United States Fifth Circuit

Class certification of employees' ERISA action arising from defendants' alleged mismanagement of a company's 401(k) retirement plan is vacated and remanded where: 1) the district court incorrectly eliminated the ERISA section 404(c) defense from its evaluation of the suitability of the allegations on appeal for class treatment; 2) it erroneously refused to consider releases pertinent to the maintenance of a derivative suit on behalf of the plan; 3) although named representatives held sufficiently typical claims, the district court must reconsider whether they are adequate representatives in light of inherent intraclass conflicts; and 4) maintaining a Rule 23(b)(2) class action and the district court's superficial analysis of the Rule 23(b)(1) alternative were improper.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/18/2007
• Published 01/19/2007

Judges

• EDITH H. JONES, Chief Judge, joined by EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:, Before JONES, Chief Judge, and REAVLEY and GARZA, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Barry Craig Barnett (argued), Jonathan Bridges, Ryan Laurence Nelson, Gretchen Sims Sween, Susman Godfrey, Dallas, TX, for Langbecker, ERISA, Vanderlip, Smith and Florer., Joseph W. Wolfe, Wolfe, Clark, Henderson, Tidwell & McCoy, Sherman, TX, for Langbecker., Ron Kilgard, Keller Rohrback, Phoenix, AZ, for Langbecker, ERISA, Vanderlip, Smith, Florer and Barnes., Robert A. Izard, Jr., Schatz & Nobel, Hartford, CT, Jeffrey S. Abraham, Abraham Fruchter & Twersky, New York City, for ERISA., James D. Baskin, III, The Baskin Law Firm, Austin, TX, for ERISA and Barnes., Lynn Lincoln Sarko, Elizabeth A. Leland, Keller Rohrback, Seattle, WA, Gary A. Gotto, Keller Rohrback, Phoenix, AZ, for ERISA, Vanderlip and Smith., Earl Glenn Thames, Jr., Potter Minton, Tyler, TX, for Vanderlip., Brian Paul Sanford, Sheils, Winnubst, Sanford & Bethune, Richardson, TX, for Florer., Timothy Francis Gavin, Fletcher L. Yarbrough, Michael Allen Birrer, Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, Dallas, TX, for EDS Comp. & Ben. Com., Gray, Groves and Kidder., Caroline Montrose Brown, John M. Vine, Joseph Zambuto, Jr., Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, for ERISA Industry Com., Am. Benefits Council, and ESOP Ass'n, Amici Curiae., William J. Kilberg, Paul Blankenstein, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Eugene Scalia, Acting Sol., U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, DC, for Business Roundtable, Chamber of Commerce of U.S. and Nat. Ass'n of Manufacturers, Amici Curiae., Jeffrey G. Lewis, Claire Kennedy-Wilkins, Lewis, Feinberg, Renaker & Jackson, Oakland, CA, Robert Edward McKnight, Jr., Murphy & McKnight, New Orleans, LA, for Nat. Emp. Lawyers Ass'n, Amicus Curiae., Mary Ellen Signorille, Michael Robert Schuster, American Ass'n of Retired Persons, Washington, DC, for AARP, Amicus Curiae., Bruce F. Rinaldi, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, John P. Holtz, Pension Rights Center, Washington, DC, Norman Stein, Tuscalousa, AL, Marc I. Machiz, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, Philadelphia, PA, for Pension Rights Center, Amicus Curiae., Elizabeth Hopkins (argued), U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, DC, for Chao, Secretary of Dept. of Labor, Amicus Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Howard Shapiro (argued), Robert Wilkinson Rachal, René E. Thorne, Proskauer Rose, New Orleans, LA, Otis W. Carroll, Deborah Johnson Race, Ireland, Carroll & Kelley, Tyler, TX, for Defendants-Appellants.