Bay Area Laundry and Dry Cleaning Pension Trust Fund v. Ferbar Corporation of California, Inc.

Summary

Justice Ginsburg delivered the Court’s opinion holding that the MPPAA’s six-year limitations period for collecting withdrawal liability begins when an employer misses a scheduled payment, not when it withdraws from the pension plan. Each missed installment creates a separate cause of action with its own limitations period, and the plan need not accelerate the debt to preserve claims for future installments. The Fund waived recovery of the first installment by representing in its certiorari petition that recovery depended on resolving the conflict over separate installment accrual, rather than arguing that its claim for that installment was independently timely. The Court reversed the Ninth Circuit and remanded, permitting recovery proceedings for subsequent installments. There were no separate opinions.