Su v. Johnson

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting plaintiff-Secretary of Labor’s motion for summary judgment and in issuing permanent injunction removing defendants from retirement plan that one defendant had set up for herself and other employees in her medical practice in ERISA action, alleging that defendants had breached fiduciary duties of loyalty and prudence. Record showed that both defendants breached said duties, where hundreds of thousands of dollars from plan assets were used for one defendant’s personal benefit, but were accounted for as either plan expenses or losses, rather than as distribution of retirement benefits to said defendant. Record also showed that defendants did not act in accordance with language in plan documents, where one defendant withdrew funds without consulting other defendant. Also, Dist. Ct. did not abuse its discretion by issuing permanent injunction that both removed defendants as trustees of plan and prohibited both defendants from serving in such positions of trust in future, where many payments that one defendant directed to herself over five-year period could properly be viewed as prohibited self-dealing.