Avenue Motor Co. v. Emro

1 Pa. D. & C.3d 157, 1976 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 96
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedJanuary 2, 1976
Docketno. 4411 of 1975
StatusPublished

This text of 1 Pa. D. & C.3d 157 (Avenue Motor Co. v. Emro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Avenue Motor Co. v. Emro, 1 Pa. D. & C.3d 157, 1976 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 96 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1976).

Opinion

DOYLE, J.,

Avenue Motor Company, plaintiff, obtained a judgment in the sum of $2,283.14 at No. 3455 AR 1975 in this court against Marlene Emro, defendant, a salaried employe of United States Steel Corporation (USS). Thereafter, plaintiff issued execution at No. 4411 of 1975 naming United States Steel and Carnegie Pension Fund, a domestic non-profit corporation (the Pension Fund), as garnishee. The garnishee filed preliminary objections demanding that the attachment be dissolved, and asserting that:

A. All property interests of defendant which are held by the garnishee are held by it as trustee pursuant to trust agreements and employe benefit plans established by USS for its employes.

B. All property interests of defendant which are held by the garnishee constitute wages (due to defendant) which USS has paid to the Pension Fund as trustee under the terms of the employe benefit plan and are exempt from attachment under the Act of April 15, 1845, P.L. 459, sec. 5, 42 P.S. §886.

C. All property interests of defendant which are held by the garnishee to pay pension and retirement benefits are exempt from execution under the Act of May 3, 1917, P.L. 112, sec. 1, as amended July 15, 1935, P.L. 1024, 40 P.S. §515.

D. All property in which defendant may have an interest and which is held by the garnishee, is held in trust pursuant to trust agreements and employe benefit plans described in A, supra, and is exempt from execution under section 206 (d)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (effective 1 January 1976), 29 U.S.C. §1056, 88 Stat. 864.

The “Pension Fund” is composed of the following:

[159]*159(1) Savings Plan. Under this plan, salaried employes of USS accumulate savings by authorizing certain sums of money to be deducted from their salaries, which deducted amounts are matched in equal amounts by USS. the USS matching contribution is used to acquire common shares of USS for the employe. Employe contributions are invested in United States of America Savings Bonds or said Savings Bonds and USS common shares. No employe is required to participate in this plan and any participant has a right to withdraw from the plan prior to termination of his employment. The employe may withdraw his own contributions to the plan and accretions thereto at any time and he may withdraw the USS contributions after his right thereto has vested three years. This part of the employe benefit plan is irrelevant to the present controversy since defendant did not participate in it.

(2) Vacation Benefit Plan. This plan provides that every five years each USS employe shall be entitled to a special vacation benefit, viz.: the employe may take time off with pay, or he may work for USS during this special vacation period, in which latter event one-half of the special vacation benefit is paid to the employe in cash and one-half is delivered in trust to the Pension Fund and credited to the employe’s account with the Pension Fund. This latter amount may not be withdrawn until termination of employment. These monies are USS contributions held in the Pension Fund and, under the trust indenture, are not assignable by the employe. Defendant did participate in this part of the total employe benefit plan.

(3) Contributory Pension Plan. As a condition of employment each employe of USS must partici[160]*160pate in this part of the total plan. USS deducts a percentage of each employe’s wages or salary, matches that amount with an equal amount contributed by USS, and delivers all the monies to the Pension Fund which holds the monies in trust. The plan contains a non-alienation provision with respect to the monies representing employe contributions.

Plaintiff argues that the attachment is legally permissible as to employe contributions under the Vacation Benefit Plan and the Contributory Pension Plan, supra. Plaintiff characterizes said employe contributions as employe savings and asserts that these contributions are deducted from the employe’s wages or salary pursuant to employe authorization just as Federal and State income and municipal wage taxes are deducted.

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Related

Lowe v. Jones
200 A.2d 880 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)

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Bluebook (online)
1 Pa. D. & C.3d 157, 1976 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/avenue-motor-co-v-emro-pactcomplallegh-1976.