United States Ninth Circuit

In a dispute between the trustees of two employee benefit plans over an agreement regarding the provision of certain benefits, summary judgment and an award of attorney's fees for defendants on claims of breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA and breach of collective bargaining agreements under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) is affirmed in part, but reversed in part where defendant did not qualify as an ERISA exempt "insurer" under 29 U.S.C. section 1101(b)(2) and it breached its ERISA fiduciary duty to the participants in plaintiff's plan.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/14/2006
• Decided 01/18/2007
• Published 01/18/2007

Judges

• BYBEE, Circuit Judge:, Before: REINHARDT and BYBEE, Circuit Judges, and BURNS, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• J. David Sackman, Reich, Adell, Crost & Cvitan, Los Angeles, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Michael A. Vanic, Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendants-appellees.