Jacobs v. Xerox Corp. Long Term Disability Income

• Decision Date: 15 October 2007
• Docket Number: No. 03 C 3549.,03 C 3549.
• Citation: 520 F.Supp.2d 1022
• Parties: David JACOBS, Plaintiff, v. XEROX CORPORATION LONG TERM DISABILITY INCOME PLAN, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

520 F.Supp.2d 1022

David JACOBS, Plaintiff, v. XEROX CORPORATION LONG TERM DISABILITY INCOME PLAN, Defendant.

No. 03 C 3549.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

October 15, 2007.

Mark D. Debofsky, Daley, Debofsky & Bryant, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Joseph J. Hasman, David F. Schmidt, Jennifer L. Noland, Chittenden, Murday & Novotny, LLC, Chicago, IL, Patricia A Winchell, Richard J. Pautler, Thompson Coburn, St. Louis, MO, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MARK FILIP, District Judge.

David Jacobs ("Jacobs" or "Plaintiff") brings this action against the Xerox Corporation Long Term Disability Income Plan ("Plan" or "Defendant") under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq. (D.E. 10 ("Second Amended Complaint").)¹ In an opinion dated January 19, 2005, the Court denied Plaintiff's summary judgment motion and granted Defendant's summary judgment motion as to Counts I and III of the complaint. (D.E. 58.)

The sole remaining count is Count II, in which Plaintiff alleges that he is entitled to civil statutory penalties because he was not provided, upon suitable request, with ERISA plan documents, pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1132(c). On June 10, 2005, the Court held an evidentiary hearing on Plaintiff's Section 1132(c) claim. (D.E. 73.) The parties tiled post-trial briefs, which the Court has reviewed along with the evidence presented at the hearing. For the reasons stated below, the Court finds for Defendant on the Section 1132(c) claim.

I. Facts²

The Court assumes familiarity with the account of the dispute set out at length in the prior opinion in the case. See Jacobs v. Xerox Long Term Disability Income Plan, 356 F.Supp.2d 877 (N.D.Ill.2005). Therefore, the Court relates only the facts necessary to decide Plaintiffs Section 1132(c) claim.

In this case, the Summary Plan Document ("SPD") contains an "Administrative Information" section at the end of the document, which specifically advises participants in the Plan of their right to "[o]btain copies of all plan documents and other plan information as required by ERISA upon written request to the Plan Administrator." (Def.Ex. A.(also, "SPD") at 144; Tr. at 30.)³ The SPD further provides that "the plan administrator for each ERISA governed welfare plan described in this book is Patricia M. Nazematz, Xerox Corporation, 800 Long Ridge Road, P.O. Box 1600, Stamford, Connecticut 06904, Telephone: 203-968-3000." (Def. Ex. A at 146; Tr. at 30-31.) Defendant has stated, and Plaintiff does not dispute, that Mr. Lawrence Becker subsequently became the Plan Administrator, and that his office location remained the same as Ms. Nazematz. (D.E. 76 at 3 n. 1.)

The SPD also states, in a separate section discussing eligibility for long-term disability benefits, that participants should "[a]sk .. [their] Human Resources representative for information." (Def. Ex. A at 97; Tr. at 34.)

On March 5, 2002, Plaintiff's former counsel, Mr. Dominick Faraci, wrote to Ms. Ellen Rogowski, a Human Resources Manager at Xerox; he addressed his letter to 400 South Executive Drive, Brookfield, Wisconsin, 53000 ("March 5, 2002 Letter"). (Pl.Ex. 1; Tr. at 12.) It is unclear where Mr. Faraci got the address to write to Ms. Rogowski. The address provided in the SPD for the Plan Administrator (Stamford, Connecticut) was not the address to which Mr. Faraci sent his letter (Brookfield, Wisconsin). (Def. Ex. A at 146.) On cross-examination at the evidentiary hearing, Defendant's counsel showed Mr. Faraci a copy of the SPD, and Mr. Faraci stated that he did not believe that he had ever seen the SPD before. (Tr. at 28-30.)⁴

In the March 5, 2002 Letter, Mr. Faraci provided some background facts about Mr. Jacobs's situation and requested that "your company please provide me with a complete explanation of what his [Mr. Jacobs's] disability benefits are at this time." (Pl.Ex. 1.) Mr. Faraci retained a copy of the March 5, 2002 Letter, and his copy has handwritten comments on it, apparently written by Mr. Faraci. (Id.) The handwritten comments suggest, and Mr. Faraci similarly surmised during his testimony (although he did not seem to have any specific recollection of the subject), that he spoke with Ms. Rogowski on March 18, and that she told him that "Hermina Glaser was the person to address my concerns to."⁵ (Tr. at 12; Pl.Ex. 1 (handwritten notation reading, "Ellen said she would talk to Hermina Glaser to call or send letter.").)

On March 12, 2002, Mr. Faraci received a letter from Ms. Hermina Glaser, a lawyer in the Office of General Counsel for Xerox Corporation, who had her office at Xerox Connect, Inc., 4270 Glendale-Milford Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242. (Pl.Ex. 2.) Ms. Glaser indicates in this correspondence that Ms. Rogowski sent her a copy of Mr. Faraci's March 5, 2002 letter. (Id.) Ms. Glaser's letter provides an explanation for why Mr. Jacobs was not eligible for long-term disability benefits (Id.) The evidence suggests that this letter was followed by a phone conversation on March 18, 2002, between Mr. Faraci and Ms. Glaser ("March 18, 2002 Conversation"), (Tr. at 15-46; Pl.Ex. 2; Pl.Ex. 3.)

On direct examination, Mr. Farad could not specifically recall the contents of the conversation. Instead, as evidenced below in his testimony, his recollection was drawn from statements he wrote about the March 18, 2002 Conversation in his subsequent letters to Ms. Glaser:

Q. Does showing you Plaintiff's Exhibit 3 refresh your recollection at all about any further contents of any conversation you may have had with Ms. Glaser on March 18, 2002?

A. No, just what's in the letter. I don't — it was some — I know there was discussions about documents, but I don't — I don't have any real clear recollection of what we talked about.

Q. Do you have any recollection of discussing with Ms. Glaser what her role or responsibility was with respect to the long-term disability?

A. Well, it was my understanding that she was going to provide the documents.

Q. And what was the basis of that understanding, if you had one?

A. Their own letter. They're the one that told me that. I mean, I was told by their representative that she was the person that would supply me with the material. And she is a lawyer. I would have no reason not to believe that.

Q. Did Ms. Glaser ever tell you that you needed to contact anybody else to get documents?

A. No. The only — like I said, the only note here on the 18th talks about — I really can't. She wants some — oh, I see. Maybe she wants some language, statutory language, or something. I'm not sure what that note says. But I didn't — I didn't address it in the March 26 letter. I just — this would be my recollection of what we talked about. So obviously there were other conversations, but I don't recall exactly what they were.

Q. Did Ms. Glaser make any representation to you about whether she would be able to provide you with any documents in relation to Mr. Jacobs applying for long-term disability?

A. Yeah, it's my understanding she was going to provide him. I mean, I sent her several follow-up letters asking her to do what she said she was going to do. But it never happened.

Q. What documents did you expect her to provide you with?

A. The plan documents, something that would explain his rights and benefits and so forth.

(Tr. at 15-17.)

On cross-examination, Defendant's counsel further explored the subject of the March 18, 2002 Conversation:

Q. Mr. Faraci, I believe you testified to one conversation with Hermina Glaser on March 18, at least that you can recall, is that correct?

A. Whatever I said, I don't recall if I said one or more. I am not sure. Whatever 1 said is what happened.

Q. Okay. Did she ever tell you that she was the plan administrator for the Xerox long-term disability plan?

A. I don't recall those words being used, but 1 assumed that I was dealing with the right person. That's all I can tell you.

Q. Did she make any representation to you about who the plan administrator was?

A. No, nobody ever told me that,

Q. No one ever told you who the plan administrator was?

A. No one ever told me that they were the wrong person.

Q. But no one ever — did you ever ask anyone who the plan

A. The letters — the name I got came from their company. And they told me that this was the person that would be supplying the documents. And it's a lawyer for the company, and I assumed that I was dealing with the right person. Nobody ever told me that I was not dealing with the right person. So that's all I can tell you.

Q. But she told you she would provide the documents. You thought you were going to get the documents from her, and that's who you pursued getting the documents from, is that correct?

A. Yeah.

Q. Okay. But you had no notion that she was the plan administrator or wasn't the plan administrator?

A. Of course I had a notion she was. Why would I be asking her for the documents if I thought she wasn't the right person? Certainly 1 had a notion that she was.

Q. What was the basis for that.

A. Well, either she is a representative of Xerox Corporation. I'm writing to — asking for documents. She is corresponding back to me. She is calling me. She's telling me she's going to give me these documents. I got to assume that either she is the plan administrator or she is the lawyer for the plan administrator. Or what am I doing? Talking to nobody? It doesn't make sense to assume that it's anything different than that.

Q. And yet on November 5 you wrote a letter requesting plan documents addressed to Brookfield and addressed to the attention of the administrator of Xerox's long-term —

A. Yes.

Q. — disability plan.

A. That's true.

Q. Okay. Did you have any reason to think that the administrator's offices were in Brook field?

A. I had no reason to think that they were not in Brookfield.

Q. Did you have any reason to think they were?

A. Yes, because people have been talking to me and...