Cigna Corporation, et al., Petitioners v. Janice C. Amara, et al., Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated (563 U.S. 421)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 16, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 563 U.S. 421 · 131 S. Ct. 1866
- Decided
- May 16, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. In 1998, petitioner CIGNA Corporation changed the nature of its basic pension plan for employees. Previously, the plan provided a retiring employee with a defined benefit in the form of an annuity calculated on the basis of his preretirement salary and length of service. The new plan provided most retiring employees with a (lump sum) cash balance calculated on the basis of a defined annual contribution from CIGNA as increased by compound interest. Because many employees had already earned at least some old-plan benefits, the new plan translated already-earned benefits into an opening amount in the employee’s cash balance account. Respondents, acting on behalf of approximately 25,000 beneficiaries of the CIGNA Pension Plan (which is also a petitioner here), challenged CIGNA’s adoption of the new plan. They claimed in part that CIGNA had failed to give them proper notice of changes to their benefits, particularly because the new plan in certain respects provided them with less generous benefits. See Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), §§ 102(a), 104(b), 88 Stat. 841, 848, as amended, § 204(h), as added, 100 Stat. 243, and as amended, 29 U. S. C. §§ 1022(a), 1024(b), 1054(h). The District Court agreed that the disclosures made by CIGNA violated its obligations under ERISA. In determining relief, the court…
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