Court Opinion

ID: 9494415
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:37:27.732815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:24.242446
License: Public Domain

POOLER, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
Because I agree with the majority regarding its interpretation of the fraud or concealment provision of 29 U.S.C. § 1113 and with its directive to the district court to allow plaintiffs the opportunity to amend their complaint in order to plead fraud with the requisite particularity, I join in Parts A and B of the opinion. I of course express no view as to whether plaintiffs will be successful in their attempts to bring an amended complaint within Section 1113’s six-year statute of limitations.
However, I respectfully dissent from Part C of the majority opinion for two reasons. First, I believe that Part C is dicta and that its holding is not necessary to disposition of this appeal. Although the majority states that its holding in Part C would apply to any plaintiff whose amended complaint fails to fall within the six-year statute of limitations, that future dispute, if indeed it ever occurs, is not before us.
Second, I do not agree with the majority’s position that the district court made an error of law in its application of Section 1113’s actual knowledge requirement. Even if I apply the definition of actual knowledge that the majority proposes, I see no issue of material fact tending to support plaintiffs’ argument that they lacked actual knowledge of defendant’s breach of fiduciary duty until litigation of a completely separate claim by a completely unrelated plaintiff took place. It is undisputed that in November 1991 plaintiffs knew that (1) defendant offered a voluntary separation package for which they would have been eligible if they had not recently retired; (2) defendant had told them in response to direct inquiries prior to retirement that no package-was forthcoming; and (3) the timing of these events was sufficiently suspect to give them reason to believe that defendant had lied to them.
Thus, in November 1991, plaintiffs had knowledge of all the facts necessary to constitute a claim, but they waited nearly five years before filing a complaint. I believe that the majority goes awry when it holds that plaintiffs lacked actual knowledge of defendant's breach until they learned of facts disclosed in a completely separate trial. The majority creates a major loophole for dilatory plaintiffs by allowing them to delay the start of the statute of limitations period until they know not only that they have a cause of action but also until they have details of *196the case that normally surface during discovery. I therefore dissent from Part C.