Opinion ID: 448000
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Third Claim: Breach of the Duty to Act Fairly and in Good Faith.

Text: 43 The plaintiffs' third claim adds no factual allegations to those of the first two claims. It merely asserts that the same acts alleged in the first two claims constituted a breach by Gulf of an implied state-law duty to act fairly and in good faith. Insofar as this claim relates to the denial of severance benefits that plaintiffs allegedly accumulated in the course of their employment with Gulf, this claim is preempted by ERISA. See Russell, 722 F.2d at 487-88. For the same reasons discussed above in connection with plaintiffs' second claim, however, we find that the third claim is not preempted insofar as it relates to prospective benefits. 44