NEW ORLEANS – Relatives of a former Entergy Corporation employee are suing the company for breach of fiduciary duties after the company paid out the benefits of his 401K retirement savings plan to his surviving spouse, despite his prior designation of the plaintiffs as the beneficiaries.
Plaintiffs Ellen Martinez LeBoeuf, individually and as administratrix of the estate of Alvin Martinez, Kara Maria Bachman, Merol Martinez Wells, and Andre J. Martinez filed the lawsuit in federal court against the Entergy Corporation, the Entergy Corporation Employee Benefits Committee, and T. Rowe Price Trust Company, citing a breach of fiduciary duty.
According to court documents, the plaintiff's family member, Alvin Martinez, passed away on September 6, 2021. Alvin was a retired employee of Entergy and had a 401K retirement savings plan with the company.
The plaintiffs claim that in 2010, Alvin designated them as the beneficiaries of his savings plan, having filled out the appropriate paperwork. In 2014, Alvin married Kathleen Mire, and they remained married until Alvin's death on September 6, 2021, from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident.
According to the plaintiffs, Alvin often told them they would inherit the benefits of his savings plan and that when he married Mire, they agreed that any accounts they brought into the marriage would be kept separate, specifically the funds in Alvin's savings plan, and that the plaintiffs would inherit the funds upon his death.
On October 27, 2021, an employee of the T. Rowe Price Trust Company, a trustee of Entergy, informed the Martinez family that the entirety of Alvin's savings plan had been transferred to Mire. The Martinez family requested that Entergy reverse its decision to pay the benefits to Mire and transfer the funds to them in accordance with Alvin's longstanding wishes, but the request was allegedly denied. Entergy has claimed that its decision to refuse Alvin's designation of beneficiaries on file is based on its view of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) laws that mandate payments to the surviving spouse because Mire had not signed a waiver form.
The plaintiffs argue that the defendants, particularly T. Rowe Price, had continuously sent Alvin plan statements from his savings plan showing them as the sole beneficiaries, reinforcing to Alvin that they would be the sole beneficiaries of the funds upon Alvin's passing. The plaintiffs further claim that the defendants failed to adequately communicate to Alvin that his designation of beneficiaries could be invalidated by his remarriage to Mire unless a spousal waiver form was executed.
The plaintiffs are seeking a judgment for monetary compensation and restitution, plus attorney's fees, court costs, and any other relief the court deeps proper. They are being represented by John R. Walker and Andrew Walker of Jones Fussell in Covington.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:23-cv-06257