Ex-NetApp Executive Gets Trial Over Axing of Retiree Health Plan

A former NetApp Inc. executive can go to trial on claims the company committed fiduciary breach in the course of terminating an executive retiree health plan, a California federal judge ruled one year after the case was revived on appeal.

NetApp said Daniel Warmenhoven’s fiduciary breach claim was fatally flawed because it didn’t seek “appropriate equitable relief” as required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Judge Beth Labson Freeman disagreed, saying there was a factual dispute over whether NetApp’s alleged misrepresentations about the plan caused Warmenhoven—the company’s former chief executive officer—to suffer out-of-pocket costs that could be remedied under ...