Holding a settlement agreement was a revised withdrawal liability assessment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected a group of dairy companies’ petition to dismiss a pension fund’s claim to enforce a $39...more
We recently reported on a district court decision holding that the Central States Pension Fund’s calculation of withdrawal liability should not have included contribution rate increases imposed after the Fund’s implementation...more
In Central States, Se. & W. Areas Pension Fund v. Laguna Dairy, S. de R.L. de C.V., No. 23-3206 (3d Cir. 2025 Mar. 27, 2025), the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (“Third Circuit”) reversed the district...more
In a rare victory for employers that participate in multiemployer pension plans, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the interest rate memorialized in the Segal Blend actuarial assumption was inappropriate to use in...more
In a major win for the Steelworkers Pension Trust (SPT), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld an award totaling $96 million in withdrawal liability and additional statutory penalties against the Renco Group,...more
Bd. of Trs. of Pacific Coast Pension Plan v. Petersen-Dean, Inc., Civ. Action No. 18–6824, 2020 WL 2404613 (N.D. Cal. May 12, 2020) is the latest court decision to reject an employer’s argument in favor of adopting an...more
Under ERISA, withdrawal liability disputes are subject to mandatory arbitration. The parties are tasked with mutually selecting the arbitrator, but if they reach an impasse in the selection process, a federal district court...more
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision that may make it harder for multiemployer pension funds to collect withdrawal liability: GCIU-Employer Retirement Fund v. Coleridge Fine Arts, No. 19-3161, 2020...more
The Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 ("MPPAA") amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") and the Internal Revenue Code to make "trade[s] or business[es]" that are under "common...more
Key Points - The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a lower court decision which held that two affiliated private equity funds with indirect ownership interests in the same portfolio company were liable for...more
On November 22, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that two separate private equity funds managed by the same general partner/management firm were not liable for the pension fund withdrawal...more
In Bauwnes v. Revcon Technology Group, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the trustees of a multiemployer pension plan could not agree to an employer’s installment payment plan of its withdrawal...more
A federal appeals court has handed multiemployer pension plans a blank check to assess increased withdrawal liability against employers exiting a plan. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent decision in Westrock RKT...more
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a decision of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims upholding and NASA’s denial of a claim in the amount of about $2 million for reimbursement pension...more
Two significant developments in the multi-employer pension world emerged in September, developments which could give manufacturers concern. While this is not the time to panic (we have plenty of time to panic), readers...more
I have blogged in the past about situations where employers unexpectedly found themselves liable for withdrawal liability imposed by a multiemployer plan. We can add a recent case from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to...more