ERISA

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Central States, et al v. Bulk Transport Corp.

Case No.: 15-3346; 15-3208

Officials: POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and KANNE, Circuit Judges

Focus: ERISA

Company making contributions to employee pension plan has obligated itself under agreement to do so, as such, a request for refund of contributions properly denied.

“Bulk tells us that no one wants to take away Loniewski’s pension entitlement—and that in fact it’s committed to paying the pension if the Fund refuses to do so, though Bulk hasn’t reduced this “commitment” to writing and of course wants Central States to fund his pension instead of Bulk. But if Loniewski has been mistakenly covered by the collective bargaining agreements between Bulk and the Teamsters local all these years and hence by Central States, which funds the pension commitments made in those agreements, the fault is Bulk’s, not Central States’, which didn’t know, or have a duty to inquire into, whether Loniewski was or was not a driver. Bulk being at fault, the district court correctly refused to order a refund—and for the further reason that the collective bargaining agreements to which Bulk was a party, and the 2003 settlement agreement that we mentioned, were explicit that Loniewski was covered by the agreements, and the parties’ conduct was consistent with that understanding.”

Affirmed in part

Reversed in part and remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.