (E.D.Mich.1975), the court held that a suit under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) § 301, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (1976) against a pension fund, where the pension plan is part of the collective bargaining agreement, “is essentially a contract action for damages.” Thus, the court concluded that the plaintiff was entitled to a jury trial upon request. Id. at 746.

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Related

Simler v. Conner
372 U.S. 221 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Ross v. Bernhard
396 U.S. 531 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Nedd v. United Mine Workers Of America
556 F.2d 190 (Third Circuit, 1977)
Adam G. Nunez v. The Superior Oil Company
572 F.2d 1119 (Fifth Circuit, 1978)
Sune Lyxell v. John B. Vautrin
604 F.2d 18 (Fifth Circuit, 1979)
Pollock v. Castrovinci
476 F. Supp. 606 (S.D. New York, 1979)
Stamps v. Michigan Teamsters Joint Council No. 43
431 F. Supp. 745 (E.D. Michigan, 1977)
Nedd v. United Mine Workers
556 F.2d 190 (Third Circuit, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
88 F.R.D. 86, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oil-chemical-atomic-workers-international-union-local-4-23-v-texaco-txed-1980.