Pender v. Bank of America Corp.

Plaintiffs filed suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., seeking disgorgement from an employer who wrongly transferred assets from a pension plan that enjoyed a separate account feature to a pension plan that lacked one. The district court dismissed the complaint, holding that plaintiffs lacked statutory and Article III standing. The court held, however, that a defined contribution plan’s separate account feature constitutes an “accrued benefit” that “may not be decreased by amendment of the plan” under section 204(g)(1). In this case, the transfers at issue resulted in a loss of the separate account feature and thus violated section 204(g)(1). Therefore, plaintiffs have statutory standing. Further, plaintiffs have Article III standing where plaintiffs incurred an injury in fact, and satisfied the causation and redressability requirements. Finally, the court joined the majority of its sister circuits and held that the transferor court’s choice-of-law rules apply when a case has been transferred pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Here, the court concluded that the statute of limitations cannot serve as a basis for affirming the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Bank. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "Pender v. Bank of America Corp." on Justia Law