Court Opinion

ID: 9725818
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:13:16.682016+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:20.280074
License: Public Domain

GRODIN, J., Concurring.
I arrive at the same destination as my colleagues, but by a somewhat different route.
They, and the parties, implicitly assume that federal law controls this matter, and I agree. (Cf. Rehmar v. Smith (9th Cir. 1976) 555 F.2d 1362, 1368-1369.) I agree also that there is substantial authority for the propositions that as to pre-ERISA1 disputes the, “sole and exclusive benefit” phrase contained within section 302(c)(5) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 United States Code section 186(c)(5), gives courts jurisdiction to determine whether challenged provisions of a given pension fund constitute a “structural defect” in violation of that section (e.g., Burroughs v. Bd. of Trustees of Pension Trust, etc. (9th Cir. 1976) 542 F.2d 1128, 1130); and that a “structural defect” may exist where the trustees have written unreasonable conditions of eligibility which arbitrarily exclude employees from benefits *552(e.g., Johnson v. Botica (7th Cir. 1976) 537 F.2d 930, 935; Alvares v. Erickson (9th Cir. 1975) 514 F.2d 156, 166-167; Roark v. Lewis (D.C. Cir. 1968) 401 F.2d 425, 427; Souza v. Trustees of Western Conference, etc. (N.D.Cal. 1978) 460 F.Supp. 843, 844-845).
When attention focuses upon the criteria for determining reasonableness or arbitrariness, however, the picture becomes fuzzy. As the court said in Roark v. Lewis, supra, 401 F.2d at page 429; “The court is fully cognizant of the internal pressures exerted on the trustees: the size of the pie is fixed and variations can be achieved only by changing the size or the number of the slices. There is no camouflaged design on the part of the court to second-guess the discretionary judgments of the trustees .... It is for the trustees, not judges, to choose between various reasonable alternatives.” (See also Tomlin v. Bd. of Trustees of Const. Laborers (9th Cir. 1978) 586 F.2d 148.)
Break-in-service rules, providing for cancellation of prior pension credits on the basis of a lapse in covered employment, are a common feature of pension plans, and have been upheld in a variety of contexts. (E.g., Giler v. Board of Sheet Metal Workers of So. Cal. (9th Cir. 1975) 509 F.2d 848; Thurber v. Western Conf. of Teamsters Pens. Plan (9th Cir. 1976) 542 F.2d 1106; Wilson v. Board of Trustees, etc. (9th Cir. 1977) 564 F.2d 1299.) Such a rule may be, and typically is, reasonably related to a legitimate fund purpose, actuarial or otherwise; and to characterize such a rule as providing for a “forfeiture” adds little to analysis.
The Supreme Court of the United States has not addressed the standards applicable to determining this sort of “structural defect” under section 302, and the decisions of the circuit courts of appeal are not entirely consistent. Indeed, as Judge Orrick observed in Souza v. Trustees of Western Conference, etc., supra, even the Ninth Circuit’s pronouncements in this area “do not lend themselves to easy synthesis.” (460 F.Supp. 843, 846.) We are not bound by the views of the Ninth Circuit, however (Debtor Reorganizers, Inc. v. State Bd. of Equalization (1976) 58 Cal.App.3d 691, 696 [130 Cal.Rptr. 64]), and in my judgment the most useful approach is that of the District of Columbia Circuit Court in Roark v. Lewis, supra. The court in that case had under consideration a requirement by the United Mine Workers pension trust that an employees’ last regular employment before retirement be with a signatory operator. Observing that such a requirement makes employees *553sacrifice an otherwise valid pension claim because they worked a relatively short time for noncontributing operators, the court concluded that the fund applicants had made out a prima facie case as to the requirement’s unreasonableness. The court did not on that account hold the requirement invalid, however. Rather, it held that the burden shifted to the trustees to come forward with evidence establishing the reasonableness of the requirement, and (reversing summary judgment which had been granted in favor of the trustees) it remanded for further proceedings to enable such evidence to be presented.
The fiduciary obligation of trustees of a jointly administered pension fund is, in some respects at least, analogous to the duty of fair representation which a union owes the members of its bargaining unit. (See Roark v. Lewis, supra, 401 F.2d 425, 427.) That duty is “at least as exacting... as the Constitution imposes upon a legislature to give equal protection to the interests of those for whom it legislates.” (Steele v. L. & N. R Co. (1944) 323 U.S. 192, 202 [89 L.Ed. 173, 183, 65 S.Ct. 226].) In the arena of industrial relations and worker expectations the right to a pension may well be the equivalent of a “fundamental interest” in the constitutional arena, warranting “strict scrutiny” of the reasons asserted in support of the classification. (Cf. Sail’er Inn, Inc. v. Kirby (1971) 5 Cal.3d 1, 17 [95 Cal.Rptr. 329, 485 P.2d 529, 46 A.L.R.3d 351].) Even the more traditional “rational relationship” test, however, requires in its current formulations, if not a showing of “‘fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation’” (Reed v. Reed (1971) 404 U.S. 71, 75-76 [30 L.Ed.2d 225, 229, 92 S.Ct. 251]; Brown v. Merlo (1973) 8 Cal.3d 855, 861 [106 Cal.Rptr. 388, 506 P.2d 212, 66 A.L.R.3d 505]), then at least “‘a serious and genuine judicial inquiry into the correspondence between the classification and the legislative goals’” (Newland v. Board of Governors (1977) 19 Cal.3d 705, 711 [139 Cal.Rptr. 620, 566 P.2d 254]). Thus, the Roark v. Lewis view that trustees bear the burden of producing evidence to justify a rule that is prima facie unreasonable goes no further than, and perhaps not even as far as, the analogous equal protection principle inherent in the duty of fair representation.
Unlike my colleagues, I am not prepared to say that the rule complained of herein is arbitrary or unreasonable. There may be reasonable justification for its existence. I am, however, prepared to say that it is prima facie unreasonable, in the sense that it disqualifies for no apparent reason persons who have already accumulated the requisite years of service credit, so that further evidence by way of explanation would be *554required in order to sustain it. Since it does not appear, and there is no claim, that such evidence was introduced or offered, I conclude for purposes of this case that the trustees’ burden of proof has not been met, and that appellant was accordingly entitled to judgment. In all other respects, I concur in my colleagues’ opinion.
A petition for a rehearing was denied on October 24, 1980, and the following opinion was then rendered:

 The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 United States Code section 1001 et seq., provides complex requirements for the vesting of rights under pension plans. (See, e.g., § 1053(b)(1)(F).) Neither party contends that ERISA is applicable to this proceeding.