Retirement Committee of DAK Americas v. Brewer

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Plaintiffs filed suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., to recover alleged overpayments of retirement benefits to certain employees of DAK who were participants in the Plan. The Fourth Circuit held that the written language of the Plan clearly and unambiguously provided the lump sum elected by the employees was the actuarial equivalent of the Accrued Benefit payable at the employee's Normal Retirement Date. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's award of summary judgment to plaintiffs on their equitable restitution claim. The court also held that the doctrine of equitable estoppel could not be used to require the payment of benefits that conflict with the express, written terms of the Plan; the court assumed, without deciding, that the particular facts of this case could establish a finding that plaintiffs breached their fiduciary duty and turned instead to consider whether any of the employees established a triable issue of fact as to "actual harm" in connection with their claims for a surcharge remedy; and Rodney B. Smith was the only employee with a viable surcharge claim for purposes of summary judgment. Accordingly, the court vacated the judgment against Smith and remanded for further proceedings. View "Retirement Committee of DAK Americas v. Brewer" on Justia Law

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