{"ID":55685,"name":"Conkright v. Frommert","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2009\/08-810","view_count":0,"docket_number":"08-810","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Sally L. Conkright, et al.","second_party":"Paul J. Frommert, et al.","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1246251600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/40496"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1263967200],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/40497"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[1271826000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/40498"}],"lower_court":{"ID":7,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/7"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003ECurrent and former employees of Xerox Corp. sued the company in a New York federal district court under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (\u0022ERISA\u0022). Plaintiffs had left the employer, been paid a lump sum, and after rehire had alleged Xerox improperly calculated their benefits. Xerox argued that release forms signed by some of the plaintiffs barred their ERISA claims. The district court disagreed and then crafted a remedy to compensate the plaintiffs for their lost benefits.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOn appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the district court crafted an appropriate remedy, but erred in finding that the release forms signed by some plaintiffs were unenforceable. Rather, the court reasoned that the release forms were signed knowingly and voluntarily, making them enforceable.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003E1) Did the Second Circuit err in instructing the district court that it had no obligation to defer to the ERISA plan administrator\u0027s reasonable interpretation of the terms of the plan if the administrator reached its interpretation outside the context of an administrative claim for benefits?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E2) Did the Second Circuit err in holding that the district court had \u0022allowable discretion\u0022 to adopt any \u0022reasonable\u0022 interpretation of the terms of the ERISA plan when the interpretation issue arose in the course of calculating additional benefits due as a result of ERISA violations?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003EYes. The Supreme Court held that the district court should have applied a deferential standard of review to the Plan Administrator\u0027s interpretation of the pension plan. With Chief Justice John G. Roberts writing for the majority, the Court reasoned that its decision in \u003Cem\u003EFirestone Tire \u0026amp; Rubber Co. v. Bruch\u003C\/em\u003E established that when a trust instrument, like the pension plan, gives the trustee the \u0022power to construe disputed or doubtful terms,\u0022 the trustee\u0027s interpretation will not be disturbed \u0022if reasonable.\u0022 Here, the Second Circuit carved out an exception to the rule holding that a court need not apply a deferential standard when the trustee\u0027s previous construction of the same terms was found to violate ERISA. The Second Circuit erred in doing so.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Stephen G. Breyer, joined by Justices John Paul Stephens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissented. He noted several mistakes made by Xerox, the district court, and the majority of the Court. With respect to the majority opinion, Justice Breyer disagreed that trust law imposes no such inflexible requirement that a court give deference to a plan administrator, as the majority held in this case.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":39797,"name":"Robert A. Long, Jr.","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/robert_a_long_jr","view_count":0,"last_name":"Long,","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"robert_a_long_jr"},"advocate_description":"for the petitioners","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/19984"},{"advocate":{"ID":38345,"name":"Peter K. 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