Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 596.0

524US2

Unit: $U94

[09-11-00 13:26:39] PAGES PGT: OPLG

Cite as: 524 U. S. 498 (1998)

551

Stevens, J., dissenting

between the coal operators and the miners that enabled coal
production to continue during the 1950’s and 1960’s depended
more on the value of a handshake than the ﬁne print in writ-
ten documents. During that period there was an implicit
understanding on both sides of the bargaining table that
the operators would provide the miners with lifetime health
beneﬁts.
It was this understanding that kept the mines in
operation and enabled Eastern to earn handsome proﬁts
before it transferred its coal business to a wholly owned sub-
sidiary in 1965.

My understanding of this critical fact is shared by the
judges of the Seventh Circuit,2 the Sixth Circuit,3 and the

2 “[E]very [National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement (NBCWA)] sig-
natory company shared some responsibility in creating a legitimate ex-
pectation among miners of lifetime health beneﬁts.
Imposing liability on
companies that have proﬁted from the retirees’ labor was found rational
in [Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co., 428 U. S. 1, 18 (1976)] . . . .
Every signatory company, including plaintiffs, participated in the creation
and development of a multi-employer health beneﬁt program that provided
lifetime health beneﬁts for retirees for almost ﬁfty years. Congress could
rationally have concluded that such participation led to a legitimate ex-
pectation of lifetime health beneﬁts that should be honored under the Coal
Act. Again, in this light, it would have been arbitrary to draw the line
anywhere other than at all NBCWA signatories. Plaintiffs respond that
it was not until the 1974 NBCWA and the ‘guarantee’ and ‘evergreen’
clauses of the 1978 NBCWA that miners were promised lifetime health
beneﬁts—promises that plaintiffs never made. Therefore, they argue, it
was irrational for Congress to require contributions from pre-1974 sig-
natories. But the fact that plaintiffs never contractually agreed to pro-
vide lifetime beneﬁts does not rebut the rationality of ﬁnding that they
contributed to the expectation of lifetime beneﬁts. The Coal Commission
and Congress found that the promise of lifetime beneﬁts dates back to the
1940s, even though it is not explicit in any NBCWA until 1974.” Davon,
Inc. v. Shalala, 75 F. 3d 1114, 1124–1125 (1996) (footnote omitted).

3 “Blue Diamond further argues that it was irrational for Congress to
impose Coal Act liability upon Blue Diamond because Blue Diamond did
not promise its employees that they would receive lifetime health bene-
ﬁts.
It is undisputed that the NBCWAs did not contain an explicit prom-
ise of lifetime beneﬁts until the 1974 NBCWA agreement. However, sev-
eral federal courts have found that [United Mine Workers of America
(UMWA)] members had a legitimate expectation of lifetime beneﬁts be-