Source: http://www.leagle.com/decision/19931407999F2d408_11315
Timestamp: 2017-07-28 06:40:30
Document Index: 473880540

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1140', '§ 1132', '§ 1132', '§ 1140', '§ 1102', '§ 1002']

HASHIMOTO v. BANK OF HAWA | 999 F.2d 408 (1993) | Leagle.com
999 F.2d 408 (1993)
HASHIMOTO v. BANK OF HAWAII
No. 92-15167.
Citing Case 999 F.2d 408 (1993)
Jessica K. HASHIMOTO, Plaintiff-Appellant,
BANK OF HAWAII, et al. Defendants-Appellees.
As Amended November 5, 1993.
In the instant case, plaintiff's claim under the HWBPA does not easily fall on either side of the preemption line. Often, when a court has found ERISA preemption, the injury underlying the state cause of action resulted from the alleged improper administration of a benefit plan. Here, as in Authier [v. Ginsberg, 757 F.2d 796, 800 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 888, 106 S.Ct. 208, 88 L.Ed.2d 177 (1985)], plaintiff's injury arises from an allegation of improper administration, whether or not the allegations were correct. Plaintiff contends that she was terminated solely in retaliation for "complaints" even though the complaints may have been unfounded. Even though plaintiff's claim under the HWBPA does not formally depend upon the existence of an ERISA plan, plaintiff's claim would require the court to evaluate the substance of the complaints.
"A law `relates to' an employee benefit plan, in the normal sense of the phrase, if it has a connection with or reference to such a plan." Under this "broad commonsense meaning," a state law may "relate to" a benefit plan, and thereby be preempted, even if the law is not specifically designed to affect such plans, or the effect is only indirect.
To determine whether a state law is preempted we must look at whether it encroaches on the relationships regulated by ERISA. State tort and contract causes of action, for instance, don't apply to transactions between plans and their participants, see, e.g., Pilot Life [Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux], 481 U.S. [41] at 47-48, 107 S.Ct. [1549] at 1552-1553 [95 L.Ed.2d 39], because the relationship between plan and participant is, under ERISA, a matter of exclusively federal concern, FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U.S. 52, 58, 111 S.Ct. 403, 407, 112 L.Ed.2d 356 (1990). Wrongful discharge laws don't apply to employee terminations carried out to avoid benefit payments, because the employer-employee relationship is — insofar as it deals with benefit plans — also an exclusively federal matter. Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U.S. 133, 139, 111 S.Ct. 478, 483, 112 L.Ed.2d 474 (1990). State law can, however, apply to transactions between plans and their creditors or their landlords or their own employees, because those relationships are outside ERISA's purview.
General Am. Life Ins. Co. v. Castonguay, 984 F.2d 1518, 1522 (9th Cir.1993).
The ERISA whistle blower provision states: "The provisions of section 1132 of this title shall be applicable in the enforcement of this section." If this provision has the effect of limiting possible plaintiffs under § 1140 to those persons that § 1132 declares "empowered to bring a civil action" — a question we need not decide now — Hashimoto is still entitled to bring the action because as a fiduciary she is empowered to bring a civil action under § 1132 to enforce § 1140, ERISA's whistle blower provision. Normally the ERISA fiduciary will be a corporate body. It would make little sense to restrict the whistle blower protection to the corporation and not extend it to the agents by which the corporation must act. "Fiduciary" includes not only the trustee under an ERISA plan but agents of the trustee:
The statute [ERISA] provides that not only the persons named as fiduciaries by a benefit plan, see 29 U.S.C. § 1102(a), but also anyone else who exercises discretionary control or authority over the plan's management, administration, or assets, see § 1002(21)(A), is an ERISA "fiduciary." Fiduciaries are assigned a number of detailed duties and responsibilities, which include "the proper management, administration, and investment of [plan] assets, the maintenance of proper records, the disclosure of specified information, and the avoidance of conflicts of interest."
Mertens v. Hewitt Assocs., ___ U.S. ___, ___, 113 S.Ct. 2063, 2066, 124 L.Ed.2d 161 (U.S.1993) (citation omitted). Consequently, we hold the Hawaii Whistle Blower's Act, to the extent an ERISA violation is involved, preempted by the specific provision of ERISA protecting whistle blowers such as Hashimoto presents herself to be in this case.
Because the preemption is total, what appeared on its face to be a state cause of action is in fact a federal cause of action and must be recharacterized as such. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 66-67, 107 S.Ct. 1542, 1547-48, 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987).