On June 23, 2004, plaintiffs filed this class action complaint against the Monsanto Co. Pension Plan in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The complaint alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in regards to age discrimination. The alleged violations stemmed from Monsanto's conversion on January 1, 1997, of its pension plan from a conventional defined benefit plan to a cash balance plan.

As the case proceeded other cases were consolidated and various additional plaintiffs who had similar complaints and defendants with the same pension plan were joined. On September 4, 2006, plaintiffs filed their final amended consolidated class action complaint. It contained ten counts that constituted three general allegations: that the pension plans violated ERISA by ceasing or reducing the rate an employee's benefits accrued on account of age, that the plans violated ERISA by back-loading the rate at which benefits accrued for older workers, and that the payment of interest on late benefit payments was below the rate specified in one of the plans.

On August 29, 2007, the district court (Judge Phil Gilbert) denied various motions to dismiss. On September 13, 2007, the court dismissed three counts of the complaint relating to the reduction of the rate at which benefits accrued with prejudice on the basis of a recently decided case in the Seventh Circuit. Class action status was certified on May 22, 2008.

The district court (Judge Phil Gilbert) issued two opinions on June 11, 2009, concerning the competing motions for summary judgment. Summary judgment was granted to the plaintiffs on the claim that one plan failed to pay adequate interest on delayed pension payments. But the court granted defendants summary judgment on the counts relating to the back-loading of the rate at which benefits accrued.

On October 27, 2009, plaintiffs appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and on September 22, 2010, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the decision of the district court. On September 30, 2014, the district court ordered the exhibits to be destroyed or disposed of, and the case closed.

Michael Perry - 06/29/2010
MJ Koo - 03/09/2017


compress summary