Full opinion text
REGGIE B. WALTON, United States District Judge The plaintiffs, approximately 1,700 former Delta Air Lines, Inc. ("Delta") pilots, initiated this action against the defendant, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the "Corporation" or the "PBGC"), challenging the Corporation's benefits determinations regarding the Delta Pilots Retirement Plan (the "Pilots Plan" or "Plan") under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (the "ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1303(f) (2012). See First Amended Complaint ("Am. Compl.") ¶¶ 1-14, 73-150. Currently pending before the Court are the Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment ("Pls.' Mot.") and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment and Opposition to the Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment ("Def.'s Mot."). Upon careful consideration of the parties' submissions, the Court concludes for the reasons that follow that it must deny the plaintiffs' motion and grant the Corporation's motion. I. BACKGROUND A. Statutory Background The ERISA, a "comprehensive and reticulated statute," Nachman Corp. v. PBGC, 446 U.S. 359, 361, 100 S.Ct. 1723, 64 L.Ed.2d 354 (1980), was enacted in part to "ensure that employees and their beneficiaries would not be deprived of anticipated retirement benefits by the termination of pension plans before sufficient funds [had] been accumulated in the plans," PBGC v. R.A. Gray & Co., 467 U.S. 717, 720, 104 S.Ct. 2709, 81 L.Ed.2d 601 (1984). "The PBGC administers and enforces Title IV of [the] ERISA," PBGC v. LTV Corp., 496 U.S. 633, 637, 110 S.Ct. 2668, 110 L.Ed.2d 579 (1990), which "created the [PBGC] and a termination insurance program to protect employees against the loss of 'nonforfeitable' benefits upon termination of pension plans that lack sufficient funds to pay such benefits in full," Nachman, 446 U.S. at 361 n.1, 100 S.Ct. 1723 ; see also 29 U.S.C. § 1302(a)(2) (providing that the Corporation's purpose is to, inter alia, "provide for the timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits to participants and beneficiaries under plans to which [Title IV] applies"). As the Supreme Court has explained: When a plan covered under Title IV terminates with insufficient assets to satisfy its pension obligations to the employees, the PBGC becomes trustee of the plan, taking over the plan's assets and liabilities. The PBGC then uses the plan's assets to cover what it can of the benefit obligations. The PBGC then must add its own funds to ensure payment of most of the remaining "nonforfeitable" benefits, i.e., those benefits to which participants have earned entitlement under the plan terms as of the date of termination. [The] ERISA does place limits on the benefits [the] PBGC may guarantee upon plan termination, however, even if an employee is entitled to greater benefits under the terms of the plan. In addition, benefit increases resulting from plan amendments adopted within five years of the termination are not paid in full. LTV Corp., 496 U.S. at 637-38, 110 S.Ct. 2668 (internal citations omitted). When the Corporation becomes a plan trustee, it becomes a fiduciary of the plan, see 29 U.S.C. § 1342(d)(3), and must "discharge [its] duties ... solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries and ... for the exclusive purpose of: (i) providing benefits to participants and their beneficiaries; and (ii) defraying reasonable expenses of administering the plan," id. § 1104(a)(1)(A). 1. Compensation and Qualified Benefit Limits A provision of the tax code limits the "annual compensation of each employee" that an ERISA-qualified pension plan may "take into account" in calculating that employee's benefits under the plan (the "compensation limit"). See I.R.C. § 401(a)(17) (2012) ; see also AR 15 ("The IRC § 401(a)(17) limit ... caps the amount of earnings a plan may use to calculate benefits under a tax-qualified plan ...."). On June 7, 2001, Congress increased the compensation limit to $200,000 in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (the "EGTRRA"). See Pub. L. No. 107-16, § 611(c)(1), 115 Stat. 38, 97 (2001); see also I.R.C. § 401(a)(17). Congress provided that the increased compensation limit applied to plan years beginning after December 31, 2001. See Pub. L. No. 107-16, § 611(i)(l), 115 Stat. at 100. An IRS notice setting effective dates for the increased compensation limit, issued September 17, 2001, further provided: In the case of a plan that uses annual compensation for periods prior to the first plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2002, to determine accruals or allocations for a plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2002, the plan is permitted to provide that the $200,000 compensation limit applies to annual compensation for such prior periods in determining such accruals or allocations. I.R.S. Notice 2001-56, 2001-2 C.B. 277. Another provision of the tax code limits the annual benefit payments that a plan can make to a participant or beneficiary (the "qualified benefit limit"). See I.R.C. § 415(b). The EGTRRA increased the qualified benefit limit to $160,000. See Pub. L. No. 107-16, § 611(a)(l), 115 Stat. at 96; see also I.R.C. § 415(b). Congress provided that the increase to the qualified benefit limit applied to plan years ending after December 31, 2001. See Pub. L. No. 107-16, § 611(i)(l), 115 Stat. at 100. 2. Priority Categories The ERISA establishes six categories, in descending order of priority, to which the Corporation must allocate a terminated plan's assets upon its termination. See 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a)(1)-(6). The first two priority categories ("PCs"), which concern benefits "derived from the participant[s'] mandatory contributions," id. § 1344(a)(2), are not relevant in this case because the Plan "never required mandatory employee contributions," AR 877. Therefore, the highest priority category relevant in this case is PC3, which includes benefits for pilots who were retired or eligible to retire "as of the beginning of the [three]-year period ending on the termination date of the plan, ... based on the provisions of the plan (as in effect during the [five]-year period ending on such date) under which such benefit would be the least." 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a)(3)(A), (B). PC3 benefits are comprised of the following two categories: (A) in the case of the benefit of a participant or beneficiary which was in pay status as of the beginning of the [three]-year period ending on the termination date of the plan, to each such benefit, based on the provisions of the plan (as in effect during the [five]-year period ending on such date) under which such benefit would be the least, [and] (B) in the case of a participant's or beneficiary's benefit (other than a benefit described in subparagraph (A) ) which would have been in pay status as of the beginning of such [three]-year period if the participant had retired prior to the beginning of the [three]-year period and if his benefits had commenced (in the normal form of annuity under the plan) as of the beginning of such period, to each such benefit based on the provisions of the plan (as in effect during the [five]-year period ending on such date) under which such benefit would be the least. For purposes of subparagraph (A), the lowest benefit in pay status during a [three]-year period shall be considered the benefit in pay status for such period. Id. § 1344(a)(3)(A)-(B). "These provisions exclude certain benefits from [PC3] based on whether (1) they were in pay status (i.e., actually being paid) or could have been in pay status (if an individual had retired) within three years of the date of the plan termination and (2) the provisions of the plan creating them were 'in effect' within the five-year period prior to plan termination." Davis v. PBGC, 734 F.3d 1161, 1165 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (" Davis II"). The other PC relevant to this case is PC5, which includes "all other nonforfeitable benefits under the plan," 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a)(5), that are not guaranteed by the Corporation, see id. § 1344(a)(4)(A), and has two sub-categories. The first subcategory, PC5(a), constitutes vested benefits as of five years prior to the plan's termination. See id. § 1344(b)(4)(A) (defining PC5(a) benefits as those "under the plan as in effect at the beginning of the [five]-year period ending on the date of plan termination"). The second subcategory, PC5(b), constitutes all other vested benefits that went into effect on a later date, which cannot be funded unless all benefits in PC5(a) are funded, see id. § 1344(b)(4)(B) (stating that PC5(b) benefits "shall be determined" only "[i]f the assets available for allocation under [PC5(a) ] are sufficient to satisfy in full th[ose] benefits"). 3. Recovery Benefits Benefits that are neither funded by the terminated plan's assets nor guaranteed by the Corporation may be funded, to the extent possible, by funds recovered by the Corporation from a plan's contributing sponsor. See id. §§ 1322(c); 1362(a)-(b); see also Allied Pilots Ass'n v. PBGC, 334 F.3d 93, 95-96 (D.C. Cir. 2003) ("If the terminated plan lacks sufficient funds to satisfy existing obligations to employees, thus requiring the PBGC to use its own funds to pay benefits, the PBGC has authority to recover 'the total amount of the unfunded benefit liabilities' from the plan's sponsor and members of the sponsor's 'controlled group,' i.e., entities that belong to the same corporate family as the sponsor ...." (citation omitted) ). When the Corporation recovers unfunded benefit liabilities, see 29 U.S.C. § 1362(b)(1)(A), it is required to share a portion of those recoveries under the priority allocation scheme set forth in § 1344(a), see id. § 1322(c). The statute designates how the Corporation should calculate the portion of the recovery funds available for payment to participants and beneficiaries: it must "multiply[ ]-(A) the outstanding amount of benefit liabilities under the plan (including interest calculated from the termination date), by (B) the applicable recovery ratio." Id. § 1322(c)(2). For plans where "the outstanding amount of benefit liabilities exceeds $20,000,000," like the Plan in this case, the statute defines "recovery ratio" as the ratio of (i) the value of the recoveries of the [C]orporation [for a single-employer plan terminated under a distress termination] to (ii) the amount of unfunded benefit liabilities under such plan as of the termination date. Id. § 1322(c)(3)(C). 4. Benefit Determinations and Appeals The District of Columbia Circuit has summarized how the Corporation handles benefit determinations and appeals of those determinations as follows: The PBGC makes initial determinations "with respect to allocation of assets under [ 29 U.S.C. § 1344 ]." 29 C.F.R. § 4003.1(b)(4). They are issued in writing and must "state the reason for the determination." Id. § 4003.21. "Any person aggrieved by an initial determination ... may file an appeal," id. § 4003.51, to be considered by the PBGC Appeals Board, which is composed of three PBGC officials, id. § 4003.2. In a written appeal, appellants can request to appear before the Board and present witnesses to testify before the Board. Id. § 4003.54. The Board has discretion to reject such requests. Id. § 4003.55(b). A decision issued by the Appeals Board "constitutes the final agency action by the PBGC with respect to the determination which was the subject of the appeal." Id. § 4003.59(b). Davis II, 734 F.3d at 1166 (alterations in original). B. Factual Background The plaintiffs in this case, former Delta pilots (or their beneficiaries), are participants or beneficiaries under the Plan, which is a single-employer, tax-qualified deferred benefit plan. Lewis v. PBGC, 197 F.Supp.3d 16, 19 (D.D.C. 2016) (Walton, J.). The relevant facts regarding the Plan and the Corporation's actions taken with respect to the Plan are set forth below. 1. The Plan's Compensation Limit On June 21, 2001, two weeks after the EGTRRA was passed, see Pub. L. No. 107-16, § 611(c)(1), 115 Stat. at 38, Delta and the "pilots in the service of Delta[,] ... as represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International" (the "ALPA"), signed the Pilots Working Agreement (the "PWA"), a collective bargaining agreement that updated the Plan, see AR 3411-12. The PWA provides that any statutory increase to the compensation limit "will be effective for the ... [Plan] as of the earliest date that the increased [q]ualified [p]lan [l]imits could have become legally effective for that Plan, had that Plan not been collectively bargained," AR 3697, and that the provision "will be effective on September 1, 2001," AR 3695. On June 27, 2003, Delta signed the Fourth Amendment to the Delta Pilots Retirement Plan As Amended and Restated Effective July 1, 1996 (the "Fourth Amendment"). See AR 244, 251. The Fourth Amendment, which states that it is "[e]ffective July 1, 2002, or such other effective date as may be provided in a provision below," explains that its purpose is "to reflect certain provisions of ... [the] EGTRRA," and that it "is intended as good faith compliance with the requirements of [the] EGTRRA and is to be construed in accordance with [the] EGTRRA and guidance issued thereunder." AR 244. To that end, the Fourth Amendment adds the following paragraph to the Plan: The Earnings taken into account in determining benefit accruals of an Employee in any Plan Year beginning after June 30, 2002 shall not exceed $200,000 .... In determining benefit accruals of [retired e]mployees ... in Plan Years beginning after June 30, 2002, the annual compensation limit provided in this paragraph for Plan Years beginning before July 1, 2002 shall be $200,000, or, if greater, the annual compensation limit in effect under Section 401(a)(17) of the Code for that Plan Year .... AR 245. 2. The Plan's Qualified Benefit Limit The PWA provision governing the qualified benefit limit also governs the compensation limit, and states that any statutory increase to the qualified benefit limit "will be effective for the ... [Plan] as of the earliest date that the increased [q]ualified [p]lan [l]imits could have become legally effective for that Plan, had that Plan not been collectively bargained," AR 3697, and that the provision "will be effective on September 1, 2001," AR 3695. The Fourth Amendment amended the Plan to incorporate the EGTRRA's increase in the qualified benefit limit as follows: Benefit increases resulting from the increase in the limit of Section 415(b) of the [Tax] Code under [the] EGTRRA shall be provided to all current and former participants (with benefits limited by Section 415(b) ) who have an accrued benefit under the Plan immediately prior to July 1, 2001 (other than an accrued benefit resulting from a benefit increase solely as a result of the increases in limitations under Section 415 ) ); provided, however, that such increase shall only be applied to the annuity payments made from this Plan to former participants on or after July 1, 2002. AR 248. The Fourth Amendment also provided that it shall be effective with the [Plan] year starting on July 1, 2001 for those Employees whose Annuity Starting Date is on or after July 1, 2001. With respect to [p]articipants whose Annuity Starting Date was before July 1, 2001, the increased 415 limit ... shall be effective for annuity payments made on or after July 1, 2002. AR 248. 3. Bankruptcy Proceedings and Letter of Agreement # 51 In September 2005, Delta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Bankruptcy Court"). AR 6. Thereafter, the Corporation determined that the Plan had insufficient assets to cover its guaranteed benefit liabilities as of the proposed date of the Plan's termination. AR 7. In the course of the bankruptcy proceedings, Delta negotiated with the ALPA regarding the Plan's termination and the benefits that non-retired Delta pilots (the "Active Pilots") would receive, which resulted in the execution of Letter of Agreement # 51. See AR 932. Upon approval by the Bankruptcy Court, Letter of Agreement # 51 would modify the PWA by requiring Delta to issue $650 million in senior unsecured notes to the ALPA (the "ALPA Notes"), "[i]n the event the ... Plan is terminated," AR 968, for the ALPA's distribution among its members, see AR 971 (noting that "[d]istribution mechanics, eligibility and allocation [of the ALPA Notes] among such pilots or pilot accounts [would] be determined by [the] ALPA"). Letter of Agreement # 51 also provided the ALPA with a "general non-priority unsecured claim ... in the amount of $2.1 billion (the 'ALPA Claim')," AR 967, to be allocated among the Active Pilots by the ALPA's Delta Master Executive Council, see AR 966-67. The Corporation objected to Delta's motion for the Bankruptcy Court to authorize the execution of Letter of Agreement # 51 on the grounds that the agreement would violate the ERISA. See AR 1050. The Corporation's objections were based on its position that the ALPA Notes and the ALPA Claim (collectively, the "ALPA Payments") were intended "to replace unfunded benefits under the Pilots Plan by using the proceeds to fund follow-on retirement plans and other payments or distributions to pilots." AR 1049. The Corporation argued that the ALPA Notes were intended to serve as replacement payments for Plan benefits because Letter of Agreement # 51 "provides to the [A]ctive [P]ilots $650 million in notes if and only if the Pilots Plan terminates," AR 1064, and "the ALPA claim is clearly intended to make up for some portion of the [A]ctive [P]ilots' pension benefits lost as a result of the Pilots Plan termination" because Letter of Agreement # 51 permits the proceeds of the ALPA Claim (as well as the ALPA Notes) to be received "as retirement benefits-i.e., on a pre-tax and tax-deferred basis," AR 1068. The Corporation objected to the execution of Letter of Agreement # 51 because the ALPA Payments would violate the "ERISA's explicit statutory provision assigning the claim for a pension plan's total underfunding exclusively to [the] PBGC, and ... [would] establish[ ] a follow-on arrangement to replace benefits under the Pilots Plan that may be abusive of the pension insurance system." AR 1049-50. The Corporation explained in its objections that the total amount of unfunded guaranteed benefits that it can pay to beneficiaries "depends on the amount [it] recovers for unfunded benefit liabilities from the plan sponsor and its controlled group." AR 1053. And, if Letter of Agreement # 51 were executed, the Active Pilots "would recover [u]nfunded [n]onguaranteed [b]enefits from both the employer," in the form of the ALPA Payments, and from the Corporation once it became Plan trustee upon the Plan's termination, which would constitute an improper double recovery that "would be distributed contrary to the [ERISA] statutory scheme." AR 1064. The Bankruptcy Court overruled the Corporation's objections to Letter of Agreement # 51, finding no "sufficient basis ... to reach the conclusion that [Letter of Agreement # 51] infringes any provision of law or any legal ruling by a Court," AR 453, and authorized Delta and the ALPA to execute Letter of Agreement # 51, see AR 1091, 1093. The Corporation initially noted an appeal of the Bankruptcy Court's ruling, see AR 1099-1102, but subsequently dismissed that appeal, AR 1153, after entering into a settlement agreement with Delta, AR 1105. In that settlement agreement, the Corporation received a "prepetition, general, non-priority unsecured claim against Delta ... in the amount of $2.2 billion." AR 1105; see also AR 1126, 1130. 4. The Corporation's Allocations and Benefit Determinations In December 2006, Delta and the Corporation executed an agreement appointing the Corporation as the Plan trustee and terminating the Plan as of September 2, 2006. See AR 5436-38. The Corporation valued the Plan's assets at approximately $1.984 billion and its liabilities at approximately $4.552 billion. See AR 848, 877. The Corporation also allocated the "plan liabilities by priority category" pursuant to the ERISA's statutory scheme. See AR 877; see also 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a). The Corporation's allocations and benefit determinations that are the subject of the plaintiffs' claims in this case are explained in further detail below. a. The Increased Compensation Limit The Corporation determined that the increased compensation limit established by the EGTRRA in 2001, which was incorporated into the Plan through the PWA in 2001 and the Fourth Amendment in 2003, see AR 15, did not apply to its calculations of the plaintiffs' PC3 benefits because the increased compensation limit did not go into effect until the plan year beginning on July 1, 2002, see AR 13-14 ("Since the plan year for the Pilots Plan began on July 1 and ended on June 30, [the] $200,000 limit went into effect on July 1, 2002 (i.e., the first day of the plan year beginning after December 31, 2001)."), and the Plan terminated less than five years later, on September 2, 2006, see AR 2. Accordingly, because the ERISA requires a benefit to be in effect for five years prior to the date of the plan's termination in order to qualify as a PC3 benefit, see 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a)(3), the Corporation determined that the increased compensation limit did not apply to its calculations of the plaintiffs' PC3 benefits, see AR 16 ("[T]he benefit amount in PC3 is based on the plan provisions 'in effect' during the five years before the plan's termination date 'under which such benefit would be the least.' " (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a)(3) ) ). b. The Increased Qualified Benefit Limit The Corporation also determined that although the PWA incorporated the EGTRRA's increased qualified benefit limit into the Plan on July 1, 2001, more than five years prior to the Plan's termination, the PWA did so only for pilots who were active at that time, i.e., pilots "who had not retired or separated from service prior to ... July 1, 2001." AR 22. However, for participants who retired before July 1, 2001, the Plan was not amended to incorporate the qualified benefit limit increase until the adoption of the Fourth Amendment in June 2003, which was less than five years prior to the Plan's termination. See AR 29-30. As a result, the Corporation applied the increased qualified benefit limit only for its calculations of the Active Pilots' PC3 benefits, and not for the plaintiffs' PC3 benefits. See AR 30. c. The Recovery Benefits The "PBGC determined that the total value of its recoveries [from Delta] under the settlement was $1,279,506,423 as of May 3, 2007 (approximately [eight] months after [the Plan's termination] )." AR 42. But, "[t]o reflect interest, [the] PBGC discounted th[at] value ... by $50,501,683, resulting in a ... recovery value of $1,229,004,740." AR 43. The Corporation allocated $240,263,310 to the Plan's assets, which "significantly increased the funded PC3 benefits that [the] PBGC pa[id] to PC3-eligible participants and beneficiaries ..., which include[d] the [plaintiffs]," and allocated $988,741,430 to its unfunded benefit liabilities funds. AR 46. For the unfunded benefit liabilities funds, the Corporation calculated the recovery ratio, i.e., "the percentage of the [P]lan's otherwise unfunded benefits that bec[a]me funded due to [the] [unfunded benefit liabilities] recovery," which was 38.51%. AR 47. The Corporation then multiplied the value of the Plan's unfunded benefit liabilities, as of the date of the Plan's termination, by the recovery ratio to arrive at a total figure of $681,259,882, which was used "to pay otherwise unfunded nonguaranteed benefits." See AR 47. That amount funded the remainder of the Plan's PC3 benefit liabilities, see AR 49 n.137, and almost 52% of the PC5(a) benefit liabilities, see AR 50. "[T]here were no remaining funds to allocate to [ ] PC5(b)." AR 50. The Corporation determined that the increased compensation and qualified benefit limits, which it had already determined could not be applied to the plaintiffs' PC3 benefits, belonged in the PC5(b) category because those increases were not "in effect" for the full five-year period prior to the Plan's termination, as required for inclusion in PC5(a). See AR 48. Consequently, because there were no remaining funds to allocate to PC5(b), the Corporation was unable to pay these increases. See AR 48. 5. The Appeals Board's Decision After the Corporation issued final benefit determinations for the Plan's participants and beneficiaries, see AR 2, the plaintiffs filed a consolidated appeal with the PBGC Appeals Board raising thirteen issues, see AR 1, 3. On September 27, 2013, the Appeals Board issued its final agency decision. See AR 1. The Appeals Board's conclusions that are relevant to the plaintiffs' claims in this case are set forth below. a. The ALPA Payments The plaintiffs argued before the Appeals Board that the Corporation should have taken into account the ALPA Payments that the Active Pilots received pursuant to Letter of Agreement # 51 by construing those payments as received pension benefits under the Plan. See AR 35-36, 40-41. The Appeals Board disagreed, reasoning that "[t]he ALPA Payments were not made from Plan assets and, thus, they were never funds that '[left] the Plan just before [the] PBGC assumed its role as statutory trustee.' " AR 36 (second alteration in original) (citation omitted). Therefore, the Appeals Board concluded that the "PBGC [wa]s not required to take the ALPA Payments into account in allocating the Plan's assets and [the] PBGC's recoveries." AR 36. As justification for its position, the Appeals Board explained: [The] ERISA does not require [the] PBGC to account for the ALPA Payments for purposes of allocating the Pilots Plan's assets and [the] PBGC's recoveries to the Plan's benefit liabilities. [ 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a) ] provides that [the] PBGC, upon plan termination, "shall allocate the assets of the plan (available to provide benefits) among the participants and beneficiaries of the plan." [ 29 U.S.C. § 1322(c) ] provides for [the] PBGC to allocate a portion of its recoveries under [ 29 U.S.C. § 1362 ] to benefit liabilities that are neither funded by plan assets nor guaranteed by [the] PBGC. The ALPA Payments were never Plan assets, nor were they funds that [the] PBGC recovered under Title IV of [the] ERISA. ... Rather, the ALPA Payments are funds that were transferred directly from Delta to [the] ALPA pursuant to a court-approved collective bargaining agreement. Furthermore, the ALPA Payments did not change the pension liabilities owed by the Pilots Plan to its participants and beneficiaries as of the Pilots Plan's termination date. AR 41 (footnotes omitted); see also AR 41 n.116 ("The mere fact that a participant received a payment from a source outside of a PBGC-trusteed plan does not establish that a pension liability under the terminated plan has been reduced or extinguished."). b. The Increased Compensation Limit The plaintiffs argued before the Appeals Board that the Corporation should have applied the increased compensation limit in its calculations of their PC3 benefits because it "was incorporated into the Pilots Plan's provisions more than [five] years before the Pilots Plan terminated (i.e., before September 2, 2001)." AR 12-13. The Appeals Board disagreed, stating that the Corporation's regulation provides that a plan provision is "in effect" under 29 U.S.C. § 1344(a)(3)(A)"on the later of the date on which it is adopted or the date it becomes effective," 29 C.F.R. § 4044.13(b)(6) (2017), and it "becomes effective" on the date that it becomes "payable," see id. § 4044.13(b)(3)(i) ; see also AR 16. And, "[b]enefit increases that were [in] effect[ ] throughout the [five]-year period" are included in PC3. See AR 17 (quoting 29 C.F.R. § 4044.13(a) ). Therefore, the Appeals Board explained, "a benefit increase cannot be 'in effect' for purposes of PC3 before the date on which the increase becomes operative[,] ... even if the plan provision that provided for the increase has an earlier 'stated' effective date." AR 16. "Thus, if a benefit increase does not go into effect (i.e., is not payable) until after [five years before the plan's termination] and if a participant's payable PC3 benefit amount would be lower based on the plan provisions that were in effect before the increase, then the increase is not included in the participant's PC3 benefit." AR 17. The Appeals Board concluded that the Corporation correctly applied its regulation to the Plan as follows: (1) the adoption date of the Plan provision incorporating the increased compensation limit was June 21, 2001, the date the PWA was signed, see AR 245; see also AR 3412, 3697; (2) the PWA's stated effective date for the increased compensation limit was September 1, 2001, see AR 3695, 3697; and (3) the increased compensation limit became payable on July 1, 2002, because the Plan incorporated the $200,000 limit "for purposes of 'determining benefit accruals of an [e]mployee in any [p]lan [y]ear beginning after June 30, 2002,' " AR 17 (quoting AR 245). Therefore, the Appeals Board affirmed that the increased compensation limit was "in effect" on July 1, 2002, because that was the date when any increase in benefits would become payable. See AR 17. And, because that date occurred after five years before the Plan's termination, those increased benefits could not be included in PC3. See AR 17. The Appeals Board noted that another member of this Court had "upheld [the] PBGC's interpretation of [the] ERISA's PC3 provisions as a 'permissible construction of the statute,' " AR 18 (citing Davis v. PBGC, 864 F.Supp.2d 148, 157 (D.D.C. 2012) ), which the Circuit subsequently affirmed after the Appeals Board's decision was issued, see Davis II, 734 F.3d at 1168 ("The statutory phrase 'in effect' ... is ambiguous, and the PBGC has interpreted it ... to mean 'payable.' "). Thus, the Appeals Board affirmed the Corporation's conclusion that the increased compensation limit should not be applied to the calculations of the plaintiffs' PC3 benefits. See AR 18. c. The Increased Qualified Benefit Limit The plaintiffs further argued before the Appeals Board that, although the Corporation "correctly determined" that the PWA constituted a Plan amendment that was adopted and effective five years prior to the Plan's termination, the Corporation erred in concluding "that the increased [qualified benefit] limit under the PWA applied 'only for those pilots who were active at the time the [ ] PWA was signed.' " AR 28 (citation omitted). The Appeals Board disagreed, stating that "based on [the] ERISA, [the] PBGC regulations, and the Pilots Plan's provisions, [ ] [the] PBGC applied the appropriate [qualified benefit] limits when it determined PC3 benefits for the [plaintiffs] and for the [A]ctive [P]ilots." AR 23. The Appeals Board reasoned that the PWA did not amend the Plan for retired pilots because the PWA: (1) is defined as "the basic collective bargaining agreement between Delta Air Lines, Inc. and the air line pilots in the service of Delta Air Lines, Inc.[,] as represented by the Air Lines Pilots Association International," AR 28; (2) "states that it 'cover[s] the pilots in the employ of the Company,' " AR 28 (alteration in original); and (3) "defines 'Pilot' as 'an employee of Delta Air Lines, Inc. whose name appears on the Delta Air Lines Pilots' System Seniority List,' " AR 28. The Appeals Board noted that "the law does not presume that a collective bargaining agreement covers retired employees," AR 29 ("To the contrary, the Supreme Court has found that, '[s]ince retirees are not members of the bargaining unit, the bargaining agent is under no statutory duty to represent them in negotiations with the employer." (quoting Allied Chem. & Alkali Workers of Am. v. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., 404 U.S. 157, 181 n.20, 92 S.Ct. 383, 30 L.Ed.2d 341 (1971) ) ), and "found insufficient evidence to establish that [the] ALPA was representing the interests of retired pilots when it negotiated [the] PWA," AR 29. The Appeals Board pointed to the Fourth Amendment as further support for its conclusion that the PWA did not apply to retired pilots. See AR 29. It concluded that, under the Fourth Amendment, the qualified benefit limit increases were effective for Active Pilots as of July 1, 2001, but were not effective for retired pilots until July 1, 2002, see AR 25, because "the Fourth Amendment provides that benefit increases resulting from [the] EGTRRA's amendment of the [qualified benefit] limit are effective on different dates depending on the employee's Annuity Starting Date ('ASD')," AR 25 n.69. The Plan defines an employee's ASD as "the first day of the first period for which a retirement benefit is paid as an annuity," and therefore, according to the Appeals Board, "a pilot's ASD is on or after his or her retirement date." AR 25 n.69. Because the Fourth Amendment provides that the qualified benefit limit increases "were effective July 1, 2001 for employees with ASDs 'on or after July 1, 2001,' " i.e., for Active Pilots, "and were effective on July 1, 2002 for employees with ASDs 'before July 1, 2001,' " i.e., for retired pilots, AR 25 n.69, the Appeals Board found that "the Fourth Amendment's establishment of different effective dates for the two groups of participants is significant with respect to the Board's resolution of [PC3 benefits]," AR 25-26. As the Appeals Board recognized, "[t]he Fourth Amendment explicitly provides for different effective dates for the [qualified benefit] limit increase depending upon the ASD," and therefore, "is wholly consistent with the PWA only if ... the PWA does not amend the [qualified] benefit limit for retired pilots," because "[o]therwise, there would be a clear conflict between the 'earliest effective date' language in the PWA and the delayed effective date for the retired pilots in the Fourth Amendment." AR 29. Based on these reasons, the Appeals Board concluded that the "PBGC correctly determined that the retired pilots are not entitled to have their PC3 benefits computed based on the [increased qualified benefit] limit under [the] EGTRRA" because the "Fourth Amendment, which provided the [qualified benefit] limit increase to the retired pilots, was adopted on June 27, 2003," and provided that "the retired pilots could not receive payments based on the increased [qualified benefit] limit ... until July 1, 2002." AR 30. Due to the fact that both of these dates were less than five years before the Plan's termination, AR 30, the Appeals Board found that, "[f]or the retired pilots, the plan provision that provides the lowest annuity benefit payable during the five-year period before [the Plan's termination]," as required by Corporation regulation, "is the benefit provision in effect between September 1, 2001[,] and June 30, 2002." AR 30. d. The Recovery Funds The plaintiffs argued before the Appeals Board that the "PBGC made an error of 'simple arithmetic' when it allocated the funds it recovered from Delta and related entities after Plan termination." AR 42. The Appeals Board found no error, explaining that the Corporation properly discounted the value of its recovery as of May 3, 2007, which was $1,279,506,423, by $50,501,683, to reflect the value of its recovery as of the date of the Plan's termination. See AR 43. The plaintiffs also argued that the Corporation incorrectly allocated the compensation and qualified benefit limit increases to PC5(a) instead of to PC5(b). See AR 42; see also AR 48 ("The [plaintiffs' a]ppeal contends that [the] PBGC's [ § 1322(c) ] allocation was improper because it did not accord priority within PC5 to [the compensation] and [qualified benefit] limit increases."). The Appeals Board disagreed, concluding "that the same rules governing when a plan provision or amendment is 'in effect' for purposes of determining the PC3 benefit and applying the phase-in limit should be applied in assigning benefits to the PC5 subcategories." AR 51. II. ANALYSIS A. The Applicable Standard of Review As an initial matter, the parties disagree as to what standard the Court should apply in reviewing the Corporation's determinations of the plaintiffs' benefits under the Plan. The plaintiffs argue that the standard of review should be de novo because "[a] court reviews an ERISA fiduciary's 'statutory and legal conclusions de novo,' " Pls.' Mem. at 12 (quoting Brown v. Cont'l Airlines, Inc., 647 F.3d 221, 226 (5th Cir. 2011) ), and that the Court should not apply the two-step process the Supreme Court adopted in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984), or any other "form of administrative-law type of deference," see id. The Corporation argues in response that "[b]oth the Supreme Court and the [District of Columbia] Circuit have made clear" that the Chevron framework applies to its interpretations of the ERISA. Def.'s Mem. at 12-13 (first citing Mead Corp. v. Tilley, 490 U.S. 714, 722, 726, 109 S.Ct. 2156, 104 L.Ed.2d 796 (1989) ; then citing LTV Corp., 496 U.S. at 650-51, 110 S.Ct. 2668 ; then citing Beck v. PACE Int'l Union, 551 U.S. 96, 104, 127 S.Ct. 2310, 168 L.Ed.2d 1 (2007) ; and then citing Davis v. PBGC, 571 F.3d 1288, 1293 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (" Davis I") ). 1. Whether the Chevron Framework Applies The law in this Circuit is clear that the Chevron framework applies to the Corporation's interpretations of the ERISA. At least eight different Supreme Court and District of Columbia Circuit opinions support this conclusion. See Beck, 551 U.S. at 97, 127 S.Ct. 2310 ("The Court has traditionally deferred to the PBGC when interpreting [the] ERISA."); LTV Corp., 496 U.S. at 648, 110 S.Ct. 2668 ("Here, the PBGC has interpreted [ 29 U.S.C. § 1347 ] as giving it the power to base restoration decisions on the existence of follow-on plans. Our task, then, is to determine whether any clear congressional desire to avoid restoration decisions based on successive pension plans exists, and, if the answer is in the negative, whether the PBGC's policy is based upon a permissible construction of the statute."); Tilley, 490 U.S. at 722, 109 S.Ct. 2156 (applying Chevron deference to the Corporation's interpretation of the ERISA provision at issue, as expressed in its amicus brief); Page v. PBGC, 968 F.2d 1310, 1313-14 (D.C. Cir. 1992) ("Our initial question, as instructed by the Supreme Court's 1984 leading decision in Chevron, is whether Congress had a specific intent regarding the matter at hand.... If it appears, however, that 'Congress did not actually have an intent' regarding the statutory construction question at issue, we will uphold a reading by [the Corporation,] the agency entrusted with the statute's administration[,] if the agency's reading 'represents a reasonable accommodation of conflicting policies [Congress] committed to the agency's care.' " (fourth alteration in original) (quoting Chevron, 467 U.S. at 845, 104 S.Ct. 2778 ) ); Rettig v. PBGC, 744 F.2d 133, 141 (D.C. Cir. 1984) ("We are initially confronted with the familiar task of reviewing an agency's construction of the statute it is charged with implementing, a task which of course we undertake with due deference to the agency's congressional mandate and expertise." (citing Chevron, 467 U.S. at 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778 ) ); Belland v. PBGC, 726 F.2d 839, 843 (D.C. Cir. 1984) ("[The] PBGC's interpretation of [the] ERISA is entitled to great deference."); see also Deppenbrook v. PBGC, 778 F.3d 166, 172 (D.C. Cir. 2015) ("Had the PBGC Appeals Board offered its statutory interpretation in its decision-letter to Deppenbrook, that interpretation would likely be subject to the two-step Chevron framework."); Boivin v. U.S. Airways, Inc., 446 F.3d 148, 156 (D.C. Cir. 2006) ("The pilots concede that the PBGC's interpretations of the relevant statutory and regulatory provisions are entitled to judicial deference, and that we must uphold them if they are reasonable."). The plaintiffs argue that of the three Supreme Court cases cited above- Beck, LTV Corp., and Tilley-"two [ LTV Corp. and Tilley ] ... are outdated, the third [ Beck ]... is inapposite, and all ... are distinguishable on their facts." Pls.' Reply at 3; see also id. at 3-4 ("The Corporation nowhere acknowledges the sea change that took place in the field of administrative law when the Supreme Court decided United States v. Mead Corp., 533 U.S. 218, 121 S.Ct. 2164, 150 L.Ed.2d 292 (2001)."). According to the plaintiffs, the Supreme Court decided in Mead Corp. that "informal agency decisions, such as the informal adjudication at issue here, would no longer be presumptively entitled to Chevron deference." Id. at 4. The Court disagrees with the plaintiffs' assertion that LTV Corp. and Tilley are no longer good law after Mead Corp., and that Beck does not apply here. In Mead Corp., the Supreme Court held that "a tariff classification ruling by the United States Customs Service ... ha[d] no claim to judicial deference under Chevron, there being no indication that Congress intended such a ruling to carry the force of law." 533 U.S. at 221, 121 S.Ct. 2164. Instead, the Court "h[e]ld that under Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134, 65 S.Ct. 161, 89 L.Ed. 124 (1944), the ruling is eligible to claim respect according to its persuasiveness." Id. The Court explained that administrative implementation of a particular statutory provision qualifies for Chevron deference when it appears that Congress delegated authority to the agency generally to make rules carrying the force of law, and that the agency interpretation claiming deference was promulgated in the exercise of that authority. Delegation of such authority may be shown in a variety of ways, as by an agency's power to engage in adjudication or notice-and-comment rulemaking, or by some other indication of a comparable congressional intent. Id. at 226-27, 121 S.Ct. 2164 ; see also id. at 230, 121 S.Ct. 2164 ("It is fair to assume generally that Congress contemplates administrative action with the effect of law when it provides for a relatively formal administrative procedure tending to foster the fairness and deliberation that should underlie a pronouncement of such force."). The Court noted that "as significant as notice-and-comment rulemaking is in pointing to Chevron authority, the want of that procedure [ ] does not decide the [question], for we have sometimes found reasons for Chevron deference even when no such administrative formality was required and none was afforded." Id. at 230-31, 121 S.Ct. 2164 ; see also id. at 231, 121 S.Ct. 2164 ("The fact that the tariff classification here was not a product of such formal process does not alone, therefore, bar the application of Chevron ."). The Court in Mead Corp. found that the statute itself "g[a]ve no indication that Congress meant to delegate authority to Customs to issue classification rulings with the force of law," id. at 231-32, 121 S.Ct. 2164, and therefore concluded that "to claim that [such] classifications have legal force is to ignore the reality that [forty-six] different Customs offices issue 10,000 to 15,000 of them each year," id. at 233, 121 S.Ct. 2164. Therefore, " Mead Corp.... requires that, for Chevron deference to apply, the agency must have received congressional authority to determine the particular matter at issue in the particular manner adopted." City of Arlington, Tex. v. FCC, 569 U.S. 290, 306, 133 S.Ct. 1863, 185 L.Ed.2d 941 (2013). The Court is not persuaded that, after Mead Corp., the Chevron framework no longer applies to the Corporation's its interpretations of the ERISA made through its benefit determinations. Notably, the Supreme Court's decision in Beck was issued six years after Mead Corp., and in that case, the Supreme Court chose, once again, to defer to the Corporation's interpretations of the ERISA as articulated in an amicus brief. See Beck, 551 U.S. at 103-04, 127 S.Ct. 2310. In Beck, the Court, was tasked to decide whether merger was "a permissible form of plan termination under [the] ERISA." Id. at 102, 127 S.Ct. 2310 (emphasis removed). The Court noted that, in order "[t]o affirm the [decision below], [it] would have to decide that merger is a permissible method" of plan termination under the statute, id. at 103-04, 127 S.Ct. 2310, and it "would have to do that over the objection of the PBGC, which ... t[ook] the position that [the applicable statutory provision] does not permit merger as a method of termination because (in its view) merger is an alternative to (rather than an example of) plan termination," id. at 104, 127 S.Ct. 2310. The Court noted that it has "traditionally deferred to the PBGC when interpreting [the] ERISA, for 'to attempt to answer these questions without the views of the agencies responsible for enforcing [the] ERISA, would be to embar[k] upon a voyage without a compass.' " Id. (first quoting Tilley, 490 U.S. at 722, 725-26, 109 S.Ct. 2156 ; then citing LTV Corp., 496 U.S. at 648, 651, 110 S.Ct. 2668 ). The plaintiffs argue that in Beck, "the Court did not grant (or even discuss) Chevron deference[, which, according to the plaintiffs,] is unsurprising given that Beck, unlike Tilley, was issued after the Court's landmark decision in ... Mead Corp." Pls.' Reply at 5. Although the plaintiffs are correct that the Court did not actually use the word " Chevron" in its discussion of the deference it afforded to the Corporation's interpretations of the ERISA, in the Court's view, the Supreme Court's statement in Beck that "[w]e have traditionally deferred to the PBGC when interpreting [the] ERISA," see 551 U.S. at 104, 127 S.Ct. 2310, is a reference to the Chevron framework, see Cuomo v. Clearing House Ass'n, LLC, 557 U.S. 519, 525, 129 S.Ct. 2710, 174 L.Ed.2d 464 (2009) ("Under the familiar Chevron framework, we defer to an agency's reasonable interpretation of a statute it is charged with administering."), and thus shows that the Supreme Court continues to apply the Chevron framework to the Corporation's statutory interpretations of the ERISA. Furthermore, the Supreme Court in Beck, an opinion decided after Mead Corp., cited approvingly Tilley and LTV Corp. in support of its decision that it would continue to defer to the Corporation's statutory interpretations of the ERISA. See id. Consequently, the Court is convinced that the Chevron framework continues to apply to the Corporation's statutory interpretations of the ERISA, even after the Supreme Court's decision in Mead Corp. Notwithstanding the precedent discussed above, the plaintiffs assert four additional reasons why the Chevron framework does not apply to the Corporation's statutory interpretations of the ERISA under the facts of this case. The Court will consider each reason in turn. i. Whether the Appeals Board's Decision Was a Policy Matter First, the plaintiffs argue that because "the legal interpretations of [the] ERISA at issue here directly affect thousands of participants in this Plan and, as a matter of precedent, thousands more in other plans," the Appeals Board's decision constitutes a " 'policy matter' that stands to 'have a significant impact' on Title IV's 'stakeholders,' " and, as a result, "is reserved to the Corporation's Board of Directors, and cannot be delegated." Pls.' Mem. at 12-13 (citation omitted). According to the plaintiffs, because the Appeals Board, and not the Board of Directors, issued the decision here, under the Circuit's decision in Page,"the Corporation failed to 'engage in decision-making of the character required by the Corporation's regulations,' in order to make Chevron deference appropriate." Id. at 13 (quoting Page, 968 F.2d at 1315 ). In Page, as the Court noted above, the Circuit, employing the two-part Chevron analysis, concluded "that Congress did not 'precisely address' the issue before [the Circuit]" under step one, and therefore considered under step two whether "the PBGC's interpretation of the original [statutory provision] [was] a reasonable one in view of the policies that underlie [the] ERISA." 968 F.2d at 1315. The Circuit "conclude[d] that the PBGC did not engage in decisionmaking of the character required by the Corporation's regulations," namely, the Corporation's bylaws precluding the Board of Directors from delegating a "[f]inal decision on any policy matter that would materially affect the rights of a substantial number of employees or covered participants and beneficiaries." Id. (citing 29 C.F.R. § 2601.3(b)(5) ). The Circuit decided that the matter at issue in Page, "whether unlawful vesting terms retained in a plan could eliminate the PBGC's obligation to guarantee benefits," id. at 1314, constituted a policy matter under the bylaws because "thousands of plans, and hence a significant number of participants covered under Title I, [we]re potentially affected by the Corporation's interpretation of [the statutory provision] as originally enacted," id. at 1316. Therefore, because the Corporation's Board of Directors had not issued a final decision on the matter, the Circuit remanded the case to the district court "to invite the Board [of Directors'] first-instance decision." Id. Upon review of Page, the Court agrees with the Corporation, see Def.'s Mem. at 14, that Page is distinguishable from the circumstances here. In Page, the Circuit was assessing a Corporation decision that would "potentially affect[ ]" "thousands of plans." See 968 F.2d at 1316 ; see also id. at 1311 (explaining that the plans at issue "had not been amended prior to termination to reflect the mandatory vesting provisions set out in [the] ERISA Title I"). Here, on the other hand, the plaintiffs challenge the Corporation's conclusions with regard to a single plan. Furthermore, the Court is not convinced by the plaintiffs' argument, see Pls.' Reply at 7, that the large number of participants and beneficiaries that stand to be impacted by the Corporation's decision here, see Am. Compl. ¶ 1, transforms the Corporation's benefits determinations under the Pilots' Plan into a policy matter under the bylaws. The plaintiffs have not identified, see Pls.' Mem. at 12-13; Pls.' Reply at 6-8, nor could the Court locate, a single case, other than Page, in which a court determined that a decision made by the Corporation constituted a policy decision that, under the bylaws, could only be made by the Corporation's Board of Directors. Accordingly, the Court concludes that the Corporation's benefits determinations here do not constitute a non-delegable policy matter under 29 C.F.R. § 4002.1(a)(3)(v), and therefore, the holding in Page does not preclude the Court from applying the Chevron framework in this case. ii. Whether the Chevron Framework Applies to the Corporation's Interpretations of the ERISA as Trustee Second, the plaintiffs argue that "the Corporation's interpretations concerning the asset allocation process were undertaken by the Corporation in its fiduciary role as statutory trustee, not as Title IV regulator or even guarantor, and thus they fall outside the scope of Chevron deference," Pls.' Mem. at 13, because they did not constitute an exercise of authority to "make rules carrying the force of law" delegated to it by Congress, see id. (quoting Fogo de Chao (Holdings) Inc. v. DHS, 769 F.3d 1127, 1136-37 (D.C. Cir. 2014) ); see also Pls.' Reply at 4 (same). The Corporation argues that in Davis I, the Circuit "expressly rejected" the plaintiffs' argument that the Corporation's asset allocation decisions as trustee do not merit Chevron deference, and therefore, the Court should reject that argument here. See Def.'s Mem. at 15. In Davis I, the plaintiffs, retired U.S. Airways pilots and their beneficiaries (the "U.S. Airways pilots"), appealed the district court's denial of their motion for a preliminary injunction "to prohibit the PBGC from implementing its benefits determinations while the[ir] suit [challenging those determinations] [wa]s pending." 571 F.3d at 1290. In that case, like here, "the PBGC was appointed to serve as trustee of the [U.S. Airways pilots'] retirement plan," id. at 1291, and, also like here, the U.S. Airways pilots argued that Chevron deference "should not apply ... when the PBGC is acting as trustee rather than guarantor," id. at 1293. The Circuit rejected the U.S. Airways pilots' argument, concluding: We see no reason to depart from the usual deference we give to an agency interpreting its organic statute. The pilots point out that a private party serving as trustee would not receive Chevron-deference, but this point proves nothing. Unlike a private trustee, the PBGC has unique experience and "practical agency expertise" in interpreting [the] ERISA. The PBGC is therefore "better equipped" to interpret [the] ERISA than courts, and it is for this reason we defer to the PBGC's authoritative and reasonable interpretations of ambiguous provisions of [the] ERISA. Id. (quoting LTV Corp., 496 U.S. at 651, 110 S.Ct. 2668 ). Thereafter, the district court entered summary judgment to the Corporation regarding the U.S. Airways pilots' plan, which a different Circuit panel affirmed in Davis II.See 734 F.3d at 1164. In Davis II, the Circuit determined that it "need not resolve the parties' contentions regarding whether the PBGC is entitled to deference pursuant to Chevron... when it acts as the trustee in an involuntary retirement plan termination," because in that case, "[r]egardless of the standard of deference, the [U.S. Airways p]ilots' claims relating to the PBGC's interpretation of the statute and regulations must fail." Id. at 1167. As a result, the Circuit also declined to "decide whether the decision in Davis [I], regarding the Pilots' request for a preliminary injunction, is the law of the case on the standard of review." Id. (citing Sherley v. Sebelius, 689 F.3d 776, 783 (D.C. Cir. 2012) ). Regarding the Davis II decision, the Corporation contends that "[a]lthough the D.C. Circuit held ... that it 'need not' resolve the level of deference to apply [to the Corporation], it did not reject or modify the earlier holding in [ Davis I ]." Def.'s Mem. at 13 n.7; see also Def.'s Reply at 4-5 (same). The plaintiffs disagree, contending that the standard of review is still an open question, despite the Circuit's ruling in Davis I, because "[r]ulings involving challenges to preliminary injunctions, when not made after the full briefing on the merits typical of an ordinary appeal, are not stare decisis." Pls.' Mem. at 13 n.7 (first citing Va. Petroleum Jobbers Ass'n v. Ped. Power Comm'n, 259 F.2d 921, 925 (D.C. Cir. 1958) ; then citing Nat'l Org. for Women, Wash., D.C. Chapter v. Social Sec. Admin., 736 F.2d 727, 744 n.154 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (Robinson, J., concurring) ); see also Pls.' Reply at 6 (same). The Court is required to adhere to the Circuit's decision in Davis I and apply the Chevron framework to the Corporation's asset allocation determinations for two reasons. First, the two cases the plaintiffs cite in support of their position do not actually state that the doctrine of stare decisis does not apply to a decision resolving a motion for a preliminary injunction. In Petroleum Jobbers, the petitioner filed, among other motions, a motion for a stay to enjoin proceedings pending before the Federal Power Commission. See 259 F.2d at 923. The Circuit declined to grant the petitioner's motion, and twice noted that its rulings were "[w]ithout prejudice to a contrary showing at the time the court [were to] hear[ ] th[e] case on the merits." Id. at 925 ; see also id. at 926 ("Again, without prejudice to a later contrary showing by [the] respondent"). But nowhere in its opinion did the Circuit state that the principles of stare decisis would not apply to its decision. See generally id. Likewise, in Nat'l Org. for Women, the Circuit in a per curiam opinion affirmed the district court's issuance of a preliminary injunction barring the release of certain documents pursuant to a FOIA request. See 736 F.2d at 728. In a concurring opinion, Judge Robinson stated that he would have preferred to remand the appealed phases of these cases to the District Court with instructions to remand in turn to [the agency] the question of release of information exempt under FOIA but unaffected by the Trade Secrets Act. [He] would further instruct the court to afford [the agency] an opportunity to revise its fact-finding procedures in such manner as it may desire. [He] would affirm the District Court's rulings in all other respects, and let the preliminary injunction remain in force subject to the court's further order. This disposition of these appeals, of course, would leave the parties at liberty to litigate the merits fully, free of any preclusion or limitation by the determinations leading to that injunction. Id. at 744 (emphasis added) (Robinson, J., concurring). In a footnote, Judge Robinson noted that "[t]he decision of a trial or appellate court whether to grant or deny a preliminary injunction does not constitute the law of the case for the purposes of further proceedings and does not limit or preclude the parties from litigating the merits." Id. at 744 n.154 (emphasis added) (quoting Berrigan v. Sigler, 499 F.2d 514, 518 (1974) ). Therefore, Petroleum Jobbers and Nat'l Org. for Women stand for the proposition that the Circuit's rulings regarding motions for a preliminary injunction or to stay proceedings in a case do not constitute the law of the case, nor do they preclude the parties from litigating the merits of the issue in future proceedings in that case. See Nat'l Org. for Women, 736 F.2d at 744 & n.4 ; Petroleum Jobbers, 259 F.2d at 925. They do not, however, stand for the position that the Circuit's rulings on such motions have no precedential value or stare decisis impact. See Nat'l Org. for Women, 736 F.2d at 744 & n.4 ; Petroleum Jobbers, 259 F.2d at 925. Indeed, the Circuit has clearly distinguished between the doctrines of law of the case or preclusion and stare decisis. In Mahoney v. Babbitt, 113 F.3d 219 (D.C. Cir. 1997), the Circuit declined to vacate its prior order issuing an injunction pending the resolution of an appeal on the grounds of mootness, see id. at 220. The Circuit stated: While it is generally accepted that a mooted judgment should not preclude the litigants in future litigation, preclusion is not the same thing as stare decisis, and it is not self-evident that the precedential effects of a mooted judgment should be any less persuasive than if the mooting events had not occurred. Preclusion is normally based on a decision as to the controversy between the litigating parties. Precedent ordinarily is not. Precedent, more often than not, is drawn from cases not involving either of the parties for or against whom the precedent is offered. As one commentator has pointed out, there is no particular reason to assume that a decision, later mooted, is any less valid as precedent than any other opinion of a court. "So long as the court believed that it was deciding a live controversy, its opinion was forged and tested in the same crucible as all opinions." Id. at 222 (emphasis added) (quoting 13A Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 3533.10 (2d ed. 1984) ). Applying these principles to the case at bar, although the Circuit's ruling in Davis I regarding Chevron deference did not preclude the parties in that case from further litigating that issue in subsequent proceedings, nor did it preclude a subsequent panel from declining to decide that issue upon review of the district court's decision on the merits, the Davis I ruling regarding Chevron deference still has precedential value. Second, even if the Davis I opinion were not binding on this Court, which obviously it is, the Court would still reach the same conclusion regarding the standard of