Rare ERISA Case Holding

Gary Young for the National Law Journal at Law.com reports on the case of Millsap v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., No. 94-CV-633-H, from the Northern District of Oklahoma. The case, according to Law.com, represents only a handful of cases in which employees have prevailed in a claim that their employer violated ERISA “by closing a plant with the intent to shed employees whose benefit costs were high or who were on the verge of vesting in pensions.” Unfortunately, the $36 million settlement will never reach the hands of plaintiffs unless a 10th Circuit Court accepts the Court’s certification of its September 25, 2002 order denying McDonnell’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of back pay. Many are saying the “backpay” issue is doomed under the holding of Great-West Life & Annuity Ins. Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.