Coates v. Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Coates v. Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Defendants had discretion in their role as plan sponsor to merge Fund B into Fund A. “[A]n employer’s' decision to amend a pension plan concerns the composition or design of the plan itself and does not implicate the employer’s fiduciary duties which consist of such actions as administration of the plan’s assets.” Hughes Aircraft Co. v. Jacobson, 525 U.S. 432, 444, 119 S.Ct. 755, 142 L.Ed.2d 881 (1999).
Defendants did not breach their fiduciary duties when they followed the express terms of the plan and merged the two funds. See Wright v. Oregon Metallurgical Corp., 360 F.3d 1090, 1093 (9th Cir. 2004). Defendants’ duties ran to the plan as a whole, not to any subset of beneficiaries, because fiduciaries are required “to
Plaintiff did not argue his misrepresentation claim in his opening brief. We therefore decline to consider it. See Fed. R.App. P. 28(a)(9)(A); Kim v. Kang, 154 F.3d 996, 1000 (9th Cir. 1998) (“[W]e ‘will not ordinarily consider matters on appeal that are not specifically and distinctly argued in appellant’s opening brief.’ ” (quoting United States v. Ullah, 976 F.2d 509, 514 (9th Cir. 1992) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted))).
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Brentley COATES, individually and on behalf of a class of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiff—Appellant v. AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Agilent Technologies, Inc. Deferred Profit-Sharing Plan Hewlett-Packard Company Hewlett-Packard Company Deferred Profit-Sharing Plan, Defendants—Appellees
- Status
- Published