Alford v. Kimberly-Clark Tissue Co.
| Decision Date | 09 July 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. A. 95-0259-RV-M.,CIV. A. 95-0259-RV-M. |
| Citation | 14 F.Supp.2d 1290 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
| Parties | Elaine ALFORD, et al., Plaintiffs, v. KIMBERLY-CLARK TISSUE COMPANY,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> Defendant. |
Richard A. Meelheim, Christa Meelheim, Birmingham, AL, James P. Rea, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiffs.
Kirk C. Shaw, Mobile, AL, Steven R. Wall, Erin F. Mulhollen, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendant.
This matter is before the court on defendant's "Motion for Partial Summary Judgment Regarding Plan Termination" (Doc. 71) which was filed after the close of limited discovery in accordance with Magistrate Judge Bert W. Milling's May 21, 1997 Order (Doc 53). Along with its motion, defendant filed a supporting brief (Doc. 72) and "Suggested Determinations of Undisputed Fact and Conclusions of Law" pursuant to Local Rule 7.2. Plaintiff has since filed a response in opposition to defendant's motion (Doc. 77), and defendant has filed a reply brief (Doc. 78). Both parties have supplemented their arguments with evidentiary submissions.
The Complaint in this action raises claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634 (1994). The issues in this case, however, have deviated far from those original age discrimination claims, into questions of meaningful waiver, and further into the issues of welfare benefit plan termination that are now presented before the court under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461. Because the ERISA issues now before the court are not typically implicated in an ADEA case, the court finds it necessary to provide some discussion of the history of this action.
On March 29, 1995, plaintiffs filed their Complaint in this court, initiating this action and setting forth their claims of discrimination on the basis of age. Specifically, plaintiffs alleged that their jobs were selected for termination by the defendant, their former employer, based on the plaintiffs' respective ages at the time of termination.
Soon after this action was instituted, defendants filed their Answer and a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, both of which alleged that the separation agreements signed by nearly all of the plaintiffs at the time of termination contained effective releases which preclude plaintiffs' ability to maintain this action. Plaintiffs responded to defendant's summary judgment motion by contesting the validity of the releases they signed upon termination. In opposing the effect of these releases, plaintiffs argued that the releases did not satisfy the statutory requirement that all waivers or releases of ADEA claims be "knowing and voluntary." 29 U.S.C. § 626(f)(1). Specifically, plaintiffs argued that the releases they signed were invalid because they were executed in exchange for severance benefits to which plaintiffs were already entitled under a long-standing employee welfare benefit plan, and that, therefore, the releases lacked adequate consideration. Cf. 29 U.S.C. § 626(f)(1)(D) ().
On July 6, 1995, this court issued an Order denying defendant's motion for partial summary judgment. In that Order, the court found that the releases signed by the plaintiffs' lacked consideration and, therefore, were ineffective waivers under the ADEA. On July 17, 1995, the defendant moved this court "to reconsider denial of the motion for partial summary judgment or, in the alternative, to certify the order denying partial summary judgment for interlocutory appeal." (Rec. on Appeal, Doc. 20 at 1). After affirming the July 6, 1995 Order on reconsideration, this court certified its decision in that Order for interlocutory appeal. Defendant's appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit was filed on September 1, 1995.
On February 12, 1997, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion reversing this court's Order and remanding for further findings. Specifically, the Eleventh Circuit remanded for the consideration of two issues: (1) whether, prior to plaintiffs signing the release forms, the defendant had terminated the severance benefit plan which provided the basis for this court's conclusion that the waivers lacked consideration; and (2) whether, despite a termination of the plan, the plaintiffs actually and reasonably relied on certain provisions of a 1986 Summary Plan Description when they signed the waiver forms.
On remand, this court entered an Order directing the parties to complete discovery on the sole issue of whether the waivers signed by the plaintiffs were supported by consideration—or, alternatively stated, whether, prior to plaintiffs signing the release forms, the defendant had effectively terminated the long-standing severance benefit and instituted a plan that required signed releases in exchange for severance benefits. The court further ordered the defendant to file a motion for summary judgment on the plan termination issue once this limited discovery was completed.
To permit a proper ruling on the question of whether the signed releases were supported by consideration, this court must determine whether the plaintiffs were already entitled to severance pay at the time the releases were executed. In deciding this question, the court must review certain issues relating to ERISA's requirements for employee welfare benefit plan terminations. Specifically, the court must determine whether, under ERISA, the defendant's actions in changing the requirements for severance pay constituted a valid and effective termination, modification, or an amendment of the employee welfare benefit plan that was previously in place.
Plaintiffs brought this suit alleging claims under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Accordingly, this court has original jurisdiction over the federal questions presented in this lawsuit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 & 1343(4).
Venue is appropriate in this judicial district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b).
Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). All evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, "and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in the nonmoving party's favor." Hoffman v. Allied Corp., 912 F.2d 1379, 1383 (11th Cir. 1990); see also Alphin v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 940 F.2d 1497, 1500 (11th Cir.1991); Langston v. ACT, 890 F.2d 380, 383 (11th Cir.1989). In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the function of the court is not to "weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is an issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 242-43, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
The standard for awarding summary judgment is the same as that for a directed verdict: "the trial judge must grant [the motion] if, under governing law, there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict." Morisky v. Broward County, 80 F.3d 445, 447 (11th Cir.1996); see also Hoffman, 912 F.2d at 1383 (). The moving party satisfies its burden on summary judgment by demonstrating a lack of evidence in the record to support an element of the of the nonmovant's case. See Weiss v. School Bd., 141 F.3d 990, 994 (11th Cir.1998). "Once the moving party demonstrates the absence of a genuine material fact, whether or not accompanied by affidavits or other proof, the nonmoving party must `go beyond the pleadings and by her own affidavits, or by the depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, designate specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Id. (quoting Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548). To avoid an adverse ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the nonmoving party must provide more than a mere scintilla of evidence. See Allen v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 121 F.3d 642, 646 (11th Cir.1997). Additionally, "[w]here the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no `genuine issue for trial.'" Matsushita Elec. Indus., Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (quoting First Nat'l Bank of Arizona v. Cities Serv., Co., 391 U.S. 253, 289, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968)).
The facts pertinent to the defendants' motion for summary judgment are mostly undisputed. Where there is any discrepancy in the record, the court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.
The present dispute stems from the 1994 downsizing efforts of Scott Paper2 at its facilities in Mobile, Alabama. During the month of August, 1994, Scott Paper reduced its work force at the Mobile facility from two thousand and ninety (2,090) employees to one thousand six hundred (1,600) employees. Further reductions apparently occurred over the next two months. During August, 1994, forty-two (42) of the forty-nine (49) plaintiffs in this action had their jobs involuntarily terminated.3 In September, 1994, plaintiff, Dian G. Washington, had her employment involuntarily terminated. In October of the same year, the six remaining plaintiffs were...
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