<nobr>Feb 18, 2011</nobr>
ERIC Urges Appeals Court to Uphold District Court's Dismissal of "Stock Drop" Case
Washington, D.C. -- The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) on February 15 filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief, urging the Court to affirm a lower court's dismissal of an employer "stock-drop" lawsuit. The case is Sewright v. ING Groep, NV, et al.
The plaintiffs in Sewright argued that ING should have prevented employees from being able to purchase the stock when the price dropped as a result of the economic recession. The ING plan required that employees be provided the option of purchasing company stock.
ERIC's brief argues that the plan was obligated to comply with the plan, which required offering employer stock -- as Congress encouraged. Therefore, offering the stock was not discretionary and therefore not a fiduciary action. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and prior court cases clearly hold that compliance with the plan document is properly presumed to be an appropriate standard of care by a plan administrator.
ERIC's brief can be accessed by clicking this link:
http://www.eric.org/forms/uploadFiles/2735000000038.filename.Amicus_Brief_of_ERISA_Industry_Committee_2-14-11.pdf
A related press release can be accessed by clicking this link:
http://www.eric.org/forms/documents/DocumentFormPublic/view?id=2735000000037
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For more information:
Ted Godbout
Director, Communications
The ERISA Industry Committee
1400 L Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 789-1400
tgodbout@eric.org
www.eric.org
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The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) is a non-profit association committed to representing the advancement of the employee retirement, health, and compensation plans of America's largest employers. ERIC's members provide benchmark retirement, health care coverage, compensation, and other economic security benefits directly to tens of millions of active and retired workers and their families. ERIC has a strong interest in proposals affecting its members' ability to deliver those benefits, their cost and their effectiveness, as well as the role of those benefits in the American economy.
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