Opinion ID: 6934839
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Unsigned Designation-of-Beneficiary Form

Text: O’Shea also argues that the Trustees improperly treated Talbot’s beneficiary Designation Form as valid, even though it lacked her signature. Section 9.01 of the Plan, entitled “Beneficiary Designation and Benefit Payment” provides, inter alia: “The Trustees may require the Participant to sign appropriate documents to direct the Trustees regarding the settlement of the proceeds of the Investment Fund.” (Emphasis added). Judge Platt found that the Plan’s use of the word “may” gave the Trustees discretion to accept Talbot’s unsigned Designation Form. We agree. In light of the Plan’s discretionary language and the stipulated authenticity of the handwriting on the Designation Form, we find ample grounds to uphold the Trustees’ decision as being neither arbitrary nor capricious. Finally, O’Shea argues that the Designation Form is invalid because New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (“EPTL”) Section 13-3.2(e) requires , beneficiary designation forms for death benefits to be signed. ERISA’s “expansive” language “marks for preemption ‘any and all State laws insofar as they ... relate to any employee benefit plan’ covered by ERISA.” New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., — U.S.-,-, 115 S.Ct. 1671, 1677, 131 L.Ed.2d 695 (1995) (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a)). 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. Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U.S. 133, 139, 111 S.Ct. 478, 483, 112 L.Ed.2d 474 (1990). The Supreme Court has recently reaffirmed its conclusion that in passing 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a) Congress intended “to ensure that plans and plan sponsors would be subject to a uniform body of benefits law; the goal was to minimize the administrative and financial burden of complying with conflicting directives among States or between States and the Federal Government ..., [and to prevent] the potential for conflict in substantive law ... requiring the tailoring of plans and employer conduct to the peculiarities of the law of each jurisdiction.” Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans, — U.S. at-, 115 S.Ct. at 1677 (quoting Ingersoll-Rand, 498 U.S. at 142, 111 S.Ct. at 478) (bracketed material in Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans). In other situations, “ ‘[preemption does not occur ... if the state law has only a tenuous, remote, or peripheral connection with covered plans, as is the case with many laws of general applicability.’” Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans, — U.S. at-, 115 S.Ct. at 1679 (quoting District of Columbia v. Greater Washington Board of Trade, — U.S. -, - n. 1, 113 S.Ct. 580, 583 n. 1, 121 L.Ed.2d 513 (1992)). Section 13-3.2(e) of the EPTL is not in this category. Unlike the garnishment law in Mackey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Serv., Inc., 486 U.S. 825, 108 S.Ct. 2182, 100 L.Ed.2d 836 (1988), the plant closing law in Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne, 482 U.S. 1, 107 S.Ct. 2211, 96 L.Ed.2d 1 (1987), or the escheat law in Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Borges, 869 F.2d 142 (2d Cir.) cert. denied, 493 U.S. 811, 110 S.Ct. 57, 107 L.Ed.2d 25 (1989), EPTL Section 13-3.2(e) affects key plan documents such as the Designation Form and is therefore preempted by ERISA. Had Congress chosen to impose a signature requirement, it could have done so. To impose such a requirement in New York, but not elsewhere, would frustrate ERISA’s goal of establishing a unified national system to safeguard retirement benefits. Fort Halifax, 482 U.S. at 9, 107 S.Ct. at 2216. Thus, because ERISA preempts the EPTL’s signature requirement for death beneficiary designation forms, we uphold the Trustees’ decision to follow Talbot’s designation.