Kramer Levin Client Société Générale Victorious Before Second Circuit

On November 20, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed a district court decision granting summary judgment to Kramer Levin client Société Générale in an action by a former senior executive seeking $34 million in allegedly unpaid compensation based on claims of breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, and violations of New York Labor Laws, Levion v. Société Générale, No. 11-CV-4476.

Plaintiff’s case centered on his argument that the parties had entered into a binding contractual formula for calculating bonuses because they essentially had followed the same formula for awarding compensation for more than a decade. Based on a de novo review, the Court of Appeals found that even if plaintiff had established the existence of a contract, he did not “meaningfully contest the fact that Société Générale management retained ultimate control over determining the group’s profit and loss – and therefore the bonus pool,” which “doom[ed]” plaintiff’s contract claims. The Court also found that, contrary to plaintiff’s assertions, he was not entitled to a pro-rated annual bonus for the three months of work he performed prior to his resignation in light of annual notices he received that Société Générale restricted “cash bonuses to active employees on the date of payment.” Finally, the Court rejected plaintiff’s New York Labor Law claims because plaintiff’s bonus payments were not predicated on his “own personal productivity, but instead on the success of his group as a whole,” and thus were the type of incentive compensation not covered by the statute. Finding no merit to the remainder of plaintiff’s claims, the Court affirmed the district court’s judgment dismissing plaintiff’s case in its entirety.

The Kramer Levin team consisted of Employment Law partner Kevin B. Leblang, Litigation partner Norman C. Simon, and Litigation associates Jade A. Burns and Dannie Cho.