MLB Pension Fights Tom Browning’s Widow Over Benefits

The MLB Players Benefit Plan and Pension Committee contend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) lawsuit brought by Dawn Dellapa, the widow of former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Tom Browning, should be dismissed. Dellapa contends she was wrongly denied surviving spouse benefits.

The argument was contained in a brief filed on Monday in a Florida federal district court by Jim Brantley and other attorneys from Donnelly & Gross and Bredhoff & Kaiser on behalf of the benefit plan and pension committee. The plan and committee, which are separate entities from MLB and MLBPA, are operated by representatives from both MLB and MLBPA. 

As Sportico detailed in April, Dellapa asserts she and Browning, a member of the Reds Hall of Fame, had a relationship that began in 1991 and are parents to a child born in 1995. However, they didn’t marry until a couple of months before Browning died in 2022 at the age of 62. 

The short period between the couple entering into marriage and Browning’s death became legally significant when Dellapa’s petition for surviving spouse benefits was rejected. An eligibility rule indicates a spouse must be married for a continuous period of at least one year. Dellapa disputes this interpretation, emphasizing that the word “may” precedes the one-year requirement. She also maintains there are alternative means of qualifying based on how the requirements are expressed in the policy. 

In addition, Dellapa says the plan causes age discrimination, since it is more protective of retired members who are in “active” service, meaning managers, coaches, trainers and other ex-players who are employed by teams. Dellapa asserts retired members in active service are less likely to be old, “due to the physical and mental limitations that accompany aging.”

Last month, William J. Schifino Jr. and other attorneys for Dellapa rebuked the plan and committee in a brief.  They maintain the defendants “disparage” the Dellapa-Browning relationship “as a quick, seven-week-long marriage before his death.” The attorneys insist the couple’s relationship lasted “over 30 years, including a child.”

In the brief filed on Monday, the benefit plan and pension committee try to rebut Dellapa’s arguments. One line of attack is that ERISA affords substantial discretion to retirement plans in how they interpret policy language. ERISA requires only a “reasonable” interpretation. This means even if a court disagrees with the plan’s interpretation, the court must uphold the interpretation unless it was unreasonable.

The plan and committee also contend that Dellapa’s reading—that the word “may” renders the one-year marriage requirement permissive rather than obligatory—doesn’t prove the plan’s interpretation was unreasonable. Likewise, they maintain that a logical reading of “qualified spouse” would not “render the one-year marriage requirement entirely superfluous” and that, instead, the “most reasonable interpretation” of “qualified spouse” includes the requirement.

The defendants also reject Dellapa’s insinuation of age discrimination as incompatible with ERISA. They write that her allegations not only wouldn’t count as age discrimination under a separate law, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, but they “fail entirely under ERISA.” This is because any alleged discrimination “flows directly from the Pension Plan’s terms themselves, not from any discriminatory action taken by the Pension Committee.”

The defendants stress that Dellapa “cannot cite a single case supporting the proposition” that pension plan terms “allegedly causing a disparate impact between participant classes based on age can be transformed into discrimination based on ERISA rights.” 

U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday is presiding over Dellapa’s case. Earlier this month, Merryday ordered the parties to appear before a mediator in hopes it will lead to a resolution. The docket also indicates that a jury trial would take place in November 2026 if the case doesn’t end beforehand.

Browning was a 20-game winner in 1985 and threw a perfect game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988. He also led the Reds to a World Series victory over the Oakland A’s in 1990. Browning retired six years later with a career record of 123-90 and a 3.94 ERA, along with 1,000 strikeouts in 1,921 innings pitched.