Michels Corp. v. Central States, Southeast, & Southwest Areas Pension Fund

WOOD, Chief Judge.

This case raises a familiar problem for pension funds: when did an employer’s obligation to contribute to the fund end? That question turns on when the governing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between a multi-employer group and a union terminated and how one should characterize a series of temporary “extensions” of the CBA. Several common issues are not before us: we are not concerned with withdrawal liability on the part of the employer; we are not concerned about any possible duty to arbitrate contested points; and in the end (despite considerable attention to the…