Mason & Dixon Tank Lines, Inc. v. Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund

Summary

The Sixth Circuit held that disputes concerning withdrawal liability under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act must initially be submitted to arbitration, including disputes involving statutory interpretation. The court reversed the district court’s decision reducing Mason and Dixon Tank Lines’ withdrawal liability and remanded for arbitration. The court recognized only narrow exceptions to the arbitration requirement, such as facial constitutional challenges or verifiable claims of irreparable injury.

Holdings

1. Disputes concerning the calculation and enforceability of withdrawal liability, including the right to cure, aggregation of contribution histories within a controlled group, an as-applied constitutional challenge, and equitable reduction of liability, must initially be submitted to arbitration under 29 U.S.C. § 1401(a)(1).
2. Questions of statutory construction, standing alone, are not exempt from the MPPAA's initial-arbitration requirement.
3. The prior appellate decision did not bar arbitration of the remaining issues under the law-of-the-case doctrine because it addressed only whether the Transport group was the employer under the common-control provision.
4. A court may decide, before arbitration, the threshold question whether a party is an 'employer' subject to the MPPAA arbitration requirement.

Questions Presented

1. Whether disputes concerning Tank Lines' right to cure the partial withdrawal, the calculation of withdrawal liability using the contribution histories of commonly controlled businesses, the constitutionality of the MPPAA as applied, and equitable reduction of liability had to be submitted initially to arbitration under 29 U.S.C. § 1401(a)(1).
2. Whether the prior appellate decision affirming an injunction against arbitration barred consideration of arbitration for the remaining issues under the law-of-the-case doctrine.
3. Whether questions of statutory interpretation, standing alone, are exempt from the MPPAA's initial-arbitration requirement.
4. Whether a court may determine before arbitration whether a party is an employer subject to the MPPAA arbitration requirement.

Disposition

reversed