June 18, 2007 - Supreme Court Rules On Pensions, Mergers
Businesses are not required to consider an
invitation to merge their pension plans vs. terminating them, according to a
Supreme Court ruling June 18, as reported by the Associated Press. The case
involved Crown Vantage, a bankrupt paper company that had decided to terminate
its pension plans, use the money to buy annuities for plan participants and
beneficiaries and recoup a multi-million dollar surplus that could have been
paid to its creditors. Then it received a merger proposal from a labor union
pension fund to cover its 17 pension plans. The judges ruled unanimously that
the company was not required to consider that merger offer.