432
OCTOBER TERM, 1998
Syllabus
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit
No. 97-1287. Argued November 2, 1998—Decided January 25, 1999
Respondents, retired employees of petitioner Hughes Aircraft Company
(Hughes) and beneficiaries of petitioner Hughes Non-Bargaining Retirement Plan (Plan), a defined benefit plan, claimed in their class action that Hughes violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) when it amended the Plan by providing for an early retirement program and creating an additional noncontributory benefit structure for new participants. According to the complaint, the Plan originally required mandatory contributions from all participating employees, in addition to Hughes' own contributions. Prior to amending the Plan, Hughes suspended its contributions because of a substantial Plan surplus, which still exists today. The District Court dismissed respondents' complaint for failure to state a claim, but the Ninth Circuit reversed, finding that the addition of the noncontributory benefit structure may have terminated the Plan and created two new plans. The court also distinguished the holding in Lockheed Corp. v. Spink, 517 U. S. 882, 891, that "amending a pension plan does not trigger ERISA's fiduciary provisions," reasoning that Spink concerned a plan funded solely by employer contributions while ERISA's fiduciary provisions were triggered here because the members of the contributory structure had a vested interest in the Plan's surplus. Accordingly, it concluded respondents had alleged six causes of action: Hughes violated ERISA's prohibition against using employees' vested, nonforfeitable benefits to meet its obligations, § 203, by depleting the surplus to fund the noncontributory structure; Hughes violated ERISA's anti-inurement prohibition, § 403(c)(1), by benefiting itself at the expense of the Plan's surplus; Hughes violated its fiduciary duties in three separate claims; and the Plan's alleged termination violated § 4044(d)(3)(A)'s requirement that a terminated plan's residual assets be distributed to plan beneficiaries.
Held: The Plan's amendments are not prohibited by ERISA.
Pp. 438-448.
(a) This Court's review of respondents' claims begins with the statute's language. Estate of Cowart v. Nicklos Drilling Co., 505 U. S. 469, 475. Where that language provides a clear answer, it ends there as well. See Connecticut Nat. Bank v. Germain, 503 U. S. 249, 254. P. 438.
Page: Index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007