Smith v. Iron Workers Dist. Council of S. Ohio & Vicinity Pension Trust

329 F. Supp. 3d 647
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJune 28, 2018
DocketCAUSE NO.: 1:17-CV-368-TLS
StatusPublished

This text of 329 F. Supp. 3d 647 (Smith v. Iron Workers Dist. Council of S. Ohio & Vicinity Pension Trust) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Iron Workers Dist. Council of S. Ohio & Vicinity Pension Trust, 329 F. Supp. 3d 647 (N.D. Ind. 2018).

Opinion

THERESA L. SPRINGMANN, CHIEF JUDGE

On August 3, 2017, Plaintiff Deborah Smith filed a state court Complaint [ECF No. 5] against Defendants Iron Workers District Council of Southern Ohio & Vicinity Pension Trust (the Fund) and Garland Smith. This case was removed to federal court [ECF No. 1] on August 25, 2017. On August 31, 2017, the Fund filed a Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record [ECF No. 7], to which the Plaintiff responded on April 30, 2018 [ECF No. 44], and the Fund replied on May 11, 2018 [ECF No. 46]. The Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint with leave of Court on March 27, 2018 [ECF No. 37], which clarified that she was asserting both a claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1002(2)(A) as well as a state law claim for conversion. The Fund filed a Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 42] the Plaintiff's state law conversion claim on the grounds that the claim was preempted. The Plaintiff responded on April 24, 2018 [ECF No. 43], and the Fund replied on May 1, 2018 [ECF No. 45]. Subsequently, the Fund filed a Motion to Transfer Case [ECF No. 47] on June 6, 2018, arguing that the Southern District of Ohio is a more appropriate forum. The Plaintiff responded [ECF No. 48] on June 19, 2018, and the Fund replied [ECF No. 49] on June 26, 2018. These issues are now fully briefed and ripe for review.

BACKGROUND

The Fund is an "employee pension benefit plan" within the meaning of ERISA § 2(2)(A) and a "multiemployer plan" within the meaning of ERISA

*654§ 2(37)(A). In January 2013, Garland Smith retired and elected to receive a single life annuity payment option (the Plan), terminating upon his death. At the time of his election, Smith and the Plaintiff were married. Smith's Plan provided that if Smith died prior to receiving sixty monthly payments, his named beneficiary would receive the balance of those payments, but would not be entitled to any further payments. However, if Smith died after sixty payments had been tendered, the named beneficiary would not receive any payments.

Smith submitted an application for benefits pursuant to the Plan on January 18, 2013, and his benefits commenced on February 1, 2013. In January 2016, Smith and the Plaintiff divorced. On February 29, 2016, after dissolution of the marriage, the Fund received a proposed domestic relations order (DRO); however, the Fund found that the DRO was non-compliant with ERISA and the Fund's policies. By letter dated May 23, 2016, the Fund advised the Plaintiff and Smith that it would segregate the forty percent allotted to the Plaintiff for eighteen months or until it was presented with a qualified DRO. If the Plaintiff and Smith did not submit a qualified DRO within the eighteen months, the segregated amount would be paid to Smith.

On May 18, 2016, the Plaintiff inquired whether a DRO that provided for continued payments to her beneficiaries if she predeceases Smith, even after the first sixty payments had been tendered, would be a qualified DRO. Notwithstanding this inquiry, on May 24, 2016, the Plaintiff submitted a DRO that did not include such a provision, which the Fund determined was a qualified DRO and issued a letter of compliance on June 1, 2016. On June 2, 2016, the Plaintiff again inquired as to whether a DRO that provided for continued payments to her beneficiaries even if she died after the first sixty payments would be a qualified DRO. The Fund responded by letter dated June 9, 2016, that "an order containing such a provision would fail to be a complying order under the Fund's procedure." (A.R. 10052, ECF No. 7-1.) In November 2016, the Whitley Circuit Court issued the DRO at issue in this case [ECF No. 5 at 11-14], which the Plaintiff submitted on November 18, 2016. This DRO included the provision regarding the Plaintiff's beneficiaries despite the Fund's advisement that the DRO would be non-compliant. Specifically, the DRO provides that the Plaintiff is to receive forty percent of Smith's monthly payments and that if the Plaintiff predeceases Smith, her beneficiaries or her estate will continue to receive forty percent of the payments. (See DRO at 2-3.) However, if the Plaintiff dies after Smith, her interest in the Plan payments will cease at the end of the first sixty months, and no further payments would be tendered to her beneficiaries. (Id. at 3.) The Fund responded by letter dated December 5, 2016, that the modified DRO was not qualified because it conflicted with the terms of the Plan.

Through counsel, the Plaintiff appealed the Fund's decision on January 31, 2017, including the Fund's decision to segregate the Plaintiff's forty-percent entitlement. The Fund responded on February 3, 2017, maintaining its position that the November 2016 DRO was unqualified, denying the Plaintiff's request for an "expedited appeal," and inquiring whether the Plaintiff would like her appeal heard at the upcoming Trustees' meeting on March 14, 2017. The Plaintiff did not respond prior to March 14, 2017, and her appeal therefore was not heard on that date. Instead, the Plaintiff's appeal was heard at the Trustees' meeting on May 11, 2017, and, after consideration, the Trustees, as Plan administrators, *655denied the Plaintiff's appeal. Along with a denial letter explaining their decision, the Trustees advised the Plaintiff of her right to file a lawsuit under § 502(a) of ERISA.

On August 3, 2017, the Plaintiff filed her claim against the Fund requesting "equitable relief" in the form of damages as well as asserting a claim for conversion in violation of Indiana Administrative Code (IAC) § 34-24-3-1. With leave of Court, the Plaintiff amended her Complaint on March 27, 2018. In her Amended Complaint, the Plaintiff alleges violations of § 502(a)(1)(B) of ERISA and IAC § 34-24-3-1.

In its Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record,1 the Fund argues that the Court must review the Trustees' decision under an "arbitrary and capricious" standard and therefore may review only the record that was before the Trustees. Thus, the Fund argues, because the Administrative Record has been made of record in this case, judgment is appropriate as to the Plaintiff's ERISA claim. The Fund also argues that the Court should dismiss the Plaintiff's conversion claim because it is preempted by ERISA.

ANALYSIS

A. Motion to Transfer Case

The Court turns first to the Fund's Motion to Transfer Case to the Southern District of Ohio on the basis of forum non conveniens. The Plaintiff may demonstrate proper venue under ERISA's venue provision, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(2), or under the federal venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b). See Varsic v. U.S. Dist. Court for Cent. Dist. of Cal.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
329 F. Supp. 3d 647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-iron-workers-dist-council-of-s-ohio-vicinity-pension-trust-innd-2018.