Opinion ID: 510624
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plan Sec. 12.1(b)

Text: 76 A secondary holding of Amato relates to the plaintiffs' other argument on this issue, which is that ERISA Sec. 4044, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1344(a), and Sec. 12.1(b) of the Plan entitle them to Thirty-Year benefits. We again disagree with Amato, and affirm the district court's holding in this case that ERISA Sec. 4044 is an ordering provision rather than one that creates substantive rights. 13 The statute reads in part as follows: Sec. 1344. Allocation of assets 77 (a) Order of priority of participants and beneficiaries 78 In the case of termination of a single-employer defined benefit plan, the plan administrator shall allocate the assets of the plan (available to provide benefits) among the participants and beneficiaries of the plan in the following order: 79 (1) First, to that portion of each individual's accured [sic] benefit which is derived from the participant's contributions to the plan which were not mandatory contributions. 80 (2) Second, to that portion of each individual's accrued benefit which is derived from the participant's mandatory contributions. 81