On remand from the Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit sent the parties in Tackett v. M&G Polymers USA, LLC back to the district court for additional factual determinations on whether the retirees who commenced the lawsuit had vested in their health benefits.
Nearly a decade ago, a class of retirees sued their former employer’s successor, M&G Polymers, after it announced that it would begin requiring the retirees to contribute toward their health benefits. The district court granted M&G Polymer’s motion to dismiss and held that the CBA clearly did not give the retirees a vested right to health benefits. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit reversed; applying the principles it established more than three decades earlier in UAW v. Yard-Man, Inc., 716 F.2d 1476 (6th Cir. 1983), it held that the retirees had stated a plausible claim. The district court subsequently ruled in favor of the retirees on remand, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed.