In Perfection Bakeries Inc. v. Retail Wholesale & Dep’t Store Int’l Union & Indus. Pension Fund, No. 23-12533, 147 F.4th 1314 (11th Cir. Aug. 1, 2025), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that an employer’s credit for a prior partial withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan must be applied at the second step of the four-step statutory
Withdrawal Liability
District Court Interprets Multiemployer Plan Fee-Shifting Provision to Encompass Attorneys’ Fees and Costs Incurred in Related Litigation
By Neil V. Shah & Anastasia Gellman on
A multiemployer plan that prevails in an action to collect delinquent contributions or withdrawal liability is statutorily entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs “of the action.” In International Painters & Allied Trades Industry Pension Fund v. Florida Glass of Tampa Bay, Inc., No. 23-cv-00045, 2025 WL 712965 (D. Md. Mar. 5, 2025)…
District Court Holds Pension Fund Misapplied Prior Partial Withdrawal Liability Credit
By Neil V. Shah & Sydney Juliano on
A federal district court in Illinois became the first court to rule that an employer’s credit for a prior partial withdrawal should be applied at the end of the statute’s “waterfall” for calculating withdrawal liability. The case is Consumers Concrete Corp. v. Central States, S.E. and S.W. Areas Pension Fund, Nos. 23-cv-2695 & 23-cv-3005…
District Court Holds Withdrawal Liability Claim Not Barred by Employer’s Dissolution
By Neil V. Shah & Jessica Wang on
In Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Sheets Enterprise, No. 24 cv 2277 (N.D. Ill.), a district court held that an employer could not avoid being held liable for withdrawal liability simply because it had been dissolved under state law. The decision is instructive because it shows the limits that state…