Ward v. Maloney

• Decision Date: 23 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 1:05CV00424.,1:05CV00424.
• Citation: 386 F.Supp.2d 607
• Parties: Mark A. WARD, Plaintiff, v. Peter E. MALONEY, Plan Administrator, LIN Television Corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina

386 F.Supp.2d 607

Mark A. WARD, Plaintiff, v. Peter E. MALONEY, Plan Administrator, LIN Television Corporation, Defendant.

No. 1:05CV00424.

United States District Court, M.D. North Carolina.

August 23, 2005.

Mark A. Ward, Rural Hall, NC, pro se.

Robert K. Taylor, Partridge Snow & Hahn, LLP, Providence, RI, William M. Furr, Willcox & Savage, P.C., Norfolk, VA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

OSTEEN, District Judge.

Pro se Plaintiff Mark A. Ward brings this action against Defendant Peter E. Maloney, the plan administrator of the LIN Broadcasting Corporation Retirement Plan, a retirement plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq. Plaintiff, a Plan participant, claims Defendant failed to comply with Plaintiff's request for a summary of material modifications pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(4) and seeks a statutory penalty under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(c)(1). This matter is now before the court on the parties' cross motions for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth herein, Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment will be denied; Defendant's motion for summary judgment will be granted.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are undisputed by the parties.¹

Plaintiff Ward is a former employee of WAVY-TV, an affiliate of LIN Broadcasting Corporation ("LIN Broadcasting"). Plaintiff separated from WAVY-TV in 1993, but remains a participant in the LIN Broadcasting Corporation Retirement Plan (the "Plan"), of which Defendant is plan administrator.

Subsequent to his separation from WAVY-TV, Plaintiff made an inquiry to LIN Broadcasting about his work-related benefits. In response, Plaintiff received a letter from Lynn Langelier, an executive assistant with LIN Broadcasting, dated September 5, 2001 ("Langelier Letter"). Therein, Ms. Langelier, after summarizing Plaintiff's potential benefits, wrote as to the Plan's disability benefits, "For your information, the committee is considering an amendment to the plan that would limit disabilities to employees actively working for the company at the time of the disability." (Pl.'s Reply Mem. Law Supp. Mot. Summ. J. & Opp'n Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. A.)

In January 2002, Plaintiff applied for disability benefits under the Plan, asserting he had become totally disabled in 1997. On January 22, 2002, after reviewing Plaintiff's supporting evidence, Defendant denied Plaintiff's claim for disability benefits because, among other reasons, Plaintiff's medical records did not support a determination that Plaintiff was unable to work at any occupation or was permanently disabled. Plaintiff then filed a lawsuit challenging Defendant's decision pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B) ("Ward I"). On June 14, 2004, this court entered summary judgment in favor of Defendant in Ward I, holding that Defendant did not abuse his discretion in denying Plaintiff's application for benefits. See Ward v. Maloney, No. 1:02-CV-00467, 2004 WL 1345089, at *3 (M.D.N.C. June 14, 2004).

On November 26, 2004, Plaintiff mailed a letter to Defendant requesting, "Pursuant to the ERISA Act, Section 104, ... a copy of the SUMMARY OF MATERIAL MODIFICATIONS notifying Plan Participants of an amendment to the plan that limit disability retirement benefits to employees actively working for the company at the time of disability." (Mem. Law Supp. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. A.) Defendant's counsel responded to Plaintiff on December 23, 2004, enclosing copies of the most recent summary plan description and the summary plan description in effect at the time Plaintiff's employment ended in November 1993, and explaining:

At all pertinent times, the Retirement Plan has limited disability retirement benefits to participants in the Retirement Plan who become disabled before terminating their employment with LIN Television Corporation. Because of your lawsuit claiming benefits for an alleged disability that occurred after your termination of employment, the Retirement Plan was clarified effective January 1, 2002 to specify that disability benefits would be limited to participants who retire from "active" employment due to disability. The addition of the term "active" was a clarification of the Retirement Plan's disability provisions and was intended to recast the language of the Plan into an even clearer "plain English" description. This change was not a material modification to the Retirement Plan. Thus, no summary of material modifications relating to this change has been distributed.

(Id. Ex. B.)

Plaintiff was unsatisfied with the explanation and sought the assistance of the United States Department of Labor ("DOL"). In early January 2005, a DOL representative called counsel for Defendant and requested "a copy of the amendment to the plan effective January 1, 2002, which according to [ ] his December 23, 2004 letter to [Plaintiff] clarified the plan rule that disability benefits are limited to participants who retire from `active' employment due to disability." (Id. Ex. E.) In response to the DOL request, defense counsel sent Plaintiff a copy of the January 1, 2002 Restatement of LIN Television Corporation's Retirement Plan. (Id. Ex. F.) The restatement sent to Plaintiff was unexecuted, lacking a signature of the Plan administrator and an execution date. After Plaintiff received the unexecuted document, he recontacted the DOL, who on or about February 10, 2005, requested an executed copy of the January 1, 2002 Restatement from Defendant. (Id. Ex. H.) When Plaintiff did not receive the executed copy by March 8, 2005, the DOL made a second request. (Id. Ex. I.) No executed copy was ever sent by Defendant.

Plaintiff then brought suit in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Therein, he alleged he had never received documents responsive to his request and Defendant was engaged in a continuing violation of his obligations under ERISA. Upon Defendant's motion to change venue, the case was transferred to this court. Now pending before this court are the parties' cross motions for summary judgment.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is appropriate when an examination of the pleadings, affidavits, and other proper discovery materials before the court demonstrates that there is no genuine issue of material fact, thus entitling the moving party to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The basic question in a summary judgment inquiry is whether the evidence "is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Summary judgment should be granted unless a reasonable jury could return a verdict in favor of the nonmovant on the evidence presented. McLean v. Patten Cmties., Inc., 332 F.3d 714, 719 (4th Cir.2003) (citing Anderson, 477 U.S. at 247-48, 106 S.Ct. at 2509-10). A court "must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party and may not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence." Williams v. Staples, Inc., 372 F.3d 662, 667 (4th Cir.2004) (citing Thompson v. Aluminum Co. of Am., 276 F.3d 651, 656 (4th Cir.2002)). Although the court must view the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, see Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. at 2513, "bare allegations unsupported by legally competent evidence do not give rise to a genuine dispute of material fact." Solis v. Prince George's County, 153 F.Supp.2d 793, 807 (D.Md.2001); see Ross v. Communications Satellite Corp., 759 F.2d 355, 364 (4th Cir.1985), abrogated on other grounds, Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104 L.Ed.2d 268 (1989) ("Genuineness means that the evidence must create fair doubt; wholly speculative assertions will not suffice.").

III. ANALYSIS

One of ERISA's central goals is to "enable plan beneficiaries to learn their rights and obligations at any time." Curtiss-Wright Corp. v. Schoonejongen, 514 U.S. 73, 83, 115 S.Ct. 1223, 1230, 131 L.Ed.2d 94 (1995). This is reflected in ERISA's elaborate scheme of reporting and disclosure requirements. See generally 29 U.S.C. §§ 1021-1031. One of ERISA's disclosure provisions relevant here provides that a plan "administrator shall, upon written request of any participant..., furnish a copy" of certain plan documents. 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(4) (" § 1024(b)(4)"). The plan documents subject to request include the latest updated summary plan description, latest annual report, any terminal report, the bargaining agreement, trust agreement, contract, and "other instruments under which the plan is established or operated." Id. Failure to provide a participant with a copy of a plan document listed in § 1024(b)(4) within 30 days of a written request may, in the court's discretion, subject an administrator to personal liability in the amount of up to $[110] per day from the date of such failure.² 29 U.S.C. § 1132(c)(1) (" § 1132(c)(1)").

There is no dispute that Plaintiff made a clear request for a copy of a summary of material modifications, nor is there dispute Defendant had an obligation to respond to Plaintiff's request. Although a summary of material modifications is not one of the requisite documents furnished to participants under § 1024(b)(4), it is clear that such summaries are documents "under which the plan is established or operated." 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(4). Summaries of material modifications exist to report changes in the terms of an ERISA plan and work in conjunction with annual reports and summary plan descriptions to keep participants notified of their rights and benefits. See 29 U.S.C. § 1022(a). These summaries are also subject to ERISA's automatic reporting scheme, which requires administrators to send them to participants automatically upon various triggering events. Id. § 1024(b)(1). There is no reason why the summaries would not also be subject to disclosure...