Supreme Court declines to hear Verizon case on pension fund switch

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case filed by retirees of Verizon Communications Inc., New York, claiming they and other employees were involuntarily switched from Verizon's pension fund to a spinoff company.

The ERISA class action, originally filed in a U.S. District Court in Dallas in November 2009, charged that they were switched without their knowledge or consent to a pension fund run by Dallas-based Idearc Inc., a Verizon spinoff company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2006.

The lawsuit was originally dismissed by that court in September 2013. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal in October 2014.

Curtis L. Kennedy, attorney for the plaintiffs, declined to comment. Scott A. Brister, respondent attorney, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Rob Kozlowski writes for Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Business Insurance.