Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. LTV Corp. (In re Chateaugay Corp.)

76 B.R. 945, 8 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2332, 17 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1280, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7907
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 20, 1987
DocketNos. 87 CV 2502 (RJD), 87 CV 2506 (RJD) to 87 CV 2508 (RJD)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 76 B.R. 945 (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. LTV Corp. (In re Chateaugay Corp.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. LTV Corp. (In re Chateaugay Corp.), 76 B.R. 945, 8 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2332, 17 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1280, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7907 (S.D.N.Y. 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

DARONCO, District Judge.

These appeals arise from an order of the Bankruptcy Court, entered February 26, 1987, which provides,

“that all parties who have been or shall be served with notice of this Order be, and they hereby are, stayed and enjoined from commencing or continuing any action, including any application for injunc-tive relief, with respect to the Pension Plans or any other employee benefit plans, except for:
a. any action brought by the PBGC [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.] to terminate any Pension Plan;
b. any application by any party other than the PBGC to intervene in a proceeding, if any, brought by the PBGC to terminate any Pension Plan;
c. any action brought only against a Pension Plan for the sole purpose of seeking payment of benefits from the assets held in the trust of such Pension Plan;
d. any action brought only against the PBGC as trustee of a Pension Plan for the sole purpose of seeking payment of benefits pursuant to the Pension Plan where such action will not adversely affect LTV by increasing any claim of the PBGC against LTV;
e. any action brought by the PBGC pursuant to Section 1345 of ERISA to recoup for the benefit of the plan payments made to plan participants in excess of statutorily guaranteed benefit levels; and
[947]*947f. any action brought in this Court for relief from this Order pursuant to the standards of 11 U.S.C. 862(d)
for a period of one year commencing on January 23, 1987, at the conclusion of which time this Court will review the positions and contentions of the parties within the context of the pending reorganization proceeding to determine at that time whether this injunction should be continued;”

The Order also continued an injunction (“Employee Litigation Order”), initially entered October 15, 1986 pursuant to an adversary proceeding in which PBGC was not named as a party. Under its terms, which are effective against the PBGC for one year beginning January 23, 1987, all actions against the debtor’s present and former employees are stayed.

LTV, directly and through various subsidiaries, has been the administrator of approximately 30 defined benefit Pension Plans funded by annual contributions from LTV. Approximately 140,000 retirees and active employees are participants in or beneficiaries of these plans. One of the primary reasons for the filing of the bankruptcy petitions has been LTV’s inability to fund the Pension Plans, and a major goal of the proceeding is to address these liabilities through a plan or plans of reorganization.

In 1985, LTV obtained a waiver of payment of approximately $175 million of minimum funding requirements for three of the Pension Plans for the plan year 1984. After its filings in 1986, LTV applied for another waiver of approximately $215 million of contributions for 12 of the Pension Plans for the plan year 1985. On November 12, 1986, LTV was notified that the 1985 waiver had been denied and that the 1984 waiver was deemed void. As a result, $390 million of unpaid contributions became due and payable as of the original due dates. On September 30, 1986, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (appellant in No. 2502), the federal agency charged with administering the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), the federal law governing the Pension Plans at issue, obtained a consent Order in this Court terminating one of the Pension Plans effective September 30, 1986. On January 12, 1987, three other Pension Plans were terminated by the PBGC as of January 13, 1987, pursuant to consent Orders entered in this Court. See Jones & Laughlin Hourly Pension Plan v. LTV Corp., 824 F.2d 197 (2d Cir.1987). The present value of LTV’s unfunded termination liability concerning these Pension Plans exceeds $2 billion; hence, given the statutory provisions which empower the PBGC to protect the beneficiaries, see In re Pension Plan, etc., 707 F.2d 647, 648-49 (2d Cir.1983), PBGC is LTV’s largest and most formidable creditor.

In addition to the staggering liability, the Pension Plans have also generated other litigation. On November 13, 1986, George Farragher, as lead plaintiff for a group of former salaried employees (appellants in No. 2506) of the Republic Steel Corporation, a subsidiary of the debtor, sued Pension Plan fiduciaries and LTV executives in the Northern District of Alabama, alleging violations of ERISA and RICO stemming from the shutdown of the Gadsden Alabama facility. Earlier, in April, 1986, and in the same Court, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the hourly employees as a class sued LTV and Gulf States Steel Corp. alleging breaches of a collective bargaining agreement, with respect to the same plant. At almost the same time as initiation of the Farragher suit, on November 17, 1986, Miller and Shaffer (appellants in No. 2507) sued the Jones & Laughlin Retirement Plan in the Western District of Pennsylvania to prevent termination of a Pension Plan in which they participated. Jones & Laughlin Steel had been merged with Republic Steel to form LTV Steel, a subsidiary of the debtor.

The filing of the petition for reorganization had already stayed the United Steelworkers suit and resulted in dismissal of another lawsuit, Harrison v. LTV Steel Co., Inc., et al, pending in the Northern District of Alabama since 1984. On January 7, 1987, the Court dismissed the Harrison action, which alleged a violation of [948]*948plaintiffs pension rights under a collective bargaining agreement,

“without prejudice to plaintiff to file a claim in bankruptcy or to petition to reinstate this action to pursue any claim embraced herein and not adjudicated in, or discharged by, the proceedings in the bankruptcy court. Such reinstatement, if and when allowed, will cause the filing date of any claim so reinstated to relate back to the original filing date of this action.”

(Appendix Exh. 24 G). The debtor also filed two adversary proceedings in the Bankruptcy Court, one against the plaintiffs in the Farragher suit and one against Miller and Shaffer, which succeeded in staying those suits, and others anticipated by the debtor relating to the debtor’s Pension Plan liabilities.

It is LTV’s contention that the Order of February 26, 1987, referred to as the Pension Injunction Order, is an appropriate exercise of jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 157(b)(2)(A), to extend the reach of an automatic stay, 11 U.S.C. Section 362, to protect its reorganization and the Bankruptcy Court’s jurisdiction over its assets. In response, appellants’ characterization of the Order may be collectively summarized as extraordinary injunctive relief, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Section 105

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Related

LTV Corp. v. Farragher
838 F.2d 59 (Second Circuit, 1988)
In Re Chateaugay Corporation
838 F.2d 59 (Second Circuit, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 B.R. 945, 8 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2332, 17 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1280, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pension-benefit-guaranty-corp-v-ltv-corp-in-re-chateaugay-corp-nysd-1987.