Roberts v. IFS Topco, LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California grants Plaintiff Jeffrey Roberts’s motion to remand. The court holds that the breach-of-contract claim arising from a separately negotiated severance agreement was not completely preempted by ERISA under the two-part Davila test because the claim could not have been brought under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a) and arose from an independent legal duty. The case is remanded to the Superior Court of California for the County of San Diego.

Holdings

1. The breach-of-contract claim was not completely preempted by ERISA because it failed both parts of the Davila test: it could not have been brought under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a), and it arose from duties independently imposed by the negotiated Severance Agreement.
2. Removal was improper because the complaint did not present a removable federal question and ERISA complete preemption did not apply.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the breach-of-contract claim concerning the separately negotiated Severance Agreement was completely preempted by ERISA so as to create federal-question removal jurisdiction.
2. Whether the plaintiff could have brought the severance claim under ERISA's civil-enforcement provision, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a).
3. Whether the severance claim arose from an independent legal duty apart from ERISA.

Disposition

remanded