The Second Circuit recently held (in a summary order) that plan participants’ claims alleging violations of ERISA’s disclosure rules in connection with a cash balance conversion were barred by the statute of limitations. In so ruling, the Court explained that because the participants’ claims that defendants breached their fiduciary duties by mischaracterizing the new plan’s performance were brought fourteen years after the alleged breaches occurred and the participants failed to plausibly allege any fraud or concealment, the claims were barred by ERISA Section 413’s statute of limitations governing fiduciary breach claims. Similarly, the Court concluded that the participants’ Section 204(h) claim was time barred, regardless of whether it was governed by section 413 or the state limitations period for breach of contract period claims, since the claim accrued, at the latest, when the plan issued the summary plan description in 2000. The case is Pirro v. Nat’l Grid, 2014 WL 5438107 (2d Cir. Oct. 28, 2014).
