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• Barton v Elexsys International Inc
  A executive vice president of Elexsys International brought a breach of contract claim against company. Executive claimed that he was entitled to exercise his stock options during severance period of twelve months, due to company's president's alleged oral promise that would allow him to exercise his stock options after the expiration of thirty days after his termination. Court held against executive because severance plan made no mention of stock options and president's alleged oral promise was too vague to be binding upon the company.
• Campbell v. Potash Corp of Saskatchewan
  Former executives brought contract action against surviving company after merger, alleging breach of contract for failure to pay severance/change in control payments after merger occurred. Court held in favor of executives. Case is a good example of the effect of a change in control and assumption provisions contained in severance agreements.
• Cline v Commissioner Internal Revenue
  Court of Appeals held that executive's bonus constituted component of executive's parachute payment for income tax purposes.
• Cvelbar v. CBI Illinois Inc
  Former executive vice president of bank sued successor company, after a merger took place, for severance/change in control payments. The district court held against former executive and the former executive appealed. The Seventh Circuit Court of appeals held that the severance/change in control agreement constituted a one person severance plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In establishing an ERISA plan, derived from a severance agreement, the Court held against the former executive because the successor company's counsel had discretion to interpret the plan, thus creating an arbitrary and capricious review. The successor company's action to terminate severance payments was reasonable. The case is an excellent discussion of how severance agreements can be viewed as ERISA benefit plans and not contract disputes. Thus, a severance agreement could rise to an ERISA plan and its required standard of review. The successor company in this case argued the severance agreement was an ERISA plan, thus providing it with discretion to determine the availability of benefits.
• Leberman v. John Blair & Co.
  Former Vice President and Chief Financial Officer brought action to enforce his severance payment pursuant to severance and change in control agreements. The district court granted an award in favor of executive and former employer appeal. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the severance and change in control agreements were ambiguous as to the specific terms. The holding is a good discussion of contract interpretation, severance and change in control. There is a minor discussion of excise tax and parachute payments (defined by regulations). There is also a discussion of good faith on the part of the executive in calculating the amount owed under the agreement.

• Simon v. Pfizer Inc.
  Pfizer argues that the District Court erred in failing to dismiss Simon’s four-count complaint concerning allegedly improper refusal of, and interference with the attainment of, benefits under the Warner- Lambert Company Enhanced Severance Plan (“ESP”) because the ESP mandates that such disputes be decided in an arbitral, not judicial, forum and because Simon failed to exhaust internal administrative remedies. We REVERSE, in part, AFFIRM, in part, and REMAND for the reasons set forth in this opinion.