HIGH COURT UPHOLDS RUILING IN LUNDY CASE

JOYCE BARRETT

WASHINGTON (FNS) -- The Supreme Court declined without comment to overturn a 4th Circuit Court decision regarding Lundy Packing Co.'s employee stock ownership plan and trust.

According to papers filed with the high court, two current and one former employee of the North Carolina packing company had requested that the privately held company give them four documents about the plan when the value of their benefits dropped by 42% in the period from June 29, 1991 to July 4, 1992.

The company declined on the grounds that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act did not require disclosure of the documents.

The 4th Circuit Court had sided with Lundy in not requiring disclosure of the documents.

The employees were concerned about the safety of their retirement plans, the court papers said, and believed the disputed documents may disclose whether Lundy had accurately valued their accounts.

The documents the workers requested were an Internal Revenue Service letter confirming that the ESOP documents conform to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, the policy insuring the ESOP, a stock valuation report from the independent appraiser and corporate financial statements as well as other data furnished to the independent appraiser.