Bouboulis v. Transport Workers Union
| Decision Date | 14 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 04-4244-CV(CON).,Docket No. 04-4241-CV(L). |
| Citation | 442 F.3d 55 |
| Parties | Nicholas BOUBOULIS, Eileen Bouboulis, Joseph Bracken, Bertha Bracken, Arnold Cherry, Joseph Continanzi, Jeannette Continanzi, Anthony Corona, Joann Corona, Vincent Curulli, Minnie Curulli, Dennis Gallen, Franca Gallen, Lawrence Henry, Dorothy Henry, John Higgins, Mary Higgins, William Keating, Mary Keating, Peter Lynch, Iris Lynch, John McGrath, Elizabeth McGrath, John Meehan, Sandra Meehan, John Mirrione, Marianne Mirrione, John Moscola, Gail Moscola, Francis O'Brien, Nicki O'Brien, Gustave Pelligrino, Barbara Pelligrino, Angelo Perilli, Beverly Perilli, Pedro Quinones, Mildred Quinones, Gil Rodriguez, Luz Maria Rodriguez, Darnell Rogers, Delphine Rogers, George Small, Anna Small, Charles Tompkinson, and Margaret Tompkinson, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, Transport Workers Union of Greater New York, Local 100, and Transport Workers Union of Greater New York Local 100 Staff Benefit Plan, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
George Schell, Schell & Schell, P.C., Fairport, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Daniel R. Bright, Kennedy, Schwartz & Cure, P.C., New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellee Transport Workers Union of Greater New York, Local 100.
Peter D. Dechiara, Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees Transport Workers Union of America and Transport Workers Union of Greater New York Local 100 Staff Benefit Plan.
Before: McLAUGHLIN, SACK, Circuit Judges; KOELTL, District Judge.*
In April 2002, the Transport Workers Union of Greater New York, Local 100 ("Local 100"), a local union affiliated with the Transport Workers Union of America ("TWU"), modified its employee benefit plan to stop providing health insurance benefits to Local 100 retirees if they received health insurance benefits elsewhere. In response, the plaintiffs, who are twenty-three retired staff employees of Local 100 (the "Retirees") and the wives of twenty-two of them (the "Wives"), sued Local 100, TWU, and the Transport Workers Union of Greater New York Local 100 Staff Benefit Plan (the "Plan") in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs alleged claims based on denial of benefits and breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1000-1461, as well as promissory and equitable estoppel claims.
The plaintiffs now appeal from two orders of the district court (Shira A. Scheindlin, J.), which together dismissed all the claims. The district court's July 7, 2004 Opinion and Order partially granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the ERISA and equitable estoppel claims, but retained the promissory estoppel claims of seven of the Retirees and their respective Wives alleged against Local 100. Bouboulis v. Transportation Workers Union of Greater New York, Local 100, 2004 WL 1555129 (S.D.N.Y. July 9, 2004). In an Order dated July 14, 2004, the district court on its own initiative dismissed the remaining promissory estoppel claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. On appeal, the plaintiffs contend that granting summary judgment was improper because there was an ambiguity in the Plan's Summary Plan Description ("SPD") when it is read in conjunction with an April 17, 1989 letter from the former Local 100 President Sonny Hall (the "Hall Letter"), as to whether there was a contractually vested promise of lifetime health insurance benefits. The plaintiffs also argue on appeal that Local 100 and TWU were plan fiduciaries under ERISA who beached their fiduciary duties through misrepresentations and inaction. The plaintiffs have not appealed the dismissal of the promissory and equitable estoppel claims.
We conclude that summary judgment was inappropriate only with regard to the breach of fiduciary duty claim against Local 100 because Local 100 was a Plan fiduciary. We therefore vacate the district court's Order to the extent it dismissed that claim and remand the case to the district court.
Defendant TWU is a national union that represents transportation workers. Defendant Local 100 is a local union that represents employees of the New York City Transit Authority ("Transit Authority"), and is affiliated with TWU. Although Local 100 is governed by TWU's constitution, it is an autonomous union with its own bylaws, elected officers, employees, and revenue stream from membership dues. The defendant Plan is an employee benefits plan sponsored by TWU that provides health and life insurance coverage, in which Local 100 participates. Both Local 100 and TWU are listed as Plan Administrators in the Plan's SPD.
The plaintiff Retirees are twenty-three retired former staff employees of Local 100 who were enrolled in the Plan after leaving jobs at the Transit Authority. Many of the Retirees claim that they were told or promised by Local 100 officers or staff either before they were hired, upon being hired, when considering retirement, or at various other times during their employment, that they would have lifetime health insurance coverage under the Plan. All Retirees believed that they were guaranteed lifetime health coverage from the Plan, which was superior to the health benefits provided to Retirees as active and retired employees of the Transit Authority.
The terms of the Plan, as they existed from 1982 through 2000, are set out in two documents. The complete terms and conditions of the Plan are detailed in a Group Insurance Certificate. The terms of the Plan are also summarized in a 1982 summary plan description (the "SPD") that was distributed to Plan participants. A revised SPD took effect on January 1, 2001, but plaintiffs contend that their benefits vested under the original SPD, and that to the extent the revised SPD states that their benefits are not vested, it does not apply to them. The 1982 SPD contains no express reservation of the right to amend or terminate coverage under the Plan.
In the Hall Letter, then Local 100 president Sonny Hall announced a modification to the terms of the Plan. Under the SPD, when a participant died, his or her spouse's insurance coverage under the Plan continued for only one year after the participant's death. The Hall Letter announced that effective January 1, 1989, a surviving spouse of a participant who died would continue to be covered for the remainder of the spouse's life. In December 1999, Local 100 stopped providing free health insurance to its active employees, although it continued to provide coverage to its retirees. Also in 1999, various officers of Local 100 allegedly promised orally and in writing that retirees of Local 100 would continue to receive Plan coverage.
New leaders of Local 100 were elected in December 2000, and took office in January 2001. On April 16, 2002, Local 100 decided to terminate health insurance coverage for retirees who were entitled to receive health insurance from other employers. This decision became effective on or shortly after September 1, 2002. As active or retired employees of the Transit Authority, the plaintiff Retirees were entitled to health insurance at no cost through the Transit Authority, and as a result, they ceased to be covered under the Plan on September 1, 2002.
The plaintiff Retirees and their Wives filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which stated three Counts. Count One alleged an ERISA denial of benefits claim against all defendants for termination of coverage. Count Two alleged an ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claim against Local 100 and TWU for misrepresentations regarding the coverage. Count Three alleged promissory and equitable estoppel claims against Local 100 and TWU.1 The district court dismissed the ERISA and equitable estoppel claims in its July 7, 2004 Opinion and Order, and dismissed the remaining promissory estoppel claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction in its July 14, 2004 Order. This appeal followed.
This Court reviews a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. State Street Bank and Trust Co. v. Salovaara, 326 F.3d 130, 135 (2d Cir.2003). Summary judgment may not be granted unless "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). The substantive law governing the case will identify those facts that are material, and "[o]nly disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
As an initial matter, the defendants challenge this Court's appellate jurisdiction. The defendants argue that appellate jurisdiction is lacking because the plaintiffs appealed the district court's July 7, 2004 Opinion and Order, which did not dismiss all the claims in the case. While the plaintiffs submitted Notices of Interlocutory Appeal on August 2, 2004, appealing both the July 7 and July 14, 2004 Orders, the defendants argue that the appeal of the July 14, 2004 Order was abandoned, and that the present appeal is only from the July 7 ruling, which they argue is not an appealable final order. See West v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 167 F.3d 776, 781 (2d Cir.1999) (); Chapple v. Levinsky, 961 F.2d 372,...
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