Opinion ID: 6928644
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Contract Authorization

Text: In addition to their contentions regarding the proper interpretation of the Retirement Agreement Rider, the parties dispute its effect in light of the Plan’s requirement that Rochester Tel’s Board of Directors consent to employee ventures that otherwise would violate the three-year prohibition on inimical activity. Both Sayers and Rochester Tel insist that the Rider interpretation each advocates does not change the Plan but merely clarifies the meaning of “inimical activity” in that contract. Rochester Tel strenuously contends that the interpretation urged by appellant “produced an irreconcilable conflict with the [Plan]” and would amend the pension plan so that Board consent would be required. According to appellant, the Rider permissibly limited the period under which Rochester Tel could terminate his benefits for competing against Rochester Tel from three years to two years. In any event, appellant contends that Rochester Tel ratified the Rider — and any attendant modification to the Plan’s three-year ban — because for two years the Board failed to repudiate the Rider and instead received the benefit of Sayers’ compliance. Rochester Tel responds that the Board had no reason to disclaim the Rider because Sayers complied with its terms as Rochester Tel has interpreted, them and as Rochester Tel believed Sayers had interpreted them. Ap-pellees further state that once Sayers violated the Plan’s inimical activity clause, the company acted promptly to protect its position. Resolution of these contentions depends upon what the parties believed to be the effect of the Rider. Sayers finally argues that the Retirement Agreement is an independently enforceable contract to pay benefits notwithstanding the Plan so long as Sayers did not violate the Retirement Agreement’s terms. This argument relies on an interpretation in which the Rider not only does not amend the Plan, but also fails to incorporate its terms. We do not adopt this contention insofar as it avers the Retirement Agreement does not incorporate the Plan’s benefit forfeiture provisions because such an interpretation is contrary to the language of the Retirement Agreement. In fact, the entire dispute before us concerns the conceded interaction between these two documents. Consequently, resolving the issue of whether the Retirement Agreement Rider was executed effectively only can occur after the Rider itself is interpreted by a finder of fact.