Kenneth J. Bauwens v. Revcon Technology Group, Inc.

Brennan, Circuit Judge.

Two companies set up a pension plan for their employees, then withdrew from it. This triggered federal requirements that the companies contribute to the plan. This withdrawal liability became the subject of a dance between the companies and the pension plan's trustees: defaults and lawsuits, followed by partial payments and dismissals of the lawsuits.

The most recent lawsuit was dismissed as time-barred. On appeal the trustees ask us to create a federal common law mechanism which would allow them to decelerate the withdrawal liability they previously accelerated. This…