Coates

Coates v. Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Good Law
161 F. App'x 719
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitJanuary 12, 2006No. 03-17306; D.C. No. CV-03-00498-RMWCalifornia293 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

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 *720 take impartial account of the interests of all beneficiaries.” Varity Corp. v. Howe, 516 U.S. 489, 514 , 116 S.Ct. 1065 , 134 L.Ed.2d 130 (1996); see 29 C.F.R. § 2550 .404a-1 (describing fiduciary’s duties in reference to the plan as a whole). Plaintiff concedes that .the merged fund was properly invested in a diversified investment portfolio, so he failed to state a claim for breach of fiduciary duty.

Plaintiff did not argue his…

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