William H. Burstein, M.d. v. Retirement Account Plan for Employees of Allegheny Health Education

PRECEDENTIAL
Filed August 1, 2003
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 02-2666
WILLIAM H. BURSTEIN, M.D.; EFRAIN J. CRESPO, M.D.;
RICHARD R. AUSTIN; ELEANOR HING FAY;
JEAN B. HAAS, individually and on behalf of others
similarly situated,
Appellants
v.
RETIREMENT ACCOUNT PLAN FOR EMPLOYEES OF
ALLEGHENY HEALTH EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
FOUNDATION, c/o Administrator Dwight Kasperbauer,
individually and as Plan Administrator, and named
fiduciary; DAVID C. McCONNELL; WILLIAM F. ADAM; J.
DAVID BARNES; RALPH W. BRENNER; DOROTHY
MCKENNA BROWN; FRANK V. CAHOUET; DOUGLAS D.
DANFORTH; RONALD R. DAVENPORT; HARRY R.
EDELMAN, III; ROBERT L. FLETCHER; IRA J. GUMBERG;
ROBERT M. HERNANDEZ; FRANCIS B. NIMICK, JR.;
ROBERT B. PALMER; ROBERT M. POTAMKIN; DAVID W.
SCULLEY; W. P. SNYDER, III; MELLON BANK NA;
PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION, as
successor-in-interest
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Civ. No. 98-cv-06768)
District Judge: Honorable Charles R. Weiner
Before: SCIRICA, Chief Judge, AMBRO and
GARTH, Circuit Judges

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ORDER AMENDING OPINION
It is ORDERED that footnote 3 of the opinion in the
above-entitled case be, and hereby is, amended by adding
an additional paragraph of text to the end of the present
footnote, so that footnote 3 will now read in its entirety:
The PBGC “is a wholly owned United States
Government corporation . . . The PBGC administers
and enforces Title IV of ERISA. Title IV includes a
mandatory Government insurance program that
protects the pension benefits of [tens of millions of]
private-sector American workers who participate in
plans covered by the Title.” Pension Ben. Guar. Corp. v.
LTV Corp., 496 U.S. 633, 636-37 (1990) (citing 29
U.S.C. § 1302) (other citations omitted).
Burstein has sued PBGC both in its role as statutory
guarantor under Title IV of ERISA and in its role as the
substituted administrator for Kasperbauer, the former
Plan administrator. As substituted administrator,
PBGC now administers the terminated Plan. We
explain this distinction in Part III, infra.
We have used the terms “administrator” and
“substituted administrator” to clarify that PBGC has
essentially taken over certain Plan duties from AHERF
upon the Plan’s termination. Our use of these terms
should not be construed as assigning any role to the
PBGC other than the role of Statutory “Trustee” of the
terminated Plan, as outlined in Title IV of ERISA. As
PBGC has taken pains to point out, Statutory Trustee
is the term used when the Plan is a terminated plan
(such as the one at issue here), whereas administrator
is the term used when the plan is ongoing. As PBGC
acknowledges, our use of the term “administrator” or
“substituted administrator” has no effect on our
decision.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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BY THE COURT,
/s/ Leonard I. Garth
United States Circuit Judge
DATED: August 1, 2003
A True Copy:
Teste:
Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
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