Anthony v. Ryder Truck Lines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 28 February 1979
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 76-3406.
• Parties: Stephen ANTHONY v. RYDER TRUCK LINES, INC., a corporation, and Byrns Motor Express, a Division of Ryder Truck Lines, Inc., and Lawrence E. Smith, Helen E. Smith, Robert F. Dermady and Alex Miller, Trustees, W. T. Byrns Motor Express, Inc., Pension Trust Fund.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

466 F. Supp. 1287

Stephen ANTHONY v. RYDER TRUCK LINES, INC., a corporation, and Byrns Motor Express, a Division of Ryder Truck Lines, Inc., and Lawrence E. Smith, Helen E. Smith, Robert F. Dermady and Alex Miller, Trustees, W. T. Byrns Motor Express, Inc., Pension Trust Fund.

Civ. A. No. 76-3406.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

February 28, 1979.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Dona S. Kahn, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.

Jan E. Dubois, Philadelphia, Pa., J. P. Jones, Jacksonville, Fla., for Ryder and Byrns.

Tom P. Monteverde, Philadelphia, Pa., for individual defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BECHTLE, District Judge.

Presently before the Court are the motions of plaintiff Stephen Anthony ("Anthony") and of defendants Ryder Truck Lines, Inc. ("Ryder"), Byrns Motor Express ("Byrns") and the trustees of the W. T. Byrns Motor Express, Inc., Pension Trust Fund ("trustees") for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The jurisdiction of this Court is based upon diversity of citizenship, 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a), and the amount in controversy is alleged to exceed $10,000, exclusive of interest and costs. For the reasons stated below, Anthony's motion will be denied and the motions of all of the defendants will be granted.

The record in this case reveals the following uncontroverted facts: In April of 1952, Anthony was hired as a salesman for Byrns. In 1959, Byrns instituted a voluntary pension plan for the benefit of its employees, including Anthony. All of the contributions to the pension fund were made by Byrns and not by the employees. The 1959 pension plan was subsequently disqualified by the Internal Revenue Service and a qualifying successor plan was adopted by Byrns in 1962. After the 1962 pension plan was adopted, Anthony and all other subscribing employees received a letter dated March 1, 1963, from Lawrence Smith ("Smith"), then a trustee of the Byrns Pension Trust Fund. This letter informed the employees of the dissolution of the 1959 pension plan and the formation of the 1962 pension plan. Attached to the letter was a release form which, when properly executed, would release the trustees of the Byrns Pension Trust Fund from all liability with regard to the termination of the 1959 pension plan. In addition, the executed releases would enable the trustees to transfer the assets in the 1959 pension plan fund into the new 1962 pension plan fund. Anthony executed this release and returned it to Byrns without making any inquiries. The trustee's letter made no reference to the topic of "credited service years," the figure which is used to determine an employee's benefits under the pension plan.¹

In 1970, Ryder acquired Byrns. Later, in September of that same year, Ryder mailed letters to all former Byrns employees, then employed by Ryder, informing them that the 1962 Byrns pension plan ("Byrns plan") would be incorporated into the existing Ryder pension plan ("Ryder plan"). This letter did make specific reference to the employee's credited service allowance under the Ryder plan.² In addition, at the bottom of the same letter were columns listing information concerning the specific addressee's birthdate; credited service as of December 31, 1969; annual benefits earned through December 31, 1969; cash value as of December, 1969; and, annual insurance premiums. The letter to Anthony had the date 1952 typed into the column entitled credited service. However, Byrns did not have a pension plan in 1952. Furthermore, no Byrns employee, for purposes of collecting pension benefits under the Ryder plan, has been credited with service time prior to 1962, when the second Byrns plan was effectuated. Along with the letter, Ryder sent all employees a booklet which summarized the provisions of the Ryder plan. The introduction of the summary booklet contained the following language:

However, if questions arise, or in the event of any conflict between this summary and the formal text of the plan, all decisions will be based on the formal text which will be controlling in all instances.

In 1974, Marjorie Kirk ("Kirk"), Ryder's Personnel Service Manager, prepared worksheets for all of the former Byrns employees now employed by Ryder which detailed the benefits of the Ryder plan that each employee was entitled to receive. Anthony received such a personalized worksheet which listed his credited service time beginning as of October 1, 1962. A letter accompanying the worksheet stated that an employee who had any questions should contact the Personnel Department.³ Anthony never contacted anyone at Ryder about the 1962 credited service date on his personalized worksheet nor about the fact that the worksheet incorrectly stated his birthdate. In June of 1975, Anthony was fired by Ryder for "lack of progress." At that time, Anthony was informed that he was not eligible for benefits under the Ryder plan because he did not have the requisite 15 years of credited service with the company.⁴ Anthony did, however, receive a check from Ryder for $6,510.82, which represented his interest under the 1962 Byrns plan and which was payable to him in a lump sum by virtue of Article IX of the plan, as incorporated into the Ryder plan.

Count one of Anthony's complaint alleges that Ryder discriminated against him on the basis of age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., by terminating him in June of 1975. In accordance with a stipulation agreement filed February 13, 1978, Anthony's age discrimination claim was dismissed with prejudice. In count two, Anthony alleges that in 1962 the trustees of the Byrns pension fund breached their fiduciary duty to him and that, as a result of this breach, he was denied his pension benefits under the Ryder plan. Anthony contends that the trustees breached their duty in 1962 by "misleading" him into believing that his "rights" under the 1959 pension plan would not be forfeited under the 1962 pension plan when, in fact, he was not credited with service years from 1959 to 1962. Count three alleges that Ryder and Byrns denied Anthony pension benefits under the Ryder plan, in violation of the provisions contained therein. More specifically, Anthony makes the following arguments in support of his motion for summary judgment: First, "as a matter of contract interpretation," the Ryder plan should be construed to include all prior pension plans of Byrns — namely, the 1959 and the 1962 plans — thereby giving him his needed 15 years of credited service. In support of this contract theory, Anthony argues that the Ryder plan, on its face, includes both Byrns plans. In the alternative, Anthony proposes that the terms of the Ryder plan are ambiguous and should, therefore, be interpreted against the drafter and in favor of the beneficiary. Second, Anthony argues that the defendants should be estopped to deny Anthony credited service back to 1952. Anthony bases his argument of estoppel on two grounds: (1) that the trustees breached their fiduciary duty to him by inducing him to release his rights under the 1959 plan and by failing to then credit him with the three work years between 1959 and 1962; and, (2) that the trustee's letter of 1963, Ryder's letter of 1970 and the summary booklet of the Ryder plan misled Anthony into believing that he had credited service years, for the purpose of recovering pension benefits, back to the inception of the 1959 pension plan and that, therefore, the defendants are now estopped to deny him the time worked between 1959 and 1962 as credited service years.

The trustees contend that Anthony is not entitled to any retirement benefits under the Ryder plan "as a matter of contract interpretation," since Anthony did not have 15 years of credited service as defined in the Ryder plan. Also, the trustees contend that Anthony, by his own testimony, was not misled by, and did not rely on, any representations made by the trustees as to the number of years of credited service which Anthony was entitled to under the Ryder plan, since the only communication from the trustees to Anthony was the Smith letter in 1963 which did not mention the phrase "credited service years." Ryder and Byrns also filed motions for summary judgment against Anthony. Both Ryder and Byrns claim that none of the communications relied on by Anthony — i. e., the 1963 Smith letter, the 1970 Ryder letter and the summary booklet — contradict the terms of the Ryder plan as set forth in the Master Plan on file at Ryder's main office. In any event, Anthony was informed in the introduction to the summary booklet that the Master Plan would control in case any inconsistencies were found. In response to Anthony's estoppel argument, Ryder and Byrns contend that it is clear from the undisputed facts of the case that Anthony did not rely to his detriment on the aforementioned communications.

To prevail upon a motion for summary judgment,⁵ the moving party must conclusively demonstrate to the Court's satisfaction that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Barron v. Honeywell, Inc., Micro Switch Div., 69 F.R.D. 390, 391 (E.D.Pa.1975). In ruling upon a motion for summary judgment, the Court must liberally construe the pleadings in favor of the party opposing the motion, and give the opposing party the benefit of any and all reasonable doubts and inferences in determining whether a genuine factual issue exists which should be preserved for trial. Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157 n. 15, 158-159, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); Barron v. Honeywell, Inc., Micro Switch Div., supra, 69 F.R.D. at 391-392. The party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue as to any material fact. Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., supra, 398 U.S. at 159-160, 90 S.Ct. 1598; Scooper Dooper, Inc. v. Kraftco Corp., 494 F.2d...