Lee v. Dayton Power and Light Co.

• Decision Date: 11 March 1985
• Docket Number: No. C-3-81-324.,C-3-81-324.
• Citation: 604 F. Supp. 987
• Parties: William P. LEE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. The DAYTON POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

604 F. Supp. 987

William P. LEE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. The DAYTON POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY, et al., Defendants.

No. C-3-81-324.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, W.D.

March 11, 1985.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mike Fain, Dayton, Ohio, for plaintiff.

Gordon H. Savage, Dayton, Ohio, for defendant Dayton Power & Light.

Neil F. Freund, Dayton, Ohio, for defendant Unionmutual Stock Life Ins. Co.

DECISION AND ENTRY SUSTAINING IN PART AND OVERRULING IN PART COUNT I OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND COUNT I OF DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT; DECLARATORY JUDGMENT ENTERED AGAINST PLAINTIFFS AND IN FAVOR OF DEFENDANT D.P. & L.; COUNT III OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OVERRULED AND COUNT III OF DEFENDANT D.P. & L.'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SUSTAINED; RULING DEFERRED ON COUNT IV OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT; FURTHER PROCEDURES ORDERED

RICE, District Judge.

The captioned cause comes before this Court upon cross motions for summary judgment, filed pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In Count I of his Motion, Plaintiff William Lee seeks an entry of summary judgment against both Defendants, Dayton Power and Light Company (D.P. & L.) and Unionmutual Stock Life Insurance Company (Unionmutual), jointly and severally, in the amount of $38,355.90 to compensate him for the underpayment of long-term disability benefits (LTD) to him from September 16, 1980 until his retirement in December, 1988. Both Plaintiff William Lee and his wife R. Bernadette Lee seek, in Count II of their motion for summary judgment, an entry in their favor and against Defendants, D.P. & L. and James H. Yates, administrator of the Retirement Plan (Amended Complaint, Doc. # 18 at 21), adjudging, decreeing and declaring that:

(a) if Mr. Lee should retire on or after his sixty-second (62nd) birthday, his estimated monthly primary social security benefit to offset against his monthly normal retirement benefit will be, and will remain, $412.00, both for the purpose of determining his normal retirement benefit and for the purpose of determining Mrs. Lee's post-retirement surviving spouse's benefit, should she survive him;

(b) if Mr. Lee should retire before his sixty-second (62nd) birthday, his estimated monthly primary social security benefit to offset against his monthly normal retirement benefit will be, and will remain, $388.00, both for the purpose of determining his early retirement benefit and for the purpose of determining Mrs. Lee's post-retirement surviving spouse's benefit, should she survive him; and

(c) if Mr. Lee should die before his retirement, his estimated monthly primary social security benefit to offset against his monthly normal retirement benefit will be, and will remain, $388.00, for the purpose of determining Mrs. Lee's pre-retirement surviving spouse's benefit.

Plaintiff William Lee also seeks, in Count III, summary judgment in his favor and against Defendants, D.P. & L. and James H. Yates, both severally and jointly, in the amount of $17,000 as statutory damages, pursuant to 29 U.S.C.A. § 1132(c), for the administrator's failure to supply requested information. Additionally, both Plaintiffs seek, in Count IV of their motion, to recover their costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, pursuant to 29 U.S.C.A. § 1132(g) in an amount hereinafter to be determined by the Court (Doc. # 25 at 1-2).

Defendant Unionmutual, in opposition to Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, contends that Plaintiff William Lee's allegations concerning the underpayment of LTD benefits present genuine issues of material fact which preclude entering summary judgment in Plaintiff's favor (Doc. # 35 at 2). Unionmutual also asserts that it is entitled to an entry of summary judgment in its favor on the LTD claim, Count I of both Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and of Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint (Doc. # 18 at ¶ S1-18; Doc. # 34 at 1).

Defendant D.P. & L. moves for summary judgment in its favor with reference to Counts I and III of Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment. It also seeks declaratory judgment determining the amount of social security offset in the event of Plaintiff William Lee's death or early retirement prior to age 62 to be the rate of Social Security offset in effect on January 1 in the year of death or early retirement, the subject matter of Count II of Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and Amended Complaint (Doc. # 18 at ¶ 19-32; Doc. # 36 at 1-2).

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A review of the record, including supporting affidavits, reveals the following:

Plaintiff William Lee, born on November 14, 1923, became an employee of D.P. & L. on September 4, 1946 (Affidavit of William P. Lee, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 2). On February 9, 1969, while still in the employ of D.P. & L., Plaintiff William Lee sustained a heart attack (Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 4 and 31). As a result of his heart condition, Plaintiff William Lee became totally and permanently disabled on November 15, 1979 (Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 5). Before November 15, 1979, Plaintiff read about D.P. & L.'s disability and pension plan in a handbook entitled "Your Benefits at Dayton Power & Light" (Handbook) (Summary Plan Description) and in a booklet entitled "D.P. & L. Total Compensation Program" (Booklet). (Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 6 and 12).

A. LONG-TERM DISABILITY PROVISIONS

Plaintiff William Lee read in one portion of the Handbook that a disabled employee's social security disability benefits would be offset from the LTD benefits due the employee under the long-term disability plan. The Handbook described these offsets as "benefits received by you for yourself or dependents when eligible." In another paragraph, he read that the LTD plan provided for offsetting "social security benefits for yourself and dependents" (Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 7). Plaintiff William Lee avers that he understood the Handbook language to mean that any social security benefits he received for his minor dependents would be offsets under the LTD plan, "but that any social security benefits which might be received by others on account of his disability would not be so offset" (Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 8). Plaintiff William Lee further alleges that "although his adult daughters have received social security benefits on account of his disability, he has never received any portion of those benefits, has no control over their disposition, and has no legally enforceable obligation to provide support to any of his children, all of whom are the age of eighteen and older" (Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 9).

The original Unionmutual LTD policy provided inter alia that income benefits, payable to the insured employee's child or children for the same period of disability for which a monthly benefit is payable to the insured under the LTD policy, constitute offsets against the monthly benefit that otherwise would be payable to the insured employee (Doc. # 26, Attachment F, GP60-21C (LTD) 69-A). On April 18, 1980, Unionmutual issued Amendment # 4 to its disability insurance policy, the disability element of D.P. & L.'s employee benefit package. (Doc. # 26, Attachment G, GR3892 P-1). The Amendment, in direct contrast with the original policy (Doc. # 26, Attachment F, GP60-21C (LTD) 69-A), and retroactive to disabilities commencing on or after January 1, 1979, (Doc. # 26, Attachment G, GR3892 P-4), provided that "any income benefits for which the employee's spouse, child or children are eligible under the United States Social Security Act ... will not be considered as other income benefits" which reduce the monthly benefit payable under the policy (Doc. # 26, Exh. G at ¶ 6 and 7) (emphasis added).

On June 3, 1980, two employee benefits specialists from D.P. & L., Bruce Espy and Marie Nieffer, met with Plaintiff William Lee and explained to him that he could opt either to retire, thereby qualifying for retirement benefits, or receive LTD benefits (Supplemental Affidavit of Bruce Espy, Doc. # 39 at ¶ 3 and 4; Affidavit of Marie Nieffer, Doc. # 40 at ¶ 3-5). Bruce Espy avers that he explained, both in person and by follow-up memo, to Plaintiff William Lee that Lee's "payment would be offset by Social Security payments received by him and his dependents on behalf of his disability" (Espy Affidavit, Doc. # 39 at ¶ 3, and attached memo dated June 3, 1980). Plaintiff denies that any D.P. & L. employee told him about offsets from his LTD benefits for Social Security benefits received by his children (Second Supplemental Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 42 at ¶ 2 and 3).

On or about July 30, 1980, Plaintiff William Lee first received and read the Unionmutual Policy with Amendment # 4 attached (Supplemental Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 38 at ¶ 3). In response to Plaintiff William Lee's further inquiries, Elaine Mifflin, a Unionmutual disability benefit specialist, wrote to Plaintiff William Lee on August 13, 1980, and stated that the original policy language provided for offsetting the LTD monthly benefit by the amount of Social Security benefit Plaintiff William Lee and his children received and that the amount of this offset was the amount of Social Security benefits that Plaintiff William Lee and his daughters received as of September, 1980, the month in which LTD payments to Plaintiff William Lee commenced (Supplemental Espy Affidavit, Doc. # 39 at ¶ 5, attached letter dated August 13, 1980 to William Lee from Elaine Mifflin).¹

Plaintiff William Lee's entitlement to Social Security disability benefits commenced in May, 1980 in the amount of $505.20. Due to amendments in the Social Security Act, this monthly benefit increased to $577.50 in June, 1980. Each of Plaintiff's three adult daughters received Social Security benefits, due to their father's disability, in the amount of $126.00, payable for May, 1980. In June, 1980, this payment increased to $144.00 (Lee Affidavit, Doc. # 26 at ¶ 18, 32 and Exh. D).

After applying for LTD payments on June 3,...