Facts

Beginning in 1998, Poppi Metaxas worked as President and CEO of Gateway Bank, F.S.B. While employed, Metaxas participated in Gateway's Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan. Under the terms of the plan, participants could receive one retirement, disability, or termination, based upon certain eligibility requirements. Retirement benefits were available to participants who separated from employment upon reaching the retirement age of 60. Disability benefits were available, in lieu of any other benefits under the plan, if participants were unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity due to a medically determinable impairment. Termination benefits were available to participants who separated from employment prior to reaching retirement age if the separation was not supported by cause. Also, the terms of the plan empowered the Board to limit an employee's participation and eligibility for benefits based on performance, except for retirement and disability benefits.

In 2008, the Office of Thrift Supervision told Gateway to reduce its nonperforming assets and bank-owned real estate, as well as raise capital. That same year, Metaxas was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and though she underwent chemotherapy and surgery, she continued to report symptoms through 2011. In 2009, as CEO of Gateway, Metaxas caused Gateway to engage in a series of fraudulent transfers that, while they appeared to reduce the bank's assets, actually reduced Gateway's capital. Then, in March 2010, the OTS informed the Board that it had investigated the 2009 transactions and concluded Metaxas engaged in unlawful and fraudulent conduct, and Metaxas was immediately suspended without pay pending an investigation. The Board, however, made no express findings regarding Metaxas's performance as it related to her benefits under the plan. In May 2010, Metaxas submitted a letter of resignation to the Chairman of the Board, citing disability stemming from her condition and the effects of treatment.

Metaxas was subsequently charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud in the Eastern District of New York. In March 2013, while those proceedings were ongoing, she filed a claim for benefits under the plan, but Metaxas and Gateway agreed to toll processing her claim due to the criminal case. Then, in April 2015, Metaxas pled guilty. After that, in February 2016, the Claim Committee denied her claim, and upon reconsideration, the Appeal Committee found Metaxas ineligible for termination benefits, concluding she had been terminated for cause prior to her resigning. Disability benefits were similarly denied because she had not become disabled while employed at Gateway.

Metaxas filed suit against Gateway on February 17, 2020.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended that she was a participant in the Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan; that she was due benefits under that plan; that the defendant had wrongfully denied her claim under the plan; that she was entitled to receive those benefits; and that she was entitled to equitable relief under ERISA.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied any wrongdoing or liability and all the plaintiff's material allegations. Moreover, the defendant contended that the plaintiff had been terminated for cause, did not become disabled while employed by the defendant, and had not reached retirement age, and therefore, she was not entitled to any benefits under the plan.

Result

The court granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment as to the claim for termination benefits and granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment as to the claim for disability benefits.