Overview
In the latest chapter in a long running dispute, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on December 23, 2014, affirmed the US District Court for the District of Connecticut decision in Amara v. CIGNA Corporation, which ordered the plan sponsor to change the way in which its pension plan handled its transition in 1998 from a traditional to a cash balance formula. The circuit court’s opinion is noteworthy for its holding that contract, as well as trust, principles could inform the availability of reformation, and for its conclusion that the elements of contract reformation had been established based on generalized circumstantial evidence of a unilateral mistake by the entire plaintiff class.
Click here to read more.