Seyfarth Synopsis: A district court in New York has held that a plaintiff cannot assert claims against a plan in which she did not participate and cannot assert claims of fiduciary breach without plausible allegations of wrongdoing.
A federal district judge in the Southern District of New York has dismissed claims that a stable value fund was depressing returns and pocketing the difference between the amount credited to the investments and the actual return on the investments. The decision is reported as Dezelan v. Voya Retirement Ins. & Annuity Co., No. 16-cv-1251 (S.D.N.Y. July 6, 2017).
The plaintiff participated in a separate-account stable value fund (with money segregated from Voya's general accounts). She sued on behalf of a class of participants in all of Voya's ERISA-covered stable value funds in a multitude of employer-sponsored plans, including participants in non-segregated funds. The suit alleged that Voya violated its fiduciary duties and engaged in prohibited transactions by skimming money from the investments rather than allowing it to accrue to the plans.
Voya filed a motion to dismiss, which the Court granted without prejudice. On the general account claims, the court found that the plaintiff did not have standing to attack alleged violations in the general account funds because the she did not participate in the funds, and thus had no redressable injury. It also rejected plaintiff's claims as to separate account plans because the claims turned on a showing that Voya improperly transferred assets between its segregated and general accounts. The Court lastly rejected holdings from other circuits that an ERISA participant may represent participants in other plans if the "gravamen" of the suit involves the same general practices across all plans.
On the merits of the separate account claims, the Court found that the complaint did not state a claim for breach of fiduciary duty because the complaint did not plausibly allege that Voya kept plan money, so there was no inference of misconduct. As to the prohibited transaction claims, the complaint did not allege, the Court said, that any improper transfers occurred, and one could not be presumed because of opportunity.
The Court's decision is important because it shows that, at least for some district judges, the Supreme Court's Twombly plausibility standard continues to limit the ability of plaintiffs to sue for, and seek discovery on, alleged wrongdoing in plans in which they did not participate. It is also important because it requires plaintiffs to carefully allege self-dealing facts. That said, the decision has the potential to lead to piecemeal litigation, with a multiplicity of suits asserting similar claims. And note that the Dezelan case is far from over. On August 3, 2017, the plaintiff filed her amended complaint; an answer or new motion to dismiss is due September 18.
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