Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/507-f-3d-629-597052830
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 20:13:36+00:00

Document:
507 F.3d 629 (7th Cir. 2007), 06-2543, Kannapien v. Quaker Oats Co.
Party Name: Kannapien v. Quaker Oats Co.
QUAKER OATS COMPANY and PepsiCo, Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 04 C 6829-Elaine E. Bucklo, Judge.
Clinton A. Krislov (argued), Krislov & Associates, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Constantine L. Trela, Jr. (argued), Erin Elaine Kelly, Sidley Austin, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and KANNE and EVANS, Circuit Judges.
Geri Kannapien and Janice Rozhon each accepted a severance package from their employer, the Quaker Oats Company, and retired a few weeks later. The severance package consisted of benefits to be paid pursuant to written plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461. Although Kannapien and Rozhon have received the amounts to which the express written terms of the plans entitle them, they filed suit against Quaker and its parent company, PepsiCo, seeking equitable relief under ERISA, see 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3), alleging that Quaker failed to honor the terms of its Retirement Plan. The district court found that Kannapien and Rozhon had failed to produce any genuine issue of material fact that was in dispute and granted summary judgment for the defendants. See Kannapien v. Quaker Oats Co., 433 F.Supp.2d 895 (N.D. Ill. 2006). We agree and affirm the judgment of the district court.
Kannapien and Rozhon filed a class-action suit against Quaker and PepsiCo in late October 2004, alleging various claims under ERISA. In July 2005, the district court struck all class allegations because the case was not properly brought as a class action. The court granted leave to Kannapien and Rozhon to amend their complaint in November 2005 to add two Illinois state-law claims. After this amendment, Kannapien and Rozhon's complaint raised three classes of claims: (1) ERISA estoppel claims under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3)(B); (2) ERISA claims for breach of fiduciary duty also under § 1132(a)(3)(B); and (3) Illinois state-law claims for breach of contract and promissory estoppel. After discovery, Quaker and PepsiCo moved for summary judgment, which the district court evaluated based upon the pleadings and affidavits submitted by the parties. The record before the district court established the following facts, which we construe drawing all inferences favor of Kannapien and Rozhon. See Sides v. City of Champaign, 496 F.3d 820, 822 (7th Cir. 2007).
The Golden Grain Company operated a manufacturing plant in Bridgeview, Illinois, that produced consumer food products such as Rice-a-Roni and Mission Pasta. Golden Grain originally hired Kannapien and Rozhon as salaried employees on January 28, 1980, and May 16, 1977, respectively. Kannapien worked as an administrative assistant and Rozhon worked as a payroll and insurance clerk. During their employment at Golden Grain's Bridgeview Plant, Kannapien and Rozhon participated in the company's Profit Sharing Plan. Benefits under the Profit Sharing Plan consisted solely of financial contributions made by Golden Grain--employees did not make any monetary contributions.
Quaker Oats acquired Golden Grain in 1986, and Kannapien and Rozhon became employees of Quaker. Quaker did not immediately terminate Golden Grain's Profit Sharing Plan upon taking over, but eventually the funds that had accrued under the Profit Sharing Plan were transferred into separate 401(k) accounts for the benefit of the employees. On July 1, 1990, all salaried employees of Golden Grain, including Kannapien and Rozhon, became participants in the Quaker Retirement Plan, an employee pension benefit plan within the meaning of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1002(2).
In 2001, Quaker merged with a subsidiary of PepsiCo, but retained the Quaker name. As a result of the merger, the Quaker Retirement Plan (as relevant to this litigation) was amended and restated on January 1, 2002. Benefits under the Retirement Plan are calculated using an employee's "credited service" time, which the Retirement Plan expressly states does not include any time an employee served before becoming a participant in the Quaker Retirement Plan. The amended Retirement Plan also entitles employees who were involuntary terminated by the company within two years of the merger to change-in-control benefits, which consist of additional monthly payments to eligible employees. The Retirement Plan does not define what constitutes an involuntarily termination.
In addition to the Retirement Plan, Quaker implemented a Severance Plan that also provided benefits to employees who were discharged involuntarily. Unlike the Retirement Plan, benefits under the Severance Plan are determined using a period of time that commences with an employee's date of hire by a company "acquired by Quaker." The benefits under the Severance Plan are unrelated to the basic benefits under the Retirement Plan or to the change-in-control benefits provided under the Retirement Plan, except that both the Severance Plan benefits and change-in-control benefits are available only to involuntarily discharged employees.
In December 2002, both Kannapien and Rozhon received statements that estimated their basic pension benefits under the Retirement Plan. These statements each contained the disclaimer that they merely estimated Retirement Plan benefits and that they were not official Plan documents. The estimate statements further stipulated that "in the event of a conflict between this statement and the official Plan documents, the official Plan documents will govern."
The estimate statement sent to Kannapien contained a clerical error that listed her credited service as beginning on January 28, 1980--her hire date at Golden Grain. But under the express written terms of the Retirement Plan, Kannapien's credited service did not begin until July 1, 1990, the date she became a participant in the Quaker Retirement Plan. Similarly, Rozhon received an erroneous estimate statement that detailed her credited service as beginning on May 16, 1977, her hire date with Golden Grain, instead of the July 1, 1990 date. Despite listing incorrect credited service start dates, the estimate statements received by Kannapien and Rozhon used the proper time interval under the Retirement Plan's terms (from July 1, 1990 to December 2002) to accurately estimate the actual dollar amounts that each would receive under the Plan.
In 2003, following the sale of its Mission Pasta product line, PepsiCo began to decrease production at the Bridgeview plant. In light of this, the Plant Manager, Tom Winters, received approval to decrease the plant's labor costs. In order to reduce its workforce, Quaker offered to give its employees who volunteered for early retirement not only their standard benefits under the Retirement Plan, but also two additional benefits reserved for involuntarily terminated employees. Specifically, employees who elected for early retirement would be deemed eligible to receive benefits under the Severance Plan, as well as the change-in-control benefits under the Retirement Plan.
Satterlee, the Human Resources Manager. Kannapien, who served as an administrative assistant to Winters, asked Winters if she should consider contacting Satterlee. Winters encouraged her to do so and told her that she "would be very pleased" by the amount she would receive if she left the plant. At the time he made this statement to Kannapien, Winters had no knowledge of the actual dollar amount of Kannapien's benefits.

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