Preite v. Charles of the Ritz Group Pension Plan

• Decision Date: 19 September 2006
• Docket Number: No. 3:05-cv-106-J-32MMH.,3:05-cv-106-J-32MMH.
• Citation: 471 F.Supp.2d 1271
• Parties: Robert N. PREITE, Plaintiff, v. CHARLES OF THE RITZ GROUP, LTD. PENSION PLAN and YSL Beaute, Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

471 F.Supp.2d 1271

Robert N. PREITE, Plaintiff, v. CHARLES OF THE RITZ GROUP, LTD. PENSION PLAN and YSL Beaute, Inc., Defendants.

No. 3:05-cv-106-J-32MMH.

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Jacksonville Division.

September 19, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Robert J. Winicki, Winicki Law Firm, P.A., Jacksonville, FL, for Plaintiff.

Robert C. Graham, Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, Jacksonville, FL, for. Defendants.

ORDER¹

CORRIGAN, District Judge.

This case involves a claim for retirement benefits brought pursuant to the Employment Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"). Before the Court are cross motions for summary judgment: Plaintiff Robert N. Preite's ("Preite") Second Amended Motion for Summary Judgment Against Defendant, YSL Beaute, Inc. (Doc. 39), and Defendant YSL Beaute, Inc.'s ("YSL Beaute") Motion for Summary Final Judgment. (Doc. 43.)² The parties filed responses in opposition to the cross motions, (Docs.44, 45), and record evidence in the form of answers to interrogatories, affidavits, depositions, and exhibits thereto. (Docs.11-2, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 14, 18.) The Court heard argument on June 28, 2006.

I. FACTS

A. The Underlying Facts

This case is unusual inasmuch as the Court is not presented with an administrative record or with a decision of an ERISA plan administrator. The record evidence is sparse indeed.

Preite, who is currently age 67 (Doc. 11-3 at 15), was employed by Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd., a cosmetics company, from November 1958 through November 1979, for a total of twenty-one (21) years. (Does, 11-2 at 1, ¶ 3; 11-3 at 9, 18; 11-4 at 21.) Preite started with the company working in computers and ultimately was promoted to the position of customer services director. (Doc. 11-3 at 6.) He was terminated from his job when the company "down-sized." (Doc. 11-3 at 6.) Preite was a participant in the Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd. Pension Plan ("Plan"). (Doc. 11-2 at 1, ¶ 4.)

After he left Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd., Preite received two documents (Doc. 11-3 at 17-19): a letter dated September 3, 1980 from Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd. Benefits Administrator Danielle A. Gaherty (Does. 11-3 at 19; 11-4 at 21), and a letter dated October 19, 1983, from Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd. Benefits Specialist Allison Nadler. (Doc. 11-4 at 20.)

The September 1980 letter from the Plan benefits administrator stated that based on to Preite's termination from Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd. effective November 15, 1979, "the following represents an estimate of your future vested benefit entitlement from the Squibb Corporation Pension Plan"³ payable each month following Preite's 65th birthday, effective June 1, 2004, in the amount of $505.70 a month. (Doc. 11-4 at 21.) Similarly, the October 19, 1980 letter from the Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd. benefits specialist stated:

Pursuant to your termination from Charles of the Ritz Group, effective November 15, 1979, you are entitled to a future vested benefit. This future vested benefit entitlement from the Squibb Corporation Pension, Plan is $505.70, which is payable on the first month following your 65th birthday (June 1, 2004).

(Doc. 11-2 at 6.) Ms. Nadler included her phone number where Preite could call if he had any questions. (Id.)

On August 9, 1988, Yves Saint Laurent Parfum Corporation, the Plan Sponsor at that time, terminated the Plan. (Doc. 11-2 at 8, 11.) In connection with that termination, Preite received an "Election Form" giving him the option of receiving either a lump sum distribution in full settlement of his rights with respect to the Plan, or a deferred annuity contract with monthly payments beginning at age 65 (or reduced benefits at age 55). The deadline for making this election was October 15, 1988. The form did not show any amount of benefits due to Preite, or how they were calculated. Preite elected the lump sum distribution, and he and his wife both signed the form on October 13, 1988, and sent it back, according to Preite, either "to Charles of the Ritz or Squibb." (Docs. 11-3 at 19-22; 11-4 at 22.)

While he has no specific recollection, Preite acknowledged that the Election Form may have come to him with a cover letter. (Doc. 11-3 at 20-21, 29; see also 11-5 at 10.) The purported undated cover letter,⁴ written on Yves Saint Laurent Parfums Corp. stationary and from the "Corporate Benefits Committee," was addressed to "All Former Employees of Yves Saint Laurent Parfums Corp. with a Deferred Vested Pension Benefit under the Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd. Pension Plan," regarding "Your Retirement Benefits." (Doc. 11-4 at 23.) The cover letter stated that "The Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd. Pension Plan has been terminated by Yves Saint Laurent. Parfums Corp . . . on August 9, 1988." Noting that the letter recipients were fully vested, the cover letter said:

The Plan trustee will be directed to purchase an insurance annuity for you to provide the full amount of your accrued benefit under the Plan through August 9, 1988, or you may elect to receive a lump-sum payment.

(Doc. 11-4 at 23.) The annuity purchase was not to occur "until at least next November." (Id.) According to the cover letter, attached was a "notice of benefit commitments which the Company is required by law to give you" with an estimated dollar amount of benefits.⁵ Also attached to the exhibit was a blank Election Form, similar to the Election Form signed by Preite and his wife, to be completed and returned to Yves Saint Laurant Parfums Corp. by October 15, 1988. (Doc. 11-4 at 25.) Questions were directed to the vice president of human resources for Yves Saint Laurent Parfums Corp. with a phone number provided. (Doc. 11-4 at 23.)

Preite testified in his deposition that he never heard anything back from any company or pension plan after submitting his signed Election Form in October 1988. His wife, who in 1988 was employed by Yves Saint Laurant Parfum Corp. (which had purchased Charles of the Ritz, (Doc. 11-5 at 12-13)), and was a partially vested participant in the Plan who had elected the lump-sum payment, did receive her check. (Does. 11-3 at 24-27; 11-4 at 28; 11-5 at 10.) Preite said that this prompted him to call "Squibb, Charles of the Ritz" and that a woman on the line told him that because of his status of having left the company, he was not entitled to make an election and "[y]ou will get your pension when you reach 65." (Doc. 11-3 at 23.) Preite said he was told that because he was already vested in the Plan, "it could not be changed. It was already sealed. I guess, locked in and sealed." Preite said the woman told him "when you reach 65 call Squibb and you can claim your pension." (Doc. 11-3 at 25, 30.)

Preite testified that a year later, in 1989 or early 1990, having heard and received nothing regarding his pension, he called the Human Resources department at Squibb. Again, Preite said he was told by a woman he would be receiving the $505 exact amount upon turning age 65, and that the amount was "locked in." (Doc. 11-3 at 30-32.)

Preite said that the 1989-90 phone calls were the last communications he received concerning his pension, and that the only proof he has that he was entitled to a pension is the two letters he received in 1980 and 1983. (Does. 11-3 at 26, 31; 11-4 at 20, 21.) Preite testified that he has never been paid any pension benefits, either as a lump-sum settlement, a monthly benefit, or an annuity contract from the Plan. (Doc. 11-2 at 3, ¶ 10.) Preite's testimony is corroborated by his wife, who testified that Preite never received a lump sum payment from the Plan or any other benefits, and by the couple's tax return which reflects Preite's wife's lump sum pension payment, but not his. (Does. 11-3 at 27-29; 11-4 at 28; 11-5 at 12, 19, 21; 11-6 at 1.)

Preite seeks a $505.70 monthly pension benefit, commencing on June 1, 2004, the day after his 65th birthday.

B. Corporate Transactions

According to YSL Beaute and related entities, a number of corporate transactions took place since 1988 which affected the Plan, and have resulted in the loss of Plan documents. (Doc. 11-4 at. 31.) Though these subsequent corporate transactions are not documented in the record, counsel for defendant YSL Beaute through counsel conceded at oral argument that YSL Beaute is indeed the corporate successor to Yves Saint Laurent Parfums Corporation, the Plan administrator and sponsor at the time of termination of the Plan on August 9, 1988. (See also Docs. 11-2 at 8, 11; 18-2 at 2, ¶¶ 2,4; 43 at 3, ¶ 8; 45 at 2.)⁶

C. Recent Events

On May 30, 2004, Preite turned 65 years of age. (Doc. 11-2 at 1, ¶ 5.) Preite testified that as he approached retirement age, he called the Squibb human resources department in Princeton, New Jersey, as the October 19, 1983 letter directed. (Does. 11-3 at 32; 11-4 at 1, 20.) "[T]hey told me that the pension was sold to. Sanofi and gave me the telephone number to call. I then called Sanofi and they, told me to call — it was then sold again to Gucci. And then [when] I called Gucci, I got Michele Cordes." (Does. 11-3 at 32; 11-4 at 30.)

On October 28, 2004, Cordes, with the Human Resources Department at Gucci America, Inc, wrote to Preite that he had elected on October 13, 1988, to take a lump sum settlement upon termination of the Plan, and that Gucci had "uncovered no evidence to indicate that the lump sum distribution which you elected has not already been satisfied in full accordance with your duly filed election." (Doc. 11-2 at 8.) Gucci America, Inc. ("Gucci"), through Cordes, informed Preite that because of the passage of time, and the number of corporate transactions that had transpired, "we are unable to provide you with any additional information with respect to your Plan." (Doc. 11-2 at 8.)

On November 22, 2004, Preite's counsel wrote to Cordes at Gucci requesting the plan documents on the Plan, including the latest updated summary plan description,...