Justia U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) complaint for failure to state claims for which relief can be granted. Plaintiffs challenged the conduct of twelve banks and their affiliates in the FX market from January 2003 through 2014. On de novo review, the court held that plaintiffs failed to state plausible ERISA claims because the facts alleged do not show that defendants exercised the control over Plan assets necessary to establish ERISA functional fiduciary status. Furthermore, the court found no abuse of discretion in the district court's denial of adjournment or leave to file a fourth amended complaint. View "Allen v. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit under Section 502(c)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1132(c)(1)(B), alleging that defendants failed to timely comply with her request for documents relating to her healthcare benefit plan. The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claim as time-barred. Because ERISA does not specify a statute of limitations for Section 502(c)(1) claims, the courts apply the state statute of limitations that is the nearest analogue. The court held that the most analogous statute of limitations in Connecticut was the one-year statute of limitations for actions to recover civil forfeitures. Applying the one-year limitation, the court held that plaintiff's claim was time-barred. View "Brown v. Rawlings Financial Services, LLC" on Justia Law

Morrone participates in a ʺdefined benefit planʺ offered by the Pension Fund. From 1970-1996, Morrone earned benefits under the Plan; in 1997, he stopped working union jobs. Under the Plan, a participant is entitled to the accrual rates ʺin effect at the time [he] ultimately separates from Covered Employment.ʺ In 1994, the Plan was amended to allow a worker who took a hiatus to bridge the gap by working five years. In 1999, the Plan removed the Five Year Rule and reinstated the Parity Rule, under which a worker with a break in Covered Employment of two or more years could bridge that gap and reactivate pension credits earned pre-hiatus by working for at least as many years after the break as the length of the break. Morrone returned to Covered Employment in 2012 and requested an estimate of the benefits he would receive should he retire in 2017. The estimate applied the Parity Rule: Pension credits that he earned pre-hiatus were assigned the 1996 rate; those earned since 2012 were valued at the current rate. Because Morrone had taken a 15‐year hiatus and would have returned to Covered Employment for only six years as of 2017, he was not entitled to the current accrual rate for his pre-hiatus pension credits. Applying the Five Year Rule would give Morrone an extra $705 per month. The Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment, in favor of the Fund, finding that the 1999 Amendment did not decrease Morroneʹs accrued benefits in violation of ERISAʹs anti‐cutback rule, 29 U.S.C. 1054(g). The higher benefit accrual rates that Morrone demands are not a ʺretirement‐type subsidyʺ but would constitute his normal retirement benefit if he satisfied the conditions to receiving them: the Parity Rule. View "Morrone v. Pension Fund of Local Number One, I.A.T.S.E." on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, retired officers of Booz Allen, filed suit alleging that they were improperly denied compensation when, after their retirement, Booz Allen sold one of its divisions in the Carlyle Transaction. The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., claims on the ground that Booz Allen's stock-distribution program was not a pension plan within the meaning of ERISA, and denial as futile leave to amend to "augment" the ERISA claims with new allegations; affirmed the dismissal of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1961 et seq., claims on the ground that they were barred by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), 18 U.S.C. 1964(c); but vacated the district court's judgment to the extent it denied Plaintiff Kocourek leave to amend to add securities-fraud causes of action. The court remanded for the district court to consider his claims. View "Pasternack v. Shrader" on Justia Law

The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's award of equitable relief in this Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., action. The court rejected defendants' challenges to the district court's award of equitable relief under section 502(a)(3). The court held that the district court did not err in rejecting defendants' challenge to the timeliness of participants' claims; ordering class-wide relief on participants' section 404(a) claims without requiring individualized proof of detrimental reliance; and concluding that mistake, a prerequisite to the equitable remedy of reformation, had been shown by clear and convincing evidence as to all class members. Finally, the district court did not abuse its discretion by awarding equitable relief. View "Osberg v. Foot Locker, Inc." on Justia Law

Former employees of World Airways challenged the dismissal of their complaint seeking damages for fraud, breach of contract and violation of an employee benefit plan. The Second Circuit agreed with the district court that plaintiffs' state law claims arose under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), 45 U.S.C. 151 et seq., and were thus preempted. Because those claims bear a close resemblance to claims brought pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., the court found it appropriate to borrow and apply the three‐year statute of limitations set forth in Section 1113 of ERISA rather than the six‐month limitations period the district court borrowed from Section 10(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C.160(b). Accordingly, the court vacated the dismissal of the RLA claims and remanded for further consideration. The court affirmed in all other respects. View "Pruter v. Local 210’s Pension Trust Fund" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against Aetna and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, seeking reimbursement from Aetna for performing two knee surgeries on a patient who was a member of an Aetna-administered health care plan that was governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. The Second Circuit held that ERISA does not completely preempt an "out-of-network" health care provider's promissory-estoppel claim against a health insurer where the provider did not receive a valid assignment for payment under a health insurance plan and received an independent promise from the insurer that he would be paid for certain medical services provided to the insured. Accordingly, the court vacated the denial of plaintiff's motion to remand and the dismissal of his complaint. The Second Circuit remanded to the district court with instructions to remand to state court. View "McCulloch Orthopaedic Surgical Services v. Aetna" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, trustees of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., pension fund, filed suit against its investment manager and principals alleging that defendants knew by 1998 that investing with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) was imprudent; that these defendants breached their fiduciary duty by failing to warn the fund of this fact; that if warned, the fund would have withdrawn the full sum appearing on its 1998 BLMIS account statements; and that prudent alternative investment of that sum would have earned more than the fund’s actual net withdrawals from its BLMIS account between 1999 and 2008. Plaintiffs also filed suit against Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, which acquired the investment manager in 2000, alleging that it knowingly participated as a non‐fiduciary in the fiduciary breach. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) and for failure to allege an actual injury sufficient to establish Article III standing under Rule 12(b)(1). The court concluded that plaintiffs failed to allege facts sufficient to show Article III standing where plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged losses in excess of their profits; the increase in pension funds does not constitute a cognizable loss; the court rejected plaintiffs' claim of disgorgement of Simon and Wohl; and the complaint fails to state a claim against BNY Mellon for participation in a breach of fiduciary duty by Ivy, Simon, and Wohl. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Trustees of the Upstate New York Engineers Pension Fund v. Ivy Asset Management" on Justia Law

This case concerns employee benefits plans sponsored by AIG or its affiliates under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. At issue is whether the Plans are "affiliates" of AIG for the purposes of a class action settlement agreement. The district court held that appellants are "affiliates" of AIG and thus ineligible for their own portion of a class settlement agreement with AIG. The court held that appellants have standing to appeal the district court's denial of the motion to direct and dismissed appellants' appeal as to the denial of their motion to intervene as moot. On the merits, the court held that because ERISA imposes important statutory limits on an employer’s control over the management and policies of an employee benefit plan, those plans do not fall within the ordinary meaning of "affiliate." Therefore, the court concluded that appellants are entitled to their own portion of the settlement and appellees will have a somewhat smaller portion. The court vacated the denial of the Plans' motion to direct. View "In re AIG Securities Litig." on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, two individual psychiatrists and three professional associations of psychiatrists, filed suit against defendants, four health‐insurance companies, alleging that the health insurers’ reimbursement practices discriminate against patients with mental health and substance use disorders in violation of the Mental Health Parity and Addition Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA), 29 U.S.C. 1185(a), and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001-1461. The court concluded that, because the psychiatrists are not among those expressly authorized to sue, they lack a cause of action under ERISA. The court also concluded that the association plaintiffs lack constitutional standing to pursue their respective ERISA and MHPAEA claims because their members lack standing. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Am. Psychiatric Ass’n v. Anthem Health Plans, Inc." on Justia Law