Dall v. Chinet Co.
| Decision Date | 23 November 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. 97-48-P-C.,CIV. 97-48-P-C. |
| Citation | 33 F.Supp.2d 26 |
| Parties | Paul E. DALL, Plaintiff, v. THE CHINET COMPANY, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maine |
Jeffrey Neil Young, McTeague, Higbee, MacAdam, Case, Watson & Cohen, Topsham, ME, for Plaintiff.
William J. Kayatta, Jr., Pierce Atwood, Portland, ME, for Defendants.
Plaintiff Paul E. Dall, a former employee at The Chinet Company, has moved pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 for summary judgment on Counts V and VI of his Second Amended Complaint. Defendants Chinet, The Chinet Company Salaried Employees' Retirement Plan, and Group Insurance for Employees of The Chinet Company1 have filed a cross motion for partial summary judgment on Count VI.2
The following undisputed material facts are taken from Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute ("Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts") and the exhibits attached thereto, Defendants' Statement of Material Facts In Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment ("Defendants' Statement of Material Facts"), and Plaintiff's Response to Defendants' Statement of Material Facts. The facts are largely not in dispute as they are documented in written communications between the parties. These communications are attached as exhibits to Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts.
Dall was formerly employed as a Manager of Materials and Product Technology at Keyes Fibre Company's (now Chinet's) Waterville manufacturing facility. Due to a corporate downsizing, Dall was terminated on May 6, 1994, at age fifty two after working for Chinet and participating in The Chinet Company Corporate Salaried Employee's Retirement Plan ("the Plan") for twenty-eight years. Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment at 1-2; Defendants' Statement of Material Facts (Docket No. 32) at ¶¶ 1-4.
In 1992, 1993, and 1994, Chinet amended its benefits plan to provide early retirement opportunities to designated employees as part of its corporate downsizing effort. In each year, the company offered increased medical benefits and gap payments to be paid until the retiring employee qualified for social security. Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts (Docket No. 22), Exhibit 21 ("the Amended Plan") at §§ 5.4, 5.5, 5.6. The 1992 benefits were originally offered to Waterville plant employees who were aged sixty and over and who had worked for the company for at least fifteen years. Id. § 5.4. According to the Amended Plan, however, these benefits ultimately were not limited to Waterville employees and were offered to all Chinet employees who qualified. Id. The 1993 and 1994 early retirement benefits were offered to employees aged fifty five and older who had worked for the company for fifteen years. Id. §§ 5.5, 5.6. The Plan was also amended in 1993 with a new retirement benefit formula. Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, Exhibit 3. Chinet employed Hewitt Associates to prepare summaries of the modifications made to the Plan in 1993. Defendants' Statement of Material Facts ¶ 11. These brochures are entitled, Your Retirement Benefits ... A Better Balance and the 1993 Early Retirement Window. Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, Exhibits 4, 7.
The first four counts of Plaintiff's Complaint in this action alleged that Chinet violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. ("the ADEA") and the Maine Human Rights Act, 5 M.R.S.A § 4572 et seq. ("the MHRA"), by offering enhanced early retirement benefits only to persons who were age fifty-five or older and otherwise qualified. Defendants' Statement of Material Facts ¶ 8. This Court affirmed the Recommended Decision of the Magistrate Judge granting Defendants' Motion to Dismiss all the age discrimination claims on October 6, 1997. Order Affirming the Recommended Decision of the Magistrate Judge (Docket No. 11).
The remaining two claims — Counts V and VI — allege violations of ERISA's disclosure requirements and fiduciary obligations.3 These are the substance of Counts V and VI. According to the record, Dall made several requests, starting in 1993, for modifications that were made to the Plan in years 1992 1993, and 1994. In early 1993, Dall wrote Chinet requesting copies of "all plan documents filed with the U.S. Department of Labor." Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, Exhibit 1. In response, Chinet supplied Dall with a copy of the Plan effective January 1, 1987 (the "1987 Plan"). Id. ¶ 2, Exhibit 2; Defendants' Statement of Material Facts ¶ 9(a). Chinet did not enclose summaries of any modifications made to the plan since 1987. Id.
On April 6, 1993, Chinet informed all employees, including Dall, that its board of directors had approved a number of amendments to the Plan and that all employees would soon be receiving information about the changes. Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, Exhibit 3. As promised, Chinet distributed to all employees a second letter describing changes made to the Plan that would become effective on June 1, 1993. Id. at Exhibit 4. Chinet explained that the 1993 amendments were described in the enclosed brochure, Your Retirement Benefits ... A Better Balance. Id. It is undisputed that Dall received a copy of this brochure. Id. ¶ 5; Defendants' Statement of Material Facts (Docket No. 37) ¶ 13.
Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, Exhibit 3. Furthermore, the Your Retirement Benfits ... A Better Balance brochure, which all employees received, notes on the front page that for those employees eligible to retire in 1993, "the company is offering a unique retirement opportunity." Id. at Exhibit 5. Hence, this Court finds that Chinet informed its employees of the existence of the 1993 early retirement opportunity and told them that they would receive more information if eligible. It is further undisputed that Chinet distributed information regarding the 1993 early retirement plan to the eligible employees later that month. Id. ¶ 7. Dall was not an eligible employee.
After receiving the Your Retirement Benefits ...A Better Balance brochure in May, Dall requested in writing what he termed the "Retirement Plan Amendment Report." Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, Exhibits 8, 9, 10. Dall did not specifically request information regarding the amendments made to the Plan in particular years, despite the fact that the April 6, 1993, letter from Chinet advised him of the existence of particular amendments made in 1993. Id. In response to his inquiry, Chinet informed Dall, first by phone and then by mail, that such a report did not exist and that there was no requirement for the plan administrator to file such a report with the Department of Labor. Id. at Exhibit 10. Chinet explicitly told Dall that the brochure, Your Retirement Benefits ... A Better Balance, which Dall had already received, was the summary of material modifications required by the Department of Labor to be distributed to employees. Id.
Dall made no further requests until almost a year later when, on April 14, 1994, after Dall's employment was terminated, Dall wrote Chinet and complained that he still had not been provided with updated information that included modifications to the Plan adopted in 1993. Id. at Exhibit 12. Dall also inquired whether a rumor that pension plan money had been transferred to a medical benefits account was true. Id. Chinet promptly informed Dall that no such transfer had occurred or had ever been contemplated. Id. at Exhibit 13. Dall wrote Chinet three more times. He requested the latest annual report, a plan description, and a summary plan description, and expressed his concern that he never received the "summary description of material modifications" that he had requested back in 1993. Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, Exhibits 15, 17, 19. Its tone growing more impatient, Chinet informed Dall that he was already in possession of the 1993 revisions to the Plan; they were summarized in the brochures, Your Retirement Benefits ... A Better Balance brochure and 1993 Early Retirement Window. Id. at Exhibit 16. Chinet sent Dall copies of both brochures on February 2, 1995, and again on March 21, 1995. Id. at Exhibits 16, 19. Finally, on April 6, 1995, Chinet sent Dall a copy of the Amended Plan. Id. at Exhibit 21.
Summary judgment is appropriate when the record shows there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Once the moving party has come forward identifying those portions of "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any" which "it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact," the adverse party can avoid summary judgment only by providing properly supported evidence of disputed material facts that would require trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2551-52, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
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