Information Center

Dunne v. Elton Corporation

In the 1940s, Mary Dupont established a trust to pay pensions to the personal employees she, her children, and her future grandchildren, most of whom over the years informed their employees of the pension trust and their right to a pension.  The trust, however, turned out not to be adequately funded and no additional contributions were made to the trust over the years.  In addition, the trust turned down some applications of some of the employees.  The case was complicated procedurally, but the underlying issue can be stated in a sentence: was this trust subject to ERISA?  The employees relied on the trust and most of Mrs. Dupont’s heirs presented the trust as a perk of employment.

The district court ruled, correctly we think, that the trust was an ERISA trust.  The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed.  The Pension Rights Center submitted a brief asking the Third Circuit to reconsider its decision, arguing that it misconstrued the law and provided a roadmap for other individuals to create an unregulated pension plan. Unfortunately, the Third Circuit decided not to rehear the case.

The Pension Rights Center is grateful to Taibe Anne Brett and her firm, Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC, for their pro bono representation of the Center.