Thanks for caring. This just in.
It proves once again that the courts are on
the side of the boor-zhwa-zeees.
There is no way that Peabody didn't spin (dump)
off Patriot in order to get rid of those pesky
coal mining workers and the obligations to them.
And all the while Peabody and Patriot
top brass continued to collect massively
bloated and contemptible pay and bonuses.
Judge Tosses Union's Suit Over Patriot Retiree Benefits
By Marie Beaudette
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a union representing mine workers that claimed retiree benefits were unfairly jeopardized by Patriot Coal Corp.'s (PCXCQ) bankruptcy filing last year.
In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Joseph Goodwin of the U.S. District Court in Charleston, W.Va., said Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) and Arch Coal Inc. (ACI) didn't violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when they transferred the retiree liabilities to Patriot, which took on assets spun off from Peabody and Arch in 2007 and 2008.
The United Mine Workers of America sued Peabody and Arch in October on behalf of more than 10,000 retirees and workers, seeking to hold the companies accountable for the benefits promised to their retirees but assigned to Patriot in the spinoff.
According to the lawsuit, Peabody and Arch allegedly sought to "deprive their respective former employees of employment benefits owed under the terms of their employee benefit plans" in violation of federal pension law. The union had asked the court to order Peabody and Arch to continue funding retiree benefits for the plans that were transferred to Patriot.
In his ruling, Judge Goodwin said the spinoff didn't interfere with the retirees' right to attain the benefits, which would have been a violation of Erisa.
He rejected the union's argument Peabody and Arch violated the law by transferring the liabilities to an underfunded company, saying the law doesn't protect the "financial integrity" of retiree-benefit plans. (HUH?)
"Rather than being a decision made by an employer that impacts the employee in the immediate future, Peabody and Arch made decisions as shareholders of the companies employing the plaintiffs and these decisions did not impact the employees' access to their benefits until many years later," he wrote. (DOUBLE HUH?)
The union Friday said it would appeal the ruling.
"Our members, who are at risk of losing the retiree health care benefits Peabody and Arch promised them, clearly earned those benefits," Cecil E. Roberts, the president of the UMWA, said in a statement. "We will continue to fight for them in every possible venue until those benefits are secure."
In an emailed statement, Peabody said its "position has been that this case was without merit and we are pleased that the court has agreed by granting our motion to dismiss."
Kim Link, a spokeswoman for Arch, said "we were confident that the court would render a decision in accordance with the law, and the court did."
Peabody and Patriot are bogged down in a separate fight over retiree health benefits that is playing out in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Peabody earlier this month appealed a ruling that it owes health benefits to more than 3,000 retirees whose former employer is now part of Patriot.
Patriot filed for Chapter 11 protection in July 2012. The St. Louis company mines for coal throughout Appalachia and the Illinois Basin.
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