Criscenti

TURRENTINE, Senior District Judge.

The administrator of a non-contributory employee profit sharing plan denied a request by four employees, who voluntarily left their employment to form a competitive enterprise, that they be paid their profit sharing benefits in a lump sum. Instead, the administrator, in the exercise of his discretion, determined that the former employees should be paid on an installment basis. Plaintiffs/former employees brought this action, alleging that the plan administrator acted arbitrarily, capriciously, in bad faith, and contrary to law, and breached his fiduciary duties, seeking a declaration that they be paid their accrued benefits in a lump sum.

E.F. Brady incorporated his small, San Diego-based construction company into E.F. Brady Co. (hereinafter "the company") in 1956. Capitalizing on the post-war construction boom in California, Mr. Brady's firm grew into a good sized company by the mid-sixties, seasonally employing 40 to 100 laborers. In a clearly stated effort to attract and retain the best employees available, and to provide his employees with retirement benefits, a virtual unknown in the construction industry, Mr. Brady inaugurated the E.F.…