Fraver v. North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance

CHAPMAN, Circuit Judge:

Appellant North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company ceased paying *676certain benefits to appellees, former members of its sales force, when they violated a condition of payment. Appellees filed this action, alleging that the condition was unenforceable under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 etseq. (1982 & Supp. II 1984) (ERISA). The central issue is whether the court erred in ruling that the former agents had been employees of Farm Bureau for purposes of ERISA and that the benefits provisions of their contracts established…