Lee v. ING Groep, No. 14-15848 (9th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseAfter plaintiff's long term disability benefits were terminated, plaintiff filed suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1132(c)(1), against his former employer, ING, seeking statutory penalties against ING for failing to timely produce documents he had requested. The district court granted summary judgment to plaintiff and imposed a penalty of $27,475. The court affirmed the district court's decision to impose a penalty on ING North America for its failure to timely produce the Plan Document; the court reversed the district court’s decision to impose a penalty based on ING North America’s failure to timely produce the emails at issue; the court joined its sister circuits and held that penalties under 29 U.S.C. 1132(c)(1) can only be assessed against “plan administrators” for failing to produce documents that they are required to produce as plan administrators; and 29 C.F.R. 2560.503-1(h)(2)(iii) does not impose any requirements on plan administrators, and so cannot form the basis for a penalty under 29 U.S.C. 1132(c)(1). Accordingly, the court vacated the penalty award and remanded to the district court to assess a penalty based solely on the failure to timely produce the Plan Document.
Court Description: Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The panel affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendants in an action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, vacated an award of statutory penalties in favor of the plaintiff, and remanded. Affirming in part, the panel held that the district court properly imposed a penalty under 29 US.C. § 1132(c)(1) on the ERISA plan administrator for failing to produce the Plan Document within 30 days of the plaintiff’s request. The panel reversed the district court’s decision to impose a penalty based on the plan administrator’s failure to timely produce emails. Following other circuits, the panel held that 29 C.F.R. § 2560.503-1(h)(2)(iii) imposes requirements on benefits plans, not plan administrators. Accordingly, a failure to comply with this regulation cannot give rise to a penalty under § 1132(c)(1), which applies only to documents that 4 LEE V. ING GROEP plan administrators are required to produce. The panel concluded that it was not bound by dicta in Sgro v. Danone Waters of N. Am., Inc., 532 F.3d 940 (9th Cir. 2008). The panel remanded for the district court to assess a penalty based solely on the failure to timely produce the Plan Document.
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