Zino v. Whirlpool Corp.

141 F. Supp. 3d 762, 60 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 3022, 92 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1773, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3566, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147614, 2015 WL 6559579
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 30, 2015
DocketCASE NO. 5:11CV01676
StatusPublished

This text of 141 F. Supp. 3d 762 (Zino v. Whirlpool Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zino v. Whirlpool Corp., 141 F. Supp. 3d 762, 60 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 3022, 92 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1773, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3566, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147614, 2015 WL 6559579 (N.D. Ohio 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION & ORDER

[Resolving ECF No. 332]

PEARSON, United States District Judge.

Pending before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Reconsideration. - ECF No. 332. Defendants ask the Court to reconsider its orders issued resolving the cross-motions for summary judgment (ECF No. 191) and later held bench trial1 (ECF No. 310), in response to a subsequently issued Supreme Court decision, Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, 524 U.S., — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 926, 190 L.Ed.2d 809 (2015). The motion for reconsideration is opposed by Plaintiffs and fully briefed.- See e.g., ECF No. 339, ECF No. 340. Additionally, both sides have filed notices of supplemental authority and responsive briefs. See e.g., ECF No. 347, ECF No. 349, ECF No. 350, and ECF No. 352. The Court is fully informed having reviewed the record and that submitted by the parties.

For the reasons below, Defendants’ motion isgranted, in part, and denied, in part.

I.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not provide for motions for reconsideration. The Sixth Circuit, however, has held that a motion to reconsider may be treated as a motion to alter or amend a judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e). See Rodriguez v. City of Cleveland, No. 1:08— CV-1892, 2009 WL 1565956, at * 1 (N.D.Ohio June 6, 2009) (citing Smith v. Hudson, 600 F.2d 60, 62 (6th Cir.1979)). Nonetheless,' such motions1 are disfavored [765]*765and seldom granted because they contradict notions of finality and repose. Id.) see also Wells Fargo Bank v. Daniels, No. l:05-CV-2573, 2007 WL 3104760, at * 1 (N.D.Ohio Oct. 22, 2007); Plaskon Elec. Materials, Inc. v. Allied-Signal, Inc., 904 F.Supp. 644, 669 (N.D.Ohio 1995). A court may grant - a motion to amend or alter judgment if there is a clear error of . law, newly discovered evidence exists, an intervening change in controlling law occurs, or to prevent manifest injustice. See Gen-corp, Inc. v. Am. Int’l Underwriters, 178 F.3d 804, 834 (6th Cir.1999) (“It is no.t the function of a motion to reconsider either to renew arguments already considered and rejected by a court or 'to proffer a new legal theory or new evidence to support a prior argument when the legal theory or argument could, with due diligence, have been discovered and offered during the initial consideration of the issue.’ ” McCo-nocha v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield Mut. of Ohio, 930 F.Supp. 1182, 1184 (ND.Ohio 1996) (quoting In re August, 1993 Regular Grand Jury, 854 F.Supp. 1403, 1408 (S.D.Ind.1994))). Because the Supreme Court of the United States has provided guidance not available prior to the-Court’s earlier rulings, the Court reconsiders its prior rulings in response to Tackett.

Reconsideration is just that. It is not an automatic reversal or vacatur of prior rulings.2 As explained below, the Court maintains its bench trial rulings as to Subclasses A; C, and D and reverses its bench trial ruling as to Subclass B.

II.

This writing incorporates the factual and procedural background of the case provided in' the Court’s Memorandum of Opinion and Order resolving the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. See ECF No.- 191; Zino v. Whirlpool No. 5:11CV01676, 2013 WL 4544518 (N.D.Ohio August 27, 2013). Separately, in the Order issued after Phase One- of trial, the Court concluded:

1. The members of Subclass C were promised lifetime, company-paid health benefits under the 1992-1995, 1995-2000, and 20Ó0-2003 [Collective Bargaining Agreements or] CBAs. ' ■
2. With respect to Subclass D: (1) the members’of Groups 1 and 2 were promised lifetime, company-paid health benefits under the same rules that-applied to the members of Subclass C; (2) as to some members of Group 3 and all members of Group-4 — they were not promised lifetime health-benefits but they.are entitled to company-paid health benefits up to the age of 65 in accordance with the terms established in Exhibit 5; (3) with respect to the members- of Group 3 who are not entitled to company-paid health benefits — they are nevertheless entitled to participate in “retiree healthcare” until the age of 65 but they are responsible -for paying 'the full cost of the premiums; - and (4) the members of Groups. 5 and 6, to the extent there are any, are neither entitled to lifetime retiree health benefits nor are they guaran[766]*766teed “access” to them beyond the expiration of the 2003-2007 CBA.
3. The ambiguity within Item 6(c) regarding the duration for which the Company agreed to fund retiree health benefits, and the conflict between Item 6(c) and the 1977 Welfare Plan, are resolved by the evidence presented at trial proving that the Company and the Union intended for the members of Subclass A to receive retiree health benefits for life.
4. The applicable Sub-Agreement Provisions carried the 1980 Contract Settlement through to the 1983-1986, 1986-1988, and 1988-1992 CBAs, entitling the members of Subclass B to retiree health benefits for life. In addition, Retirees’ motion for reconsideration and/or relief from entry of summary judgment as to Subclass B is granted.

ECF No. 310 at PagelD# : 10213-10214.

A unanimous Court held that Tackett was decided in contravention with ordinary principles of contract law. See Tackett, 135 S.Ct. 926. The high Court “struck down the Sixth Circuit’s Yard-Man inference’ and the attendant contract interpretation principles adopted by Yard-Man and its progeny,” creating an intervening change in controlling law. ECF No. 332 at PagelD#: 10326 (internal citations omitted). The Supreme Court determined that the Sixth Circuit had incorrectly employed principles in tension with ordinary principles of contract law when evaluating CBAs. Tackett, 135 S.Ct. at 937. It ordered courts to use ordinary principles of contract law and first look to the language of CBAs to ascertain the intention of the parties, with no “thumb on the scale" in favor of vesting. Id. at 935. The Supreme Court also rejected the idea that a general durational clause in a CBA “says nothing about the vesting of retiree benefits.” Id. at 934. Courts, therefore, must now consider general durational clauses when construing CBAs. Id. at 936. The Supreme Court also stated that “[cjontrae-tual obligations will cease, in the ordinary course, upon termination of the bargaining agreement” and “courts should not construe ambiguous writings to create lifetime promises.” Id. at 930, 937. Additionally, the Supreme Court rejected the Sixth Circuit’s inference that the tying of retiree health benefits to the receipt of a pension meant that parties intended the health benefits to last as long as the pension benefits, i.e., for life. Id. at 937. The Supreme Court concluded that such “inferences [are] inconsistent with ordinary principles of contract law.” Id.

In the concurring opinion, Justice Ginsburg clarified by stating:

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141 F. Supp. 3d 762, 60 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 3022, 92 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1773, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3566, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147614, 2015 WL 6559579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zino-v-whirlpool-corp-ohnd-2015.