June 18, 2007 - Supreme Court Rules On Pensions, Mergers

Businesses are not required to consider an invitation to merge their pension plans vs. terminating them, according to a Supreme Court ruling June 18, as reported by the Associated Press. The case involved Crown Vantage, a bankrupt paper company that had decided to terminate its pension plans, use the money to buy annuities for plan participants and beneficiaries and recoup a multi-million dollar surplus that could have been paid to its creditors. Then it received a merger proposal from a labor union pension fund to cover its 17 pension plans. The judges ruled unanimously that the company was not required to consider that merger offer.