BRANTLEY STARR, District Judge.
In this action alleging violations of Employee Retirement Investment Act ("ERISA"), defendants Viad Corp. ("Viad") and MoneyGram International, Inc. ("Moneygram") move to dismiss plaintiff Kimbra Fracalossi's ("Fracalossi") claims for her failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted (collectively, "motions to dismiss" or "motions") [Docs. No. 84 & 87].
Fracalossi's third amended complaint [Doc. No. 79] states that she was an employee at Viad for over 11 years, leaving on March 31, 2006.
On June 30, 2004, Viad spun off its payment services operations into a separate entity, Moneygram.
Fracalossi voluntarily left Viad on March 31, 2006.
On February 3, 2017, Fracalossi sued Viad, Moneygram, and Moneygram Plan in this Court.
With these facts and this procedural posture, the Court considers the defendants Viad and Moneygram's motions to dismiss.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the Court evaluates the pleadings by "accept[ing] `all well-pleaded facts as true, viewing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.'"
Viad argues, among other things, in its motion to dismiss that Fracalossi has failed to show that Viad violated ERISA by breaching an alleged fiduciary duty to notify Fracalossi or Moneygram of the retirement benefit changes in the June 15, 2004 amendment. The Court agrees. Without a showing that Viad violated ERISA, Fracalossi has failed to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) against Viad.
The controlling provision the parties focus on here is 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(1)(B), one of ERISA's central disclosure provisions. Section 1024(b)(1)(B) requires the ERISA plan administrator to provide a summary description of material modifications to the ERISA plan to the plan beneficiaries within 210 days after the end of the plan year in which the change is adopted. The United States Supreme Court acknowledged in CIGNA Corp. v. Amara that section 1024(b)(1)(B) imposes a fiduciary duty on plan administrators to disclose material modifications and that breach of such a duty can be brought as a claim by a plan beneficiary under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3). 563 U.S. 421, 443 (2011). The text of section 1024(b)(1)(B), however, does not impose a duty to disclose such material modifications before 210 days and Fifth Circuit case law on ERISA fiduciary duties is consistent with this reading. Indeed, in declining to find a fiduciary duty under ERISA to disclose a physician compensation scheme, the Fifth Circuit in Ehlmann v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Texas stated that "this court should not add to the specific disclosure requirements that ERISA provides." 198 F.3d 552, 555 (5th Cir. 2000). Subsequent Fifth Circuit case law has conformed to this rule. In Lee v. Verizon Communication, Inc., the Fifth Circuit, in finding that pension plan fiduciaries did not have a duty to disclose material changes to be enacted in a future amendment, also noted that the fiduciaries met their duty to disclose these material changes under section 1024(b)(1)(B) after the amendment was executed. 837 F.3d 523, 534 (5th Cir. 2016).
The Court finds that Viad did not violate ERISA. Viad signed the amendment ending all service accrual for early retirement for its employees on June 15, 2004. Section 1024(b)(1)(B) obligated Viad, as a fiduciary, to disclose this allegedly material change to its beneficiaries within 210 days. However, on June 30, 2004, Viad transferred the Viad Plan to Moneygram and so was no longer a fiduciary. Thus, Viad no longer had a duty to disclose the early retirement benefit changes after the transfer. As only 15 days had passed since the amendment was executed, Viad did not violate section 1024(b)(1)(B) by not disclosing the amendment changes to its former beneficiaries.
Fracalossi's counterarguments do not pass muster. Fracalossi contends that ERISA creates an affirmative duty to disclose material changes to an ERISA plan that goes beyond the text of ERISA itself because ERISA is part statute and part trust law.
Fracalossi also contends, citing a Department of Labor booklet, that Viad had a fiduciary duty to provide Moneygram with summary plan documents that included correct information about early retirement benefits.
The only remaining question as to Viad is whether Fracalossi can replead. Repleading is not allowed when a plaintiff has pled her way out of court.
Accordingly, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Fracalossi has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Therefore, the Court
And what of Moneygram? It certainly cannot avail itself of Viad's argument because Moneygram was the fiduciary when the ERISA disclosure deadline occurred. But Moneygram has other arguments. One such argument is that Fracalossi has failed to establish, pursuant to section 1132(a)(3), that she suffered harm as a result of Moneygram's alleged breach of fiduciary duty under section 1024(b)(1)(B) to notify her of the material changes made when the Viad Plan became the Moneygram Plan. The Court agrees. Without a showing of harm, Fracalossi has failed to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) against Moneygram.
The law on ERISA claims brought under section 1132(a)(3) is complex. Section 1132(a)(3) allows a beneficiary of an ERISA plan to bring a civil action to obtain equitable relief to redress any violations arising under ERISA. Fiduciary duties under ERISA are derived both from statute and from the common law of trusts, and include duties of loyalty and care to ERISA plan beneficiaries.
Although the Supreme Court did not develop a harm standard in Amara, the harm in that case concerned a loss of ERISA plan benefits.
The common thread in subsequent Fifth Circuit cases looking at 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3) focuses on the denial of benefits as constituting harm. For instance, in Singletary v. United Parcel Service, Inc., the plaintiff's life insurance claim was denied by the plan administrator because her deceased husband fell under an exclusion to the policy. 828 F.3d 342, 346 (5th Cir. 2016). The plaintiff alleged the summary plan description never mentioned the exclusion, so she was never on notice.
Likewise, in Manuel v. Turner Industries Group, L.L.C., the plaintiff was denied his claim for long-term disability benefits because of a preexisting condition exclusion. 905 F.3d 859, 863 (5th Cir. 2018), reh'g denied (Nov. 2, 2018). The plaintiff alleged, among other things, that enforcement of the plan would be inequitable because the summary plan description did not include the preexisting condition exclusion and so was deficient.
Lastly, in the case Fracalossi cites in her response to Moneygram's motion to dismiss, Gearlds v. Entergy Services, Inc., the plan administrator denied the plaintiff his medical benefits approximately five years after he entered early retirement. 709 F.3d 448, 449-50 (5th Cir. 2013). The plaintiff alleged the plan administrator breached its fiduciary duty by misrepresenting that the plaintiff would receive health care benefits if he retired early.
These Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit cases focus on the loss or denial of benefits as being the harm itself, whether it is a denial of insurance claims or being placed on a less generous retirement plan. This Court falls in line with this precedent and finds that any harm alleged under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3) must be the loss or denial of benefits.
Fracalossi alleges her harm not to be a denial or loss of benefits; rather, she claims she lost the opportunity to continue working to better enable retirement planning. As her remedy, Fracalossi seeks reformation of the Moneygram Plan or a surcharge against Moneygram for retirement losses. Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent establish that the harm suffered and the relief sought due to a fiduciary breach must be identical. If a plaintiff is denied benefits, the remedy amounts to the granting of benefits. If a plaintiff loses benefits, the remedy amounts to the restoration of benefits. Fracalossi's alleged harm (the lost opportunity to work) severs that close tie between harm and remedy (benefits or their money equivalent) by expanding what constitutes harm. Such an expansion has not been sanctioned by the Supreme Court or the Fifth Circuit, and with good reason. Article III courts fashion remedies that redress injuries. In other ERISA cases, the Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court found proper remedies for the injury of wrongful denials or loss of benefits to be the granting of benefits or a surcharge that was the money equivalent of benefits.
The remaining question is whether Fracalossi could properly plead harm and remedy in an amended complaint. It may well be that Fracalossi pled her harm the way she did (inability to keep working and better plan for retirement) because she does not dispute that Viad had authority under ERISA to cease accrual of service credit for qualifying for early retirement. In other words, it may be that Fracalossi knew she never qualified for early retirement benefits and so did not plead that as her harm. Regardless of Fracalossi's possible motivations, out of prudence, the Court believes Fracalossi should be entitled to replead in an attempt to match her harm with a redressable denial of benefits. Therefore, the Court
For the reasons stated above, the Court