United States Ninth Circuit

In a class action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, alleging that plaintiffs' new employer, which purchased their former employer, told them that they would receive past service credit, under the new employer's retirement plan, for the time they worked with the former employer, the District Court's summary judgment in favor of the defendants is: 1) affirmed in part as to summary judgment on a claim for benefits under 29 U.S.C. section 1132(a)(1)(B), where the district court applied the correct abuse of discretion standard of review, and the plaintiffs were not entitled to past service credit under the plain terms of the retirement plan. ; and 2) reversed in part as to summary judgment on plaintiffs' claim for equitable relief under section 1132(a)(3), where the plaintiffs were not barred from bringing simultaneous claims under section 1132(a)(1)(B) and section 1132(a)(3).

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/05/20

Judges

• PREGERSON

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel