Court Opinion

ID: 9553732
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:34:01.945488+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:32:08.382853
License: Public Domain

HATHAWAY, Judge,
dissenting.
There is no dispute that the instrumentation service shop closed. There is no need for interpretation. The plant closing benefits, as defined by G.E.’s own terms, clearly and unambiguously, stated that an “announcement and carrying out of a plan to terminate and discontinue all Company operations at any ... service shop ...” (Emphasis added) was an entitlement to appellant when he was laid off in 1982. Appellant was working in the instrumentation service shop when it ceased operations in Tucson. There is no showing that only part of the instrumentation shop ceased operation. By its own definition, the closure of the instrumentation service shop in Tucson at the time Gesina was laid off was a plant closing. Therefore, if anything, I believe the undisputed facts support summary judgment for appellant. I would reverse.
SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON RECONSIDERATION
HOWARD, Judge.
On October 13, 1988, we filed an opinion in this case affirming the trial court. Appellant petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court for review, which remanded the case to us, asking that we reconsider our opinion in view of a decision of the United States Supreme Court decided subsequent to our opinion, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company v. Bruch, — U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 948, 103 L.Ed.2d 80 (1989), in which the court held that the standard of judicial review of actions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was a de novo standard unless the benefit plan gave the administrator or fiduciary discretionary authority to determine eligibility *44for benefits or to construe the terms of the plan.
When the case was remanded to us we asked the parties to file supplemental briefs and we also had the benefit of oral argument. When the supplemental briefs were filed we discovered that the facts we recited in the original opinion were incorrect because the parties erroneously characterized them to us and did not place before us the documents which they have since attached to their supplemental briefs. Specifically, it was made to appear to us that there was one, single General Electric Pension Plan which contained provisions for job and income security. In fact, there are two separate and distinct plans. There is a “General Electric Pension Plan” and a “General Electric Job and Income Security Plan.” The pension plan is an “employee pension benefit plan” under 29 U.S.C. § 1002(2) and the job and income security plan is an “employee welfare benefit plan” under 29 U.S.C. § 1002(1). Holland v. Burlington Industries, Inc., 772 F.2d 1140 (1985), cert. denied Slack v. Burlington Industries, 477 U.S. 903, 106 S.Ct. 3271, 91 L.Ed.2d 562 (1986).
The pension plan has only two paragraphs dealing with a plant closing. Section XII(7) states:
A former employee whose service with the Company is terminated because of a plant closing after attaining age 50 and completion of 25 or more years of pension qualification service shall be eligible for the supplemental payment provided by paragraph 3. of Section VI. Such supplemental benefits shall be based on the employee’s pension qualification service and the terms of the Plan in effect on such date of termination.
Section XXVI(29) defines “plant closing” and “to close a plant” in the language which we set forth in our original opinion, to-wit:
“Plant Closing” and “To Close a Plant” mean the announcement and carrying out of a plan to terminate and discontinue all Company operations at any plant, service shop or other facility.
Such terms do not refer to the termination and discontinuance of only part of the Company’s operations at any plant, service shop or other facility nor to the termination or discontinuance of all of its former operations coupled with the announced intention to commence there either larger or smaller other operations. Any employees released by such latter changes will be considered as out for lack of work and will be subject to provisions applicable to those on layoff.
The pension plan contains this important provision in Section XX(6):
Any determination, decision or action of any Named Fiduciary or other entity having powers, duties, obligations and responsibilities with respect to the Plan concerning or with respect to any question arising out of or in connection with the construction, interpretation, administration and application of the Plan and of its rules and regulations, shall lie within the absolute discretion of such Named Fiduciary or other entity and shall be final, conclusive and binding upon all participating employees and any and all persons claiming under or through any participating employees.
(Emphasis added.)
As for any employee benefits under the pension plan, since General Electric, as trustee, has the discretion to determine eligibility for benefits and construe the terms of trust, the “arbitrary and capricious standard” of review can be applied and we adhere to the holding of our original opinion.
We first deal with the contention made by General Electric that payments under the job and income security plan are “supplemental payments” under the pension plan, paragraph XX(5)(b) which gives the pension board the power to authorize the payment of “supplemental payments ... as are provided by the Plan.” We do not agree. This provision refers to the payments which are contained in Section VI of the pension plan entitled “Supplemental Payments” and not to the payments made under the job and income security plan.
*45Unlike the provisions of the pension plan, there is no provision in the job and income security plan which gives General Electric discretion to construe the terms of the plan or determine eligibility. General Electric contends a summary of its plans gives it the necessary discretion and it should be read in conjunction with the job and security plan. We do not agree with this argument. The summary cannot add a provision to the plan. The summary is simply that, a summary. Thus no deference is given to General Electric’s interpretation and the plan is to be construed like any other contract. See Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, supra.
The construction of a contract is a question of law for the court. Maganas v. Northroup, 135 Ariz. 573, 663 P.2d 565 (1983). Gesina contends the provision of the job and income security plan defining a “plant closing” unambiguously states that the discontinuance of a service shop constitutes a “plant closing.”
General Electric contends Gesina ignores the second paragraph of the provision which is applicable to the situation here since only part of the facility was discontinued.
A contract must be construed so that every part is given effect. Phillips v. Flowing Wells Unified School Dist. No., 8 of Pima County, 137 Ariz. 192, 669 P.2d 969 (App.1983). Each section of an agreement must be read in relation to each other to bring harmony, if possible, between all parts of the writing. Brisco v. Meritplan Ins. Co., 132 Ariz. 72, 643 P.2d 1042 (App. 1982).
In interpreting a contract the court must apply a standard of reasonableness in interpreting the contract language. See E. Farnsworth, Contracts, § 7.10 at 492 (1982). We start by examining the contents of the job and income security plan.
The plan provides for payments to employees under two circumstances — when there is a plant closing and when there is no plant closing but instead, a layoff. When there is a plant closing an employee gets three choices as to how he will receive plant closing benefits. He can choose to receive severance pay in a lump sum, he can choose to receive periodic payments of the severance benefits or he can choose to be placed on a lack-of-work-status and be paid the benefits which are received by employees who are laid off. If there is a plant closing the employee is entitled to job placement assistance and education and retraining assistance. Under the job placement assistance the employee will receive job counseling which includes counseling and job search, interviewing techniques, identification and assessment of skills, and employment application resume preparation as well as information on placement opportunities. The education and training assistance requires the company to pay an employee up to a maximum of $1,800 for tuition and registration, compulsory fees, books and other supplies required by a course approved by the company which enhances the employee’s ability to obtain other employment.
If the employee is laid off, he is entitled to periodic payments based upon his continuous years of service and his weekly pay. The laid-off employee is entitled to this payment as long as he is unemployed, up to a maximum period of one year. An employee who has been laid off is not entitled to the job placement assistance or education and retraining assistance which is received by employees who are unemployed as a result of a plant closing.
As can be seen, employees who are laid off are treated differently from employees who are unemployed because of a plant closing. The obvious reason for this distinction is the finality of a plant closing— the loss of any opportunity to become reemployed by General Electric because of the closure.1 When operations are still going on there is an opportunity of rehiring in another position or the exercise of seniority, as Gesina did here, to secure a job in one of the still existing operations. One *46must not lose sight of the 'fact that the contract is attempting to define the phrase “plant closing” — a phrase which imports a certain finality — the cessation of all operations. We believe that the only reasonable interpretation is that the discontinuance of a shop results in a “plant closing” only when the shop is a distinct unit and not part of a plant or other facility. Our construction is buttressed by that part of the provision which states that “plant closing” or “to close a plant” does not refer to “... the termination or discontinuance of all of its former operations coupled with the announced intention to commence there either larger or smaller other operations.” Thus, if the service shop is closed and a plant commenced, there is no plant closing, a result inconsonant with the position that anytime a service shop closes, there is a “plant closing” even if other operations are still continuing. General Electric did not breach its contract by refusing to pay Gesi-na a severance payment under the job and income security plan.
Affirmed.
LIVERMORE, P.J., and HATHAWAY, J., concur.

. Under the plan if there is a "plant closing" an employee with fifteen or more years of continuous service is eligible for a lump sum severance pay computed on the basis of two weeks pay for each of his full years of continuous service plus one-half of a week’s pay for each additional three months of continuous service at the time of termination.