Matz v. Household International Tax Reduction Investment Plan, 774 F.3d 1141

Fifth appeal in an ERISA defined-contribution pension-plan case alleging partial termination and seeking full vesting for affected participants.
District court granted summary judgment for the defendant using the court’s 2004 framework for partial terminations.
Plaintiff class representative Matz appeals; a separate appeal challenges $64,000 in costs awarded to the defendant, deemed frivolous.
Court had previously adopted a 20% rebuttable presumption for partial termination and discussed a broad 10–40% band around it; IRS later adopted the 20% presumption.
The court addresses whether a sequence of terminations across subsidiaries and years constitutes a single partial termination and whether class representation is preserved when the named plaintiff is dismissed.
Key factual backdrop includes Household International’s restructurings (Hamilton Investments and Household Bank) and total plan participant reductions below 20% in 1994.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a 1994 reduction below 20% constitutes a partial termination.	Matz argues reductions across subsidiaries may aggregate; not a single partial termination in 1994.	Defendant argues 1994 reduction was below the 20% presumptive threshold and not a partial termination.	No partial termination; below 20% in 1994, not a presumptive partial termination.
Whether multiple year terminations may be aggregated if related corporate events occurred across years.	Matz relies on related-events theory to aggregate terminations across 1994–1996.	Terminations must be tied to a single plan year unless related events justify aggregation.	Related-year aggregation permitted; prosecutions may combine terminations across years when events are related.
Whether the absence of a viable class representative requires dismissing the class action.	Sosna/Robinson approach allows substituting another class member if one drops.	No eligible substitute exists; remaining class cannot proceed.	Case dismissed for lack of a substitutable class representative.

Matz v. Household Int’l Tax Reduction Investment Plan, 227 F.3d 971 (7th Cir.2000) (aggregating multiple-year terminations permissible when related to corporate events)
Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393 (U.S. 1975) (class-action substitution when named plaintiff dismissed)
Robinson v. Sheriff of Cook County, 167 F.3d 1155 (7th Cir.1999) (principle for substituting class representative)
Matz v. Household Int’l, 388 F.3d 570 (7th Cir.2004) (established framework for partial termination analysis (revisited))