Nancy J. Johnson v. U.S. Bancorp Broad-Based Change in Control Severance Pay Program Severance Administration Committee

I respectfully dissent. I believe the Severance Administration Committee (Committee) clearly abused its discretion when it determined Nancy Johnson’s conduct in accessing files located on a shared computer drive constituted “cause” under the terms of the severance plan (Plan). I would therefore affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Nancy Johnson.

To constitute “cause,” the Plan required Johnson’s misconduct to be both “gross and willful.” Glaringly lacking from the Committee’s determination is any discussion of how Johnson’s conduct constituted “gross” misconduct.…