On May 5, 2020, the California Superior Court, Alameda County, granted certification of a class of former University of California employees who left UC employment before normal retirement age, but with vested pension rights. The plaintiffs allege that fiduciaries of the the University of California Retirement Plan, or “UCRP,” breached duties owed to the plaintiffs and the Class by failing to notify them that they would lose retirement benefits if they did not apply to commence their pensions by age 60. The case is Mass, et al. v. the Regents of the University of California, et al. Renaker Hasselman Scott LLP and co-counsel Nichols Kaster LLP represent the named plaintiffs and the Class. 

Specifically, the Class is defined as all 1976 Tier or Multi-Tier members of the UCRP, who: (1) have reached the age of 60; (2) have separated from employment with a UCRP-participating employer; (3) at the time of separation, met the requirements of Plan Section 3.08 and became an Inactive Member; and (4) either (a) submitted a claim for Retirement Income or a Lump Sum Cash-Out after their 60th birthday and no earlier than October 18, 2013, or (b) have not yet submitted a claim to receive Retirement Income or a Lump Sum Cash-Out.

The UCRP benefit formula uses an age factor that is capped at age 60, meaning that for vested UCRP members who are no longer current employees, the monthly benefit amount does not increase after age 60 and the actuarial equivalent lump sum value decreases after age 60. The two named plaintiffs each lost over $100,000 of hard-earned pension benefits because they first applied to start their pensions after age 60 and the UCRP refused to pay retroactive benefits.

Read the Order Granting Class Certification here.

Read the Order Granting Approval of Class Notice here.

Read the Class Notice here.

For more information on this case, please contact Kirsten Scott, kirsten@renakerhasselman.com.user.s408.sureserver.com.

In litigation pending in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, Renaker Hasselman Scott LLP represents a ConocoPhillips retiree suing ConocoPhillips, the Benefits Committee of the ConocoPhillips Retirement Plan, and Alight Solutions LLC, the third-party administrator of the ConocoPhillips Retirement Plan. Erroneous pension benefit statements provided to the plaintiff on multiple occasions over several years showed a pension amount that was more than double his actual benefit, and it was not until he applied to commence his pension that the participant learned the true amount.

Read the complaint here.

The Pension Rights Center and the National Employment Lawyers Association weighed in as amici curiae in support of the plaintiffs-appellants in Bafford, et al. v. Northrop Grumman Corp., et al., currently pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In Bafford, Northrop Grumman retirees who received incorrect pension benefit statements for years before their retirements, and relied on the incorrect statements in retiring, challenge Northrop Grumman’s post-retirement reduction of their pensions. Renaker Hasselman Scott LLP and Kantor & Kantor, LLP, represent the retirees in Bafford.

Read the amicus brief here.

Renaker Hasselman Scott LLP represents a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in a court challenge to the termination of his benefits under the AICPA Insurance Trust Long Term Disability Income Plan, which is insured by The Prudential Insurance Company of America. The AICPA Plan provides a lifetime benefit for participants who become disabled before the contract anniversary following the participant’s 50th birthday, while benefits for members who become disabled after this contract anniversary end when the participant reaches age 65. In the pending litigation, the certificate of insurance issued to the participant showed an effective date of coverage, which the participant understood to be the contract anniversary, and his disability began before the anniversary of that date following his 50th birthday. However, Prudential terminated his benefits at age 65, contending that the contract anniversary was actually an earlier date: the anniversary date of the current group policy, established in the contract between AICPA and Prudential, which was not disclosed to the participant. The suit seeks to enforce California law holding that insurers are bound by the terms set forth in the certificate of insurance provided to the insured, and that benefits limitations must be conspicuous, plain, and clear.

Read the complaint here.

The partners of Renaker Hasselman Scott LLP have been recognized in the 2020 edition of Super Lawyers and the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America. All three partners were selected as Super Lawyers in the Employee Benefits field. Margo Hasselman Greenough and Teresa Renaker were also selected to the Super Lawyers list of Top 50 Women Lawyers in Northern California, and Teresa Renaker was selected to the Top 100 Lawyers in Northern California list. Teresa Renaker was also recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for her high caliber of work in the practice area of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law.

Renaker Hasselman Scott, along with co-counsel Kantor & Kantor, filed suit on behalf of participants in the Motion Picture Industry Health Plan who were wrongfully dropped from their health insurance when the plan’s Board of Directors extended coronavirus relief to some, but not all, plan participants. The plan requires that participants work a certain number of hours in order to have health coverage. When the pandemic shut down the motion picture industry-wide, the Board of Directors voted to extend relief in the form of a 300-hour credit, health insurance premium waiver, and COBRA subsidy to some, but not all, plan participants. In doing so, the Board excluded plaintiffs Greg Endries and Dee Nichols, and others similarly situated, in violation of ERISA’s duty of loyalty, which requires plan fiduciaries to treat all participants fairly and to not arbitrarily favor one group over another.

Read the complaint here.

Read additional coverage here:

Variety article

Law360 article

Hollywood Reporter article

For more information, please email kirsten@renakerhasselman.com.user.s408.sureserver.com

 

Renaker Hasselman Scott filed suit on behalf of a participant in the Estee Lauder Companies 401(k) Savings Plan whose account was decimated by a series of three unauthorized distributions in September and October 2016. The plaintiff alleges that the plan administrator, third-party recordkeeper, and trustee each breached its ERISA fiduciary duties by failing to safeguard the plan assets against theft, including by failing to notify her of the distribution requests before making the distributions.

Read the complaint here.

Read additional coverage:

Participant Sues Estee Lauder Over 401(k) Security Breach

Recordkeeper, Plan Sponsor Charged in 401k Account Theft

Nearly $100,000 Stolen From Participant in Estee Lauder 401(k) Plan 

Teresa Renaker will speak at ALI CLE’s annual advanced course on Employee Benefit Plans of Tax-Exempt and Governmental Employers, to be held October 24 and 25, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Ms. Renaker will join a panel on “Counselling Clients Through the Claims Process With an Eye Toward Litigation.” View the course brochure here.

All three Renaker Hasselman Scott partners have been selected to 2019 Northern California Super Lawyers lists. Teresa Renaker appears on Super Lawyers’ lists of the Top 100 Lawyers in Northern California and the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Northern California. This is Ms. Renaker’s eighth consecutive year on the Top 100 list and her eleventh consecutive year on the Top 50 Women list. Margo Hasselman Greenough was named to the Top 50 Women Lawyers list for the third year, and Ms. Renaker, Ms. Hasselman Greenough, and Kirsten Scott were all selected to Super Lawyers in the Employee Benefits/ERISA category.

On May 16, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in favor of David Reed, reversing a lower court decision finding that the KRON/IBEW Local 45 Pension Plan did not have to provide him with spousal survivor benefit, even though David was the registered domestic partner of a former KRON4 employee, Donald Gardner. David is represented by Renaker Hasselman Scott LLP and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

The plan argued that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) foreclosed it from recognizing David as Donald’s spouse, and the district court granted judgment in its favor.

The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court, holding that “[t]he Committee abused its discretion by denying benefits to Reed. During either time the Committee evaluated the Plan’s benefits in this case—in 2009 or in 2016—California law afforded domestic partners the same rights, protections, and benefits as those granted to spouses.”

Read the press release

Read the Ninth Circuit decision