Opinion ID: 483591
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Accrued Benefit Issue

Text: 7 Plaintiffs argued that the amended Plan used the wrong formula under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1054(b)(1)(D) to calculate a participants' accrued benefit for pre-ERISA years of service. The district court agreed, reasoning that participants were entitled to an implied accrual of benefits rather than the old plan which had no accrued benefit formula. We rejected the concept of implied accrual of benefits because 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1054(b)(1)(D) did not specifically provide that a formula based on required years of service be implied and there was no accrued benefit formula in the prior plan. We therefore reversed the district court on this issue.C. The Early Retirement and Deferred Benefit Issues 8 Plaintiffs argued that the amended Plan provided reduced benefits compared to benefits provided under the prior Plan. The district court issued an injunction that required changes be made to the Plan. However, early retirement and deferred benefits under the prior Plan had not been reduced, but had been inadvertently omitted from the January, 1978 Summary Plan Description booklet. We resolved this issue in our earlier decision pointing out that the prior Plan's scheduled benefits had never, in fact, been reduced and that no participant had been deprived of a benefit. D. The Part-Time Service Issue 9 Plaintiffs argued that the amended Plan's method of accrual for part-time service was insufficiently ratable to be reasonable under 26 U.S.C. Sec. 411(b)(3)(B). The district court agreed and we affirmed the district court on this issue. Defendants petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari on the issues of standing and attorneys' fees. The Supreme Court granted defendants' petition, vacated our judgment and remanded for further consideration. On remand, the district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment on the part-time service issue on the ground that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge that Plan provision. Plaintiffs have not appealed this ruling. E. The Attorneys' Fee Proceedings 10 Following its original 1980 summary judgment decision, the district court awarded plaintiffs' counsel $142,485 in attorneys' fees. We affirmed the fee award. This was vacated by the Supreme Court and we remanded the issue to the district court for further evidence. After directing plaintiffs to file a revised fee request to exclude compensation for the part-time service issue, the district court awarded plaintiffs' counsel attorneys' fees of $57,820 and costs of $805 enhanced by prejudgment interest increasing the attorneys' fee awarded to $77,794.60.