Thurman v. Pfizer, Inc.

Decision Date08 May 2007
Docket NumberNo. 06-1571.,06-1571.
Citation484 F.3d 855
PartiesDr. Dale THURMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PFIZER, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Thomas L. Kent, Green, Green, Adams & Kent, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellant. James E. Bayles, Jr., Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF:

Thomas L. Kent, Green, Green, Adams & Kent, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellant.

James E. Bayles, Jr., Sari M. Alamuddin, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellee.

Before: MARTIN, COLE, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Circuit Judge.

Dr. Dale Thurman filed suit against Pfizer, alleging that Pfizer misrepresented the monthly pension to which he would be entitled after five years of employment with the company. Thurman claims that these misrepresentations induced him to leave his prior job in order to work for Pfizer. Thurman initially sued in Michigan state court for rescission and to recover either expectation damages or reliance damages. After Pfizer removed the case to federal court, the district court dismissed the case, holding that Thurman's suit was preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., which does not provide the type of relief Thurman requested. We hold that the district court correctly ruled that Thurman's state-law claims were preempted to the extent that he requested expectation damages, which would require a calculation of plan benefits. However, we hold that the district court erred in its ruling with respect to Thurman's request for rescission of his participation in the plan and reliance damages in the form of benefits he relinquished by leaving his prior job. These aspects of his state-law claims were not related to the plan, and were thus not preempted. Therefore, we REVERSE the district court's dismissal of Thurman's state-law claims to the extent that they are not related to the plan, and REMAND for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

I.

On or about May 3, 2004, Pfizer hired Thurman as a Veterinary Pathologist. At the time of oral argument, he was still employed by Pfizer. Thurman alleges that during employment negotiations, the parties discussed the amount of Thurman's expected retirement benefits. According to his complaint, Pfizer's Recruiting Manager, Ruth Butts, orally informed Thurman that he would be eligible for full retirement at age 62 and would receive a monthly pension allowance of approximately $3,100 per month. In reliance on the benefits promised by Pfizer, Thurman left his former job in Ohio for the Pfizer position in Michigan. Shortly after he began working for Pfizer, Thurman was notified that the pension information he had received was incorrect. In fact, his monthly pension compensation would be approximately $816. After Thurman brought this issue to the attention of Pfizer, Human Resources told him in writing that "the incorrect benefit calculation that you were provided does not reflect a benefit to which you would be entitled based on your projected salary and years of service."1

On July 25, 2005, Thurman filed suit in Michigan state court alleging one count of fraudulent misrepresentation and one count of innocent misrepresentation. He claimed that but for the misrepresentations regarding his pension plan, he would not have resigned from his prior job, which offered higher annual compensation, stock options, and "other economic perquisites." Thurman's complaint requested relief "including, but not limited to amounts for loss of stock options, loss of salary, loss of benefits, moving expenses, and other consequential economic loss or in the alternative, to place Plaintiff in the position he would have been in had Defendant's representations been true by awarding Plaintiff damages representing the benefit of his bargain with Defendant." On August 1, 2005, Pfizer removed this action to federal district court based on diversity jurisdiction and federal question jurisdiction, and then moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). In support of its 12(b)(6) motion, Pfizer claimed that because Thurman's misrepresentation claims "related to" its ERISA-regulated Retirement Annuity Plan, they were preempted by ERISA. Pfizer noted that Thurman's suit (1) focused solely on misrepresentations concerning benefits in his pension plan; (2) requested rescission of his participation in the pension plan; and (3) requested damages representing the "benefit of his bargain" with Pfizer.

The district court granted Pfizer's motion to dismiss on October 25, 2005, holding that "the true nature of the issue underlying Plaintiff's misrepresentation claim involves benefits governed by an ERISA defined plan." The district court also noted that the fact that ERISA did not provide Thurman with his desired remedy did not prevent it from ruling that his claim was preempted. On November 3, 2005, Thurman filed a post-judgment motion pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) and Fed. R.Civ.P. 60(b)(6), requesting that the district court grant relief from the judgment or amend the judgment to allow Thurman to amend his complaint. Specifically, Thurman requested that the court allow him to strike the phrase "damages representing the benefit of his bargain" from his request for relief in his complaint, believing that this phrase "was the only basis upon which the Court dismissed the Complaint," and that without this request, "it is clear that Plaintiff's action is not one for plan benefits." Thurman claimed that once this was stricken from the complaint, the district court would have to deny Pfizer's Rule 12(b)(6) motion on the grounds that Thurman's action did not seek to recover plan benefits, and therefore, could not be preempted by ERISA. Thus, Thurman believed that his ability to obtain relief was simply being "hampered by the existence of a pleading technicality." The district court denied his motion, finding that even with his requested amendment, Thurman's claim would still relate to the pension plan, and that it was therefore preempted by ERISA.

Thurman appeals, arguing that we should reverse the district court's order granting Pfizer's motion to dismiss. Alternatively, he requests that we reverse the district court's denial of his motion to amend his complaint.

The sole question we must address in this appeal is whether Thurman's claims are preempted under ERISA. At this point, we pass no judgment as to whether his misrepresentation claims will ultimately succeed on the merits. As explained below, we hold that the portions of Thurman's state-law claims requesting reliance damages and rescission of his participation in the plan are not preempted by ERISA.2 Because our ruling is based on the language contained in Thurman's original complaint, we need not address the question of whether the district court abused its discretion in failing to allow Thurman to amend his complaint pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 59(e) and 60(b).

II.

We review de novo a district court's dismissal of a plaintiff's complaint for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Kottmyer v. Maas, 436 F.3d 684, 688 (6th Cir.2006). Dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) is warranted if the plaintiff's complaint "fail[s] to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Id. "[A] complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Id. (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). A district court considering a defendant's motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) must construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and accept the plaintiff's allegations as true. Id.

III.
A.

Thurman's complaint requests relief "including, but not limited to amounts for loss of stock options, loss of salary, loss of benefits, moving expenses, and other consequential economic loss or in the alternative, to place Plaintiff in the position he would have been in had Defendant's representations been true by awarding Plaintiff damages representing the benefit of his bargain with Defendant." (Emphasis added). In other words, Thurman originally requested reliance damages (the value of what he lost by transferring from his old job to Pfizer), or, in the alternative, expectation damages (the approximately $2,300/ month difference between the pension benefits Pfizer promised him and those to which he is actually entitled under the plan). On appeal, Thurman no longer seeks expectation damages.

i.

Pfizer contends that Thurman should have sued for a breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA, and that this suit is merely such an ERISA claim disguised as state-law misrepresentation claims. Title 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a), ERISA's civil-enforcement section, provides the following:

(a) Persons empowered to bring a civil action. A civil action may be brought—

(1) by a participant or beneficiary—

(A) for the relief provided for in subsection (c) of this section,3 or

(B) to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plan; . . .

Actions that could have been brought under § 1132, "where there is no other independent legal duty that is implicated by a defendant's actions," are completely preempted by § 1132. Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila, 542 U.S. 200, 210, 124 S.Ct. 2488, 159 L.Ed.2d 312 (2004). "[Section 1132] is relatively straightforward. If a participant or beneficiary believes that benefits promised to him under the terms of the plan are not provided, he can bring suit seeking provision of those benefits. A participant or beneficiary can also bring suit generically to `enforce his rights' under the plan, or to clarify any of his rights to...

To continue reading

Request your trial
216 cases
  • Dixon v. University of Toledo
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio
    • July 31, 2009
    ... ... Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 2200, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007); Thurman v. Pfizer, Inc., 484 F.3d 855, 859 (6th Cir.2007). To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule ... ...
  • Zelaya v. Hammer
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee
    • January 31, 2021
    ...most favorable to the plaintiff and assumes the veracity of all well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint. Thurman v. Pfizer, Inc. , 484 F.3d 855, 859 (6th Cir. 2007). This assumption of veracity, however, does not extend to bare assertions of legal conclusions, Iqbal , 556 U.S. at ......
  • Hca Health Servs. of Tenn., Inc. v. Bluecross Blueshield of Tenn., Inc.
    • United States
    • Tennessee Court of Appeals
    • June 9, 2016
    ...and all State laws insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan' governed by ERISA." Thurman v. Pfizer, Inc., 484 F.3d 855, 861 (6th Cir. 2007) (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a)). In Thurman the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals set forth three categories of state law ca......
  • Weaver v. the Prudential Ins. Co. of Am.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee
    • December 7, 2010
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT