Excerpt: In Johnson v. Couturier, Nos. 08-17369, 08-17373, 08-17375, 08-17631 (Ninth Circuit 2009), the Court broadened some of the thinking on the application of ERISA. In this case, in his capacity as president and a director of Noll Manufacturing Company and its successors ('Noll'), the defendant, Clair R. Couturier, Jr. had channeled $34.8 million of company assets to his own possession by applying that amount to buy out certain deferred compensation agreements (the 'Buy Out'). Couturier was also a trustee of Noll's employee stock ownership plan (the 'ESOP'). The plaintiffs, who are participants in the ESOP, filed suit against Couturier alleging breach of fiduciary duties under ERISA. The Court faced a number of issues, including some interesting ERISA matters.

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