This case involves a former Mars, Inc. employee who received repeated assurances and estimates from the company and its benefits committees that her monthly pension benefit under the Associate Retirement Plan would be approximately $5,365, leading her to elect benefits and make related financial decisions; after several months of payments at that rate, the defendants notified her of a calculation error due to a programming issue comparing benefits at different ages and reduced her benefit to about $2,200 per month. The plaintiff sued under ERISA and federal common law for breach of fiduciary duty, promissory estoppel, equitable estoppel, and denial of benefits. The court denied her motion to amend the complaint by dismissing two counts without prejudice and granted in part the defendants' motion to dismiss, dismissing all claims against Mars, Inc. and the appeals committee but allowing the estoppel claims against the benefits committee to proceed, on the basis that the complaint sufficiently alleged the required elements for estoppel in an ERISA pension context given the complexity of the actuarial calculations.
This case involves the Unencumbered Assets Trust (UAT), created in the bankruptcy of National Century Financial Enterprises, suing Credit Suisse for allegedly assisting the company's founders in misappropriating funds from subsidiaries NPF VI and NPF XII. The UAT also sought to avoid a $100 million pre-bankruptcy payment to Credit Suisse under the Bankruptcy Code. The court granted Credit Suisse's motion for summary judgment, holding that the civil claims were barred by the in pari delicto defense because the founders' misconduct was imputed to the debtors, and that the bankruptcy claims failed since the payment was on a fully secured debt and thus not avoidable as preferential or fraudulent. The reasoning centered on the undisputed control of the debtors by the founders who committed the fraud and the legal protections for payments on secured obligations.
This case involved a nursing center, Vrable IV, Inc., seeking to vacate an arbitration award issued in favor of a terminated employee represented by the SEIU union, while the union moved to confirm the award. The dispute arose under a collective bargaining agreement after the center fired a state-tested nursing assistant for alleged willful and wanton abuse of residents, which the arbitrator found did not constitute just cause for termination following a review of the evidence and definitions of abuse. The district court granted the union's motion for summary judgment and denied the center's, confirming the award with prejudgment interest but denying attorney fees. The core reasoning was that the arbitrator's decision was within the scope of authority granted by the CBA, which limited review to interpretation and application of its terms without permitting the court to substitute its judgment on the merits. The court applied standards for confirming labor arbitration awards under federal law.
The case concerned whether Credit Suisse could be held liable under Ohio's securities statute for its role as initial purchaser and seller of notes issued by National Century, an Ohio company that perpetrated a multi-billion-dollar fraud on investors. The Noteholders, institutional buyers mostly located outside Ohio, purchased the notes from Credit Suisse's New York office in transactions that closed in New York. The court held that applying Ohio Revised Code § 1707.43 to these sales would constitute an extraterritorial application of state law. It reasoned that the Commerce Clause prohibits a state from regulating commerce that occurs predominantly outside its borders, as the relevant contacts here were centered in New York rather than Ohio.
Lasmer Industries, a government contractor supplying HMMWV parts, sued AM General, Dayton T. Brown, and several DSCC officials after its 2005 debarment from federal contracting, alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation, tortious interference, deceptive practices, antitrust violations, civil conspiracy, a Bivens claim, and a § 1983 claim arising from the debarment process and related bidding on Army contracts. The defendants moved to dismiss or for judgment on the pleadings, and Lasmer sought leave to amend its complaint. The court granted the dismissal motions and denied amendment, holding that the tort, conspiracy, Bivens, and § 1983 claims were barred by the two-year statute of limitations that began running upon Lasmer’s placement on the Excluded Parties List in February 2005, while the fraud and antitrust claims failed to state a viable cause of action even under the proposed amended complaint.
business & regulatoryproceduretorts & liabilityfederal power
This case concerns a lawsuit by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its employee benefits committee, and a plan fiduciary against Wisconsin state officials, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief under ERISA. The dispute arose after a Wisconsin administrative ruling required Nationwide to allow substitution of short-term disability benefits from its ERISA-governed plan for unpaid leave under the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Act, which the plaintiffs argued was preempted by federal law. The court denied the defendants' motion to dismiss the amended complaint, holding that the plaintiffs had adequately stated ERISA preemption claims and rejecting arguments based on waiver, judicial estoppel, and procedural grounds.
