Opinion ID: 615296
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Halliburton Controls Sterling's Case

Text: This appeal turns on whether, under Halliburton, Section 5.05(f) of the APA constituted a valid amendment to the Sterling Plan. Halliburton established that a corporate agreement can amend an ERISA plan, whether or not the agreement was expressly intended to effect an amendment. Id. at 372 (citing JOHN F. BUCKLEY, ERISA LAW ANSWER BOOK 7 (5th ed. 2006) ([A]ny act that is directed to a provision of an ERISA plan may be deemed to constitute a plan amendment even though it does not recite that it is intended to amend the plan and it is not included in a plan document.)); see also Horn v. Berdon, Inc. Defined Benefit Pension Plan, 938 F.2d 125, 127 (9th Cir.1991) (finding all that is needed to effect an amendment is a properly authorized written instrument directed at plan provisions). Therefore, as long as an agreement is in writing, it contains a provision directed to an ERISA plan, and the plan amendment formalities are satisfied, such agreement or other document will constitute a valid plan amendment. Halliburton, 463 F.3d at 370-74. The APA is a written corporate agreement, and Section 5.05(f) is directed to provisions of both Cytec's and Sterling's ERISA plans (i.e., directing the maintenance of benefits and premiums). Thus, the first two requirements are satisfied. With respect to the two other amendment formalitieshaving a procedure for amendment and having a procedure for identifying the persons with authority to amendthe formal documents constituting the terms of the Sterling Plan permit amendments or modifications at any time and from time to time by the Committee. Various SPDs that describe the terms of the Sterling Plan but which are not themselves part of the Sterling Plan, see CIGNA, 131 S.Ct. at 1878, also state that the Sterling Plan may be amended at any time by [the Committee] or the Board of Directors. Both formalities were satisfied in this case. The APA required and was granted approval by each of the three Sterling companies' boards of directors, and it was signed by the chairman of each of the three Sterling companies. This approval satisfies the first formality, as Halliburton made it clear that, at least pursuant to Delaware law which applied there and which also applies here, a corporation's board of directors retains ultimate control over delegating authority and authorizing corporate actions. See Halliburton, 463 F.3d at 372-73. Thus, even if the Committee was the only entity expressly authorized to modify or amend the Sterling Plan under the formal plan documents, the board of directors was empowered to revoke such delegation and authorize the chairman to amend the Sterling Plan by signing the APA. See Curtiss-Wright Corp. v. Schoonejongen, 514 U.S. 73, 80, 115 S.Ct. 1223, 131 L.Ed.2d 94 (1995); Halliburton, 463 F.3d at 372-74. The SPDs describing the plan amendment process acknowledge as much. The approval of the APA by Sterling's boards of directors and the execution of the APA by Sterling's chairman on December 23, 1996, satisfied both plan amendment formalities. Under Halliburton, at that moment, Section 5.05(f) of the APA became a valid amendment to the Sterling Plan.