CHUCK v. HEWLETT PACKARD
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in CHUCK v. HEWLETT PACKARD, No. 04-36094, a federal appeal. The panel consisted of Dorothy W. Nelson and Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Circuit Judges, and Larry A. Burns, District Judge.
D.W. NELSON, Senior Circuit Judge:
Kenneth Chuck appeals the district court’s grant of the summary judgment motion put forward by several Hewlett Packard Company defendants (collectively, “HP”). Chuck’s principal claim is that the Hewlett Packard Company Deferred Profit-Sharing Retirement Plan (the “Plan”), which is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (”ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., owes him additional retirement benefits arising from his employment at HP until 1980. He also seeks relief for the Plan’s alleged breach of its fiduciary duties and for its failure to provide him with Plan-related documents as required by 29 U.S.C. §§ 10211024. At the heart of this case, we are faced with an issue of first impression in this circuit: whether ERISA’s statute of limitations may bar a claim for benefits notwithstanding a plan’s failure to fulfill its disclosure and review obligations under ERISA § 503, 29 U.S.C. § 1133. We hold that a plan’s material violation of § 1133 is a factor that militates strongly against a finding that the statute of limitations has begun to run against a claimant, but that a compelling showing of circumstances in this case nevertheless indicates that Chuck’s benefits claim is time-barred. Furthermore, because Chuck’s benefits claim is time-barred on account of his own actions, we hold that Chuck lacks statutory standing to bring his claims under ERISA. I Chuck worked for HP from 1968 to 1972, and then again from 1974 to 1980. In 1978 and 1979, HP appears to have calculated Chuck’s pension credit and provided him with annual benefit statements as though there had been no break in his service with HP. Shortly before Chuck’s resignation from HP . . .