September 17, 2025
The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday seemed open to reviving a proposed class action from married energy company retirees who claim outdated life expectancy data caused them to lose out on benefits, with judges questioning the lower court’s holding that actuarial assumptions don’t have to be reasonable.
A three-judge panel heard arguments in the appeal from married Southern Company Services Inc. retirees seeking to revive allegations that their pension annuity benefits were lowballed due to outdated mortality tables used in conversions, violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The proposed class of Southern Company pension plan participants, led by ex-workers William Drummond and Richard Odom, appealed after U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones in July 2024 dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim against Southern Company, its pension plan and its benefits administration committee.
During the proceedings, judges on the panel focused their questions on whether the lower court correctly held that ERISA allowed any actuarial assumptions to be used to convert single-life annuities to joint-and-survivor annuity form, as long as the process was spelled out in the plan terms.
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The retirees are represented by Michelle C. Yau and Daniel R. Sutter of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, by Peter K. Stris, Radha (Rachana) Pathak and Douglas Geyser of Stris & Maher LLP and by John T. Sparks Sr. of Austin & Sparks PC.
Read 11th Circ. Seems Open to Reviving Mortality Table Suit.