United States Second Circuit

In a case in which a company sought an exemption from withdrawal liability under the Multi-Employer Pension Plan Amendments Act because it had sold the operating division that was required to make contributions to a pension fund, the district court's affirmance of an arbitrator's finding that the plaintiff was not exempt is affirmed, where: 1) the proper standard of review was de novo; 2) the "contribution base unit" was hours of employee pay, but while under the asset purchase agreement (APA) the purchaser had an obligation to contribute to the fund at the same rate, it had no obligation to maintain substantially the same number of "hours of pay"; and 3) the arbitrator did not err by excluding extrinsic evidence about the plaintiff's intent when entering the APA.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/03/2012
• Published 05/03/2012

Judges

• Wesley

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Linda L. Morkan, Eugene S. Friedman