Opinion ID: 2973265
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Standard of Review is Abuse of Discretion

Text: This Court reviews a district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction for an abuse of discretion. Tucker v. City of Fairfield, 398 F.3d 457, 461 (6th Cir. 2005). “A district court abuses its discretion when it relies on clearly erroneous findings of fact, improperly applies the law, or uses an erroneous legal standard.” Id. This Court reviews the district court’s conclusions of law de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. Golden v. Kelsey-Hayes Co., 73 F.3d 648, 653 (6th Cir. 1996). “Questions of contract interpretation are generally considered questions of law subject to de novo review.” Id. To determine whether to grant a preliminary injunction, a district court must consider: “(1) the plaintiff’s likelihood of success on the merits; (2) whether the plaintiff may suffer irreparable harm absent the injunction; (3) whether granting the injunction will cause substantial harm to others; and (4) the impact of an injunction upon the public interest.” Deja Vu of Nashville, Inc. v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville & Davidson County, 274 F.3d 377, 400 (6th Cir. 2001). “None of these factors, standing alone, is a prerequisite to relief; rather, the court should balance them.” Golden, 73 F.3d at 653. B. The district court did not abuse its discretion in this case. The district court considered each of the four factors listed above when issuing the preliminary injunction. The defendants primarily challenge the district court’s findings on the first factor — that is, the court’s determination that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits. The plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits if they can prove that they have a vested right to the insurance benefits they claim. “To prove this, the plaintiffs must show that the defendant and the union intended to include a right to lifetime benefits when they negotiated the CBAs at issue.” Golden, 73 F.3d at 653. A retiree health care insurance benefit plan is a welfare benefit plan under ERISA. Maurer v. Joy Tech., Inc., 212 F.3d 907, 914 (6th Cir. 2000) (citing Boyer v. Douglas Components Corp., 986 F.2d 999, 1005 (6th Cir. 1993)). Unlike pension plans, “[t]here is no statutory right to lifetime Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 6 health benefits.” Golden, 73 F.3d at 653.4 If lifetime health care benefits exist for the plaintiffs, it is because the UAW and the defendants agreed to vest a welfare benefit plan. Id. at 654; see also Boyer, 986 F.2d at 1005. If a welfare benefit has not vested, “after a CBA expires, an employer generally is free to modify or terminate any retiree medical benefits that the employer provided pursuant to that CBA.” Bittinger v. Tecumseh Prod. Co., 83 F. Supp. 2d 851, 857 (E.D. Mich. 1998) (quoting Am. Fed’n of Grain Millers v. Int’l Multifoods, 116 F.3d 976, 979 (2d Cir. 1997)). If a welfare benefit has vested, the employer’s unilateral modification or reduction of those benefits constitutes a LMRA violation. Maurer, 212 F.3d at 914. The district court applied this Court’s decision in UAW v. Yard-Man, Inc., 716 F.2d 1476, 1479 (6th Cir. 1983), to determine whether the parties intended for the retiree health insurance benefits to vest. Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 465. Yard-Man recognized that parties to CBAs can agree to vest benefits that survive the termination of the agreement. Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1479. Whether the benefits vest depends upon the intent of the parties. Golden, 73 F.3d at 654. “Courts can find that rights have vested under a CBA even if the intent to vest has not been explicitly set out in the agreement.” Maurer v. Joy Technologies, Inc., 212 F.3d 907, 915 (6th Cir. 2000). In Golden, the Court clarified that in determining the intent of the parties to a CBA, “basic rules of contract interpretation apply.” Golden, 73 F.3d at 654. Thus, Yard-Man makes clear that courts “should first look to the explicit language of the collective bargaining agreement for clear manifestations of intent.” Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1479. Moreover, courts “should also interpret each provision in question as part of the integrated whole. If possible, each provision should be construed consistently with the entire document and the relative positions and purposes of the parties.” Id. When ambiguities exist, courts may look to other provisions of the document and other extrinsic evidence. Id. at 1480; see also Golden, 73 F.3d at 654. Part of the Yard-Man decision has generated controversy. Examining the context of the CBA negotiations, the Court wrote that “it is unlikely that [life and health insurance benefits], which are typically understood as a form of delayed compensation or reward for past services, would be left to the contingencies of future negotiations.” Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1482. Thus, “retiree benefits are in a sense ‘status’ benefits which, as such, carry with them an inference that the parties likely intended those benefits to continue as long as the beneficiary remains a retiree.” Id. (emphasis added). This inference has caused much consternation for employers despite the remainder of the Court’s opinion: This is not to say that retiree insurance benefits are necessarily interminable by their nature. Nor does any federal labor policy . . . presumptively favor the finding of interminable rights to retiree insurance benefits when the collective bargaining agreement is silent. Rather, as part of the context from which the collective bargaining agreement arose, the nature of such benefits simply provides another inference of intent. Standing alone, this factor would be insufficient to find an intent to create interminable benefits. In the present case, however, this contextual factor buttresses the already sufficient evidence of such intent in the language of the agreement itself. Id. (emphasis added). Later cases further clarified the inference. Shortly after Yard-Man, this Court stated that “there is no legal presumption based on the status of retired employees.” Int’l Union, United Auto. Workers v. Cadillac Malleable Iron Co., 728 F.2d 807, 808 (6th Cir. 1984). Moreover, “Yard-Man does not shift the burden of proof to the employer, nor does it require specific anti- 4 ERISA provides for two types of employee benefit plans: pension plans and welfare benefit plans. 29 U.S.C. § 1002(1), (2)(A). Pension plans are subject to mandatory participation, vesting, and funding requirements. 29 U.S.C. § 1051. Welfare benefits are not subject to these requirements. Id. Retiree health insurance benefit plans are classified as welfare benefit plans under ERISA. 29 U.S.C. § 1002(1). Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 7 vesting language before a court can find that the parties did not intend benefits to vest. Rather, the Yard-Man inference, and the other teachings of the opinion regarding contract interpretation and the consideration of extrinsic evidence, simply guide courts faced with the task of discerning the intent of the parties from vague or ambiguous CBAs.” Golden, 73 F.3d at 656. Both El Paso and CNH America devote a great deal of energy to disputing the correctness of the Yard-Man inference. El Paso even suggests that this panel should overrule Yard-Man.5 Aside from a panel’s lack of authority to do so, these concerns are significantly overstated. El Paso and CNH America misinterpret the term “inference” and confuse it with a legal presumption. Under Yard-Man we may infer an intent to vest from the context and already sufficient evidence of such intent. Absent such other evidence, we do not start our analysis presuming anything. If Yard-Man required a presumption, the burden of rebutting that presumption would fall on the defendants. However, under Yard-Man, “[t]here is no legal presumption that benefits vest and that the burden of proof rests on plaintiffs.” Maurer, 212 F.3d at 917. This Court has never inferred an intent to vest benefits in the absence of either explicit contractual language or extrinsic evidence indicating such an intent. Rather, the inference functions more to provide a contextual understanding about the nature of labor-management negotiations over retirement benefits. That is, because retirement health care benefits are not mandatory or required to be included in an agreement, and because they are “typically understood as a form of delayed compensation or reward for past services” it is unlikely that they would be “left to the contingencies of future negotiations.” Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1481-82 (citations omitted). When other contextual factors so indicate, Yard-Man simply provides another inference of intent. All that Yard-Man and subsequent cases instruct is that the Court should apply ordinary principles of contract interpretation. There is no need to revise, reconsider, or overrule Yard-Man. Furthermore, there is no indication that the district court applied either a presumption or relied unnecessarily on the Yard-Man inference. Citing Yard-Man, the district court correctly stated that “courts must apply basic rules of contract interpretation to discern the intent of the parties.” Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 465. The district court did mention the inference and noted that Sixth Circuit case law has not repudiated the Yard-Man language, but the court’s analysis does not in any sense rely on an inference. Id. at 465-68. Instead, the district court interpreted the language of the agreement and found evidence that the defendants intended to confer lifetime benefits upon the plaintiffs. Id. at 466. Of particular significance to the district court was language in the Group Insurance Plan that tied benefits to the pension plans — that is, the Group Insurance Plan provided that employees retiring under the pension plan are eligible for the lifetime health care insurance. Id. Because the pension plan is a lifetime plan and the health insurance benefits are tied to the pension plan, the district court found that the health insurance benefits were vested and intended to be lifetime benefits. Id. at 466-67. This language is similar to Golden, where the district court’s key finding was the provisions in each of the CBAs that tied retiree benefits and surviving spouse eligibility for health insurance coverage to eligibility for vested pension benefits. “Since retirees are eligible to receive pension benefits for life, the court found that the parties intended that the company provide lifetime health benefits as well.” Golden, 73 F.3d at 656. The defendants counter this finding by pointing to the durational clause in the CBA, which states in section 4A that the insurance plan “will run concurrently with [the CBA] and is hereby made part of this Agreement.” The defendants argue that this is clear and explicit language that demonstrates that the health insurance benefits were not intended to vest and were only to last as long as the CBA. Thus, every time a CBA expires, the company would be free to modify benefits 5 The defendants also advance the argument that this Court already overruled Yard-Man in Sprague v. General Motors Corp., 133 F.3d 388 (6th Cir. 1998) (en banc). Prior panels have already addressed and explicitly rejected this argument. Maurer, 212 F.3d at 917 (rejecting claim that Sprague overruled Yard-Man and further rejecting the claim that explicit vesting language is necessary for welfare benefits to vest). Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 8 until another CBA is agreed to. Stated another way, retiree’s health insurance coverage is subject to change every few years based on new bargaining agreements. The district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the defendants’s arguments for two reasons. First, as the district court found, “a number of courts have held that such general durational provisions only refer to the length of the [CBAs] and not the period of time contemplated for retiree benefits.” Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 467 (citing Golden v. Kelsey-Hayes Co., 845 F. Supp. 410 (E.D. Mich. 1994)). Absent specific durational language referring to retiree benefits themselves, courts have held that the general durational language says nothing about those retiree benefits. Id.; see also Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1482; Schalk v. Teledyne, Inc., 751 F. Supp. 1261, 1265 (W.D. Mich. 1990), aff’d 948 F.2d 1290 (6th Cir. 1991) (“the existence of a general durational clause which provide[s] that the collective bargaining agreement should remain in effect until a certain date d[oes] not demonstrate an intent that all benefits described in the agreement also terminate[] on that date.”). That reasoning as applied to the agreements before us means that the concurrent language does nothing to those employees who have already retired under the plan. The durational language only affects future retirees — that is, someone who retired after the expiration of a particular CBA would not be entitled to the previous benefits, but is rather entitled only to those benefits newly negotiated under a new CBA. Thus, the retirement package available to someone contemplating retirement will change with the expiration and adoption of CBAs, but someone already retired under a particular CBA6 continues to receive the benefits provided therein despite the expiration of the agreement itself. Second, section 4C of the CBA states that “The pension plan agreed to between the parties will run concurrently with this agreement and is hereby made part of this Agreement.” The plaintiffs point to this language as strongly supporting their argument that the retirement benefits are vested. This is because pension benefits are vested benefits. There is no suggestion that a retiree’s pension plan is subject to change under each new CBA. The plaintiffs assert, therefore, that because pension plans are vested benefits and because the CBA uses the same durational language for pension plans that it uses for the health care benefits, the health care benefits also must be vested benefits. They argue that 7the agreements would not use the same language in sections 4A and 4C if it had different meanings. This argument further bolsters the interpretation noted above that the expiration of a CBA affects only future retirees in the context of benefits. Reviewing “each provision in question as part of the integrated whole,” the use of similar language in sections 4A and 4C provides substantial support for the plaintiffs’s position. Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1479.8 6 This is perhaps where the Yard-Man inference makes the most sense. Retirees, who have left their bargaining unit, and can no longer rely on their union to maintain their benefits, are not likely to leave their benefits alterable based on the changing whims and relative bargaining power of their former union and employer. See Golden, 845 F. Supp. at 413. 7 The district court in Golden likewise rejected the defendant’s argument regarding the durational clauses because the same language was used regarding pensions and health insurance benefits. The district court stated that “[g]iven the defendant’s logic, because its pension plan was incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement, its obligation to provide pensions ended with the expiration of the agreement.” Golden, 845 F. Supp. at 415 n.1. 8 The district court in Golden characterized Yard-Man as “recogniz[ing] that employees are aware when they accept retiree benefits in exchange for lower wages, that they cannot rely on their union to maintain those benefits once they have retired and left their bargaining unit. Thus, ‘finding an intent to create interminable rights to retiree insurance benefits in the absence of explicit language, is not, in any discernible way, inconsistent with federal labor law.’” Golden, 845 F. Supp. at 413 (quoting Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1482). Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 9 The district court also cited specific durational limits on other types of benefits in the Group Insurance Plan. The Yard-Man court held that “the inclusion of specific durational limitations in other provisions . . . suggests that retiree benefits, not so specifically limited, were intended to survive . . .” Yard-Man, 716 F.2d at 1481-82; see also Kelsey-Hayes, 954 F. Supp. at 1187. In the plans at issue here, the district court cited the specific durational limitations for workers on lay-off and on maternity leave. Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 466-67. In response to the defendants’s arguments, the district court distinguished the language in this case from the plans at issue in UAW v. Cleveland Gear Corp., 1983 WL 2174 (N.D. Ohio 1983), and Bittinger v. Tecumseh Products Co., 83 F. Supp. 2d 851 (E.D. Mich. 1998), upon which the defendants’s rely.9 In Cleveland Gear, the CBA between the parties stated that: “The Insurance Agreement and Insurance Plan, as revised, shall be effective as provided therein and shall remain in full force and effect during the term of this collective bargaining agreement.” Cleveland Gear, 1983 WL 2174 at . The court concluded that the parties did not intend the benefits to vest and there was no language indicating that the benefits were lifetime benefits. Id. In the instant case, the district court acknowledged the Cleveland Gear conclusion, but distinguished it. In Cleveland Gear, in addition to the general durational language in the CBA, the insurance agreement itself contained similar limiting language. The insurance plan stated that it remained in effect “until discontinued or superseded either in whole or in the termination or suspension of such Collective Bargaining Agreement.” Cleveland Gear, at . Moreover, the district court in the instant case noted that the agreements in Cleveland Gear did not contain language that tied health insurance benefits to pension benefits as is the case here. Likewise, the agreements in Bittinger were devoid of any language that tied health insurance benefits to pension benefits. The defendants rely on Bittinger principally because the Summary Plan Descriptions10 in Bittinger reserved to the company the “absolute right, through the collective bargaining process, to amend, modify, or discontinue any or all of the benefits described in the [labor agreement] or the [health care plan] . . .” Bittinger, 83 F. Supp. 2d at 858. In the plans at issue here, from 1974 to 1980 the Summary Plan Descriptions also contain some reservation of rights via the following language: “It is hoped that the Group Policies will be continued indefinitely through the years, but your employer necessarily reserves the right, subject to the applicable provisions of the Labor Agreement between the Union and the Company, to terminate or change the Plan in the future.” Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 468. The district court rejected the defendants’s arguments that this language permitted the modification of retirement benefits by finding that the “right to modify the Group Insurance Plans is expressly limited to the terms of the [CBAs].” Id. Because the district court found that the CBA creates the vested lifetime benefits, the court further concluded that this language does not reserve to the defendants the right to modify those benefits. Id. Regarding the Summary Plan Descriptions from the post-1980 agreements, the district court noted that they no longer included the reservation language, but rather a “Cessation of Benefits” provision stating that coverage will cease if the plan is cancelled in whole or in part. Id. The Cessation of Benefits refers to “the Sections of this booklet entitled ‘Retirement’ and ‘Termination of Coverage,’” where there is no “Cessation of Benefits” provision. Id. “Rather this section, like the Group Insurance Plan, only ties the continuation of retirement benefits to the retiree’s or surviving spouse’s eligibility for pension benefits: ‘Employees who retire under the J.I. Case 9 Of note, Bittinger was decided by the same district court as the instant case. 10 A summary plan description is a publication explaining the benefits of a particular welfare benefit plan and ERISA requires employers to distribute the descriptions to employees. 29 U.S.C. § 1022. Furthermore, this Court has held that “statements in a summary plan are binding and if the statements conflict with those in the plan itself, the summary shall govern.” Edwards v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 851 F.2d 134, 136 (6th Cir. 1988). Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 10 Pension Plan for Hourly Paid Employees, or their surviving spouses eligible to receive a spouse’s pension under the provisions of that plan, will be eligible for the benefits described in this section.’” Id. Further, this section provides that: “Except where noted, the benefits and maximums under these continued coverages will be the same as those that were in effect on the day preceding your retirement.” Id. (emphasis added).11 Finally, while the plain language of the CBAs requires us to conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by issuing the injunction, we also note that like the Golden case, “[d]efendant’s conduct also indicates that plaintiffs’[s] benefits were vested.” Golden, 845 F. Supp. at 415. The district court identified substantial evidence indicating an understanding that the health insurance benefits were lifetime benefits. This evidence includes statements from Case benefits employees that they were told and in turn told retiring employees “that their medical insurance benefits would continue unchanged for their lifetime . . .” Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 469. A letter from Case’s Director of Benefits & Practices sent to retirees in 1971 stated that the Company would fully cover benefits and that benefits would be in effect for life. Id. Documents related to various plant shutdown retirement agreements reflect that health insurance benefits “continu[ed] unchanged” “[f]or lifetime.” Id. Medical insurance cards issued to retirees from Case’s Industrial Relations Department in Terre Haute, Indiana contain the words “Lifetime” or “Lifetime Coverage.” Id. The plaintiffs also presented benefits information issued to employees upon retirement that stated that the retiree and his wife were entitled to full health insurance coverage and that if the retiree predeceased his wife, her coverage “would continue as before” and would only change if she remarried. Id. at 469-70. Further, under a section entitled “Spouse’s Benefits,” the summary provided to the employee states that “In the event that you should die before your spouse and a spouse’s option was spplied [sic] for, she will receive 55% of your pension for her lifetime along with the insurance which was mentioned previously.” Id. at 470. The plaintiffs further offered affidavits of numerous other retirees and surviving spouses who were told by Case benefits representatives that they would receive post-retirement lifetime health insurance coverage fully paid for by the company. Id. Some of the affidavits include the accompanying documentation promising fully funded health insurance for life. Id. On the other side, the defendants presented the testimony of Case’s chief union negotiator and the former Director of Employee Benefits who stated that the company understood benefits to last only as long as the CBAs were in effect and that benefits were not fixed. Id. at 470. The district court rejected this testimony finding that it was not entitled “to considerable weight” because the union negotiator is still employed by Case and the former director receives $20,000 per month in consulting fees from the company. Id. at 471. The most relevant extrinsic evidence the defendants present is evidence that during the negotiations that led to the FAS-106 Letter, UAW asked to add “lifetime” language to the Letter which was rejected by the company. Id. The defendants argue that this demonstrates that the parties understood that the benefits were not vested. The district court rejected this argument, finding that it “does not necessarily mean that the union’s representatives believed that the earlier agreements did not provide vested health care benefits. The representatives may have been attempting to more clearly state what they believed earlier agreements provided, particularly where the ‘agreement’ at issue established other limitations on those benefits.” Id. As the injunction issued by the district court is a preliminary injunction, the defendants may continue to press their arguments below, but we do not find them sufficient to demonstrate that the district court abused its discretion in this case. 11 The section also provides that “The cost of this coverage is fully paid by the Employer.” Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 468. Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 11 For all of the reasons discussed, the district court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that they were entitled to fully funded lifetime health care benefits. None of the parties’s briefs contest the additional inquiries in the preliminary injunction context, and we find the district court’s conclusions sound. The district court found that the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction. Id. at 471-72. The court pointed to the limited and fixed incomes of the retirees, resulting in an inability to meet the expense of the premiums or resulting in retirees being unable to afford prescriptions or doctor visits. Id. Additionally, the court noted that to receive any health insurance benefits, El Paso was requiring the plaintiffs to contribute $501 per month. Accordingly, “the Court can surmise that the putative class members overall cannot afford to contribute such an amount until this case is resolved. Unable to afford the $501 premium, Plaintiffs will lose their health insurance, will not be able to pay for necessary prescription medications, and will not receive all of the medical care they need. Reimbursing Plaintiffs for their contributions at the end of the case, therefore, will not afford them relief.” Id. at 472. The district court also found that while the injunction will place a substantial expense on the defendants, this factor did not weigh heavily against the injunction. Id. at 473. According to the district court, “Defendants have paid the full costs of health care benefits for retirees and their surviving spouses for years prior to August 2002, and in this Court’s opinion, the financial impact on Defendants being required to continue to pay these benefits is far less than the financial burden which would be placed on Plaintiffs if their request for a preliminary injunction is denied.” Id. Finally, the district court found that the injunction supports the public interest in enforcing CBAs and preventing ERISA and LMRA violations. Id. We therefore conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by issuing the injunction. Prior cases of this Court have highlighted factors indicating an intent to vest benefits that were present in this case. Additionally, we believe that the district court correctly interpreted the plain language of the CBAs and Group Insurance Plans as well as the agreement as a whole. The language tying health care benefits to pension benefits and the context of the bargaining demonstrate an intent to provide lifetime benefits. Furthermore, we do not believe that the general durational language in the CBA limits the duration of the health care benefits themselves, but rather merely provides a limitation on the agreement itself. The use of identical language in the CBAs referring to pension benefits and health care benefits provides strong additional support that the benefits are tied together and that they are lifetime benefits. Even if the agreements were ambiguous, the extrinsic evidence cited by the district court would support its finding and would not lead to the conclusion that the district court abused its discretion in issuing the injunction. C. Whether El Paso or CNH America is Liable for the Health Care Benefits The remaining dispute is between El Paso and CNH America. Each contends that the other is liable for the plaintiffs’s health insurance benefits above the apparent cap imposed by the FAS106 Letter. CNH America contends that El Paso, as Tenneco’s successor, is solely responsible for all of the plaintiffs’s health care benefits. El Paso argues that in the 1994 Reorganization Agreement it assumed liability for pre-IPO retiree health care benefits subject to the negotiated cap set forth in the FAS-106 Letter; thus, according to El Paso, CNH America is liable for costs in excess of the cap. Initially, in its opinion issuing the preliminary injunction, the district court found that El Paso is primarily liable for the entire health care costs for pre-IPO retirees and their surviving spouses. Yolton, 318 F. Supp. 2d at 474-75. The district court reasoned that the Reorganization Agreement’s “Retained Liabilities” section provided that Tenneco assumed CNH America’s liabilities for postretirement health insurance benefits for pre-IPO retirees and their dependents. Nevertheless, the Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 12 court found that CNH America “has not been released from its liability to provide fully funded, lifetime health insurance benefits to its retirees and their surviving spouses.” Id. at 474. Notwithstanding Tenneco’s assumption of the liabilities, the court held that CNH America remains secondarily responsible to the plaintiffs for the cost of the benefits. In sum, the district court concluded “that El Paso is liable for the full costs of the pre-IPO retirees’ and surviving spouses’ health insurance benefits. The Court may subsequently conclude that [CNH America] is also liable for these costs.” Id. at 475. Following the district court’s opinion, El Paso filed a motion for reconsideration pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). In ruling on the motion in an opinion issued on March 8, 2004, the district court noted that its original conclusion that El Paso was primarily liable was based on the 1994 Reorganization Agreement. In its motion for reconsideration, El Paso argued that it was premature to resolve the issue of whether El Paso was required to indemnify CNH America for the health insurance benefits without providing El Paso the opportunity to address the issue and without fully resolving CNH America’s liability for the costs as signatory to the relevant CBAs. The court concluded “that El Paso is entitled to relief, as the Court erred in overlooking the fact that, as the signatory to the CBAs, [CNH America] retained liability for Plaintiffs’[s] health care costs despite El Paso’s subsequent assumption of those liabilities in the Reorganization Agreement and Benefits Agreement.” D. Ct. Op. of March 8, 2004 at 3. To reach this conclusion, the district court needed to address whether CNH America is a party to the CBAs — in essence, whether CNH America is the alter ego of JI Case. CNH America’s position is that it did not exist before July 1, 1994 when Case LLC it was created by JI Case executives; having not existed until this time, CNH America claims, it could not possibly have been a party to the CBAs signed before this date. CNH America further asserts that it is not the alter ego or successor of JI Case. The district court disagreed and found that CNH America is the alter ego or mere continuance of JI Case and therefore assumed the CBAs and their liabilities. As the district court correctly noted, the Supreme Court has held that a successor corporation generally is not liable for its predecessors liabilities unless expressly assumed. See e.g., NLRB v. Burns Int’s Sec. Servs., 406 U.S. 272, 279, 286-88 (1972). This rule is not absolute, however, as the Court has held that a CBA might remain in force “in a variety of circumstances involving a merger, stock acquisition, reorganization or assets purchase.” Id. at 291. The Supreme Court has also held that when there is a “mere technical change in the structure or identity of the [old] employing entity, frequently to avoid the effect of the labor laws, without any substantial change in its ownership or management . . . the courts have little difficulty holding that the successor is in reality the same employer and is subject to all the legal and contractual obligations of the predecessor.” Howard Johnson Co. v. Detroit Local Joint Executive Bd., 417 U.S. 210, 259 n.5 (1974) (citing Southport Petroleum Co. v. NLRB, 315 U.S. 100, 106 (1942)). This Court has applied these principles in several relevant cases. To start, “[w]hether a company or individual is responsible for the financial obligations of another company or individuals is a question of federal law when it arises in the context of a federal labor dispute. Although state law cases may provide guidance in fashioning the content of federal law, they are not binding and thus do not control” the analysis. NLRB v. Fullerton Transfer & Storage Limited, Inc., 910 F.2d 331, 335 (6th Cir. 1990). This Court recognized, however, that federal law, like state law, generally recognizes the concept of limited liability. As the Supreme Court has stated, “[t]he insulation of a stockholder from the debts and obligations of his corporation is the norm, not the exception.” NLRB v. Deena Artware, Inc., 361 U.S. 398, 402-03 (1960). Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 13 Fullerton Transfer, the case upon which CNH America relies, asked “which doctrine referred to as an ‘alter ego doctrine’ applies to this case.” Id. at 366. “The alter ego doctrine was developed to prevent employers from evading obligations under the Act merely by changing or altering their corporate form.” NLRB v. Allcoast Transfer, Inc., 780 F.2d 576, 579 (6th Cir. 1986). Quite correctly, the Court recognized that the term alter ego “has accumulated a great deal of baggage in the context of labor disputes.” Fullerton Transfer, 910 F.2d at 366. The doctrine is most commonly used in “labor cases to bind a new employer that continues the operations of an old employer 12 in those cases where the new employer is ‘merely a disguised continuance of the old employer.’” Id. (quoting Southport Petroleum, Co. v. NLRB, 315 U.S. 100, 106 (1942)); see also Howard Johnson Co., 417 U.S. 249 (1974). To determine alter ego status in this situation, courts ask “whether the two enterprises have substantially identical management, business, purpose, operation, equipment, customers, supervision and ownership.” Id. (quoting Nelson Electric v. NLRB, 638 F.2d 965, 968 (6th Cir. 1981)); see also NLRB v. Allcoast Transfer, Inc., 780 F.2d 576, 579 (6th Cir. 1986).13 The Court described this as a “more relaxed, less exacting” application of the alter ego doctrine “[i]n order to effectuate federal labor policies.” Id. Determination of alter ego status is a question of fact to be reversed only if clearly erroneous. Allcoast Transfer, 780 F.2d at 579 (citing Southport Petroleum, 315 U.S. at 106). In an alter ego analysis, “[n]o factor is controlling and all need not be present.” Tanaka Construction, Inc. v. NLRB, 675 F.2d 1029, 1033 (9th Cir. 1982). The analysis is “flexible” and “no one element should become a prerequisite to imposition of alter ego status; rather, all the relevant factors must be considered together.” Allcoast Transfer, 780 F.2d at 582.14 In Fullerton Transfer, however, the Court declined to apply the more relaxed alter ego doctrine because it found that the facts before it did not present a case where the alleged alter egos are “engaged in the same business as the original company . . . Rather, they are, respectively, a corporation engaged in a different business and stockholders and officers of another corporation.” Id. at 337. Consequently, the Court determined that the rationales justifying application of the relaxed standard were absent. Id. The facts here, however, indicate that the more relaxed standard is appropriate. CNH America argues otherwise; particularly, CNH America argues that the so-called relaxed doctrine applies only to situations where there is evidence of an intent to avoid labor obligations. It points to Fullerton Transfer in support of its claim, but the language of Fullerton Transfer is not helpful. All that Fullerton Transfer stands for is the conclusion that the relaxed standard was not appropriate for the particular facts of that case. Furthermore, post-Fullerton Transfer cases repudiate CNH America’s claim. See e.g., Wilson v. Int’l Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of Am., AFLCIO, 83 F.3d 747 (6th Cir. 1996). In Wilson, the Court rejected the defendants’s insistence that the alter ego doctrine “applies only to situations in which a change in the corporate form allows an employer to evade collective bargaining obligations, and that common ownership and evidence of 12 The Court also noted that “[i]ncreasingly, the term also is applied to so-called double-breasted operations to determine whether two or more coexisting employers performing the same work are in fact one business, separated only in form.” Id. at 336. 13 The Court mentioned that “[t]he successorship doctrine is often confused with the alter ego doctrine. The successorship doctrine is used to determine whether a new employer has an obligation to bargain when there is a bona fide sale of the employing company. A bona fide sale is found when there is any substantial change in ownership or management.” Id. at 336 n. 6 (citation and quotation marks omitted). 14 Moreover, even when a reorganization is supported by legitimate reasons, the employer may be prevented from avoiding its prior labor obligations. Allcoast Transfer, 780 F.2d at 582. Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 14 an intent to avoid labor agreements are essential to an alter ego claim.” Id. at 758-59. CNH America nevertheless insists that the district court erred by making an alter ego finding without evidence of an intent to evade labor obligations. We disagree. This Court, even in light of the language of Fullerton Transfer, has made clear that “common ownership or an intent to evade federal labor law obligations are not necessary prerequisites to a finding of alter ego status.” Id. at 759. We need not, therefore, look for evidence of CNH America’s intent to evade any labor obligations in determining whether it remains liable under the CBAs as the alter ego to JI Case. Rather, “the essential inquiry under an alter ego analysis is ‘whether there was a bona fide discontinuance and a true change of ownership . . . or merely a disguised continuance of the old employer.” Allcoast Transfer, 780 F.2d at 579 (quoting Southport Petroleum, 315 U.S. at 106). We conclude that the district court applied the appropriate standard. The court asked “whether the two enterprises have substantially identical management, business purpose, operation equipment, customers, supervision and ownership.” D. Ct. Op. of May 8, 2004 (citing Allcoast Transfer, 780 F.2d at 579 (citations omitted)). JI Case and UAW were the parties to the CBAs. In 1994, Tenneco divested itself of its agriculture and construction assets by creating Case Equipment Corporation (which eventually became Case LLC and then CNH America). Upon the creation of the new corporation, Tenneco, JI Case, and Case Equipment entered into the Reorganization and Benefits Agreement whereby Tenneco and JI Case’s assets were transferred to Case Equipment. Immediately following the reorganization, Case Equipment conducted an IPO and changed its name to Case Corporation and in September 2002 to Case LLC and later to CNH America. Other factors indicate that CNH America is, for purposes of this case, the alter ego of JI Case. The Reorganization Agreement was signed for Case Equipment by Jean Pierre Rosso as its President and CEO. D. Ct. Op. Of May 8, 2004 at 6. At the time, Mr. Rosso was also the president and CEO of JI Case. Id. Prior to the Reorganization, Mr. Rosso, as the president and CEO of JI Case, sent a letter to retirees announcing that “[t]he leadership of Case and Tenneco have announced an action that, when completed, will make Case a publicly traded company.” Id. The Reorganization Agreement was signed for JI Case by Theodore R. French, its Senior Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer. Id. at 6-7. Mr. French then held the same position with Case Equipment and in fact signed the Benefits Agreement as Senior Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer of Case Equipment and JI Case. Id. A few days after the Reorganization Agreement was executed, JI Case executed a Certificate of Amendment, effective July 1, 1994 at 12:01 a.m., changing its name to Tenneco Equipment Corporation. Id. at 7. Effective at 12:02 a.m., Case Equipment changed its name to Case Corporation. Id. “The same individual, acting in the same capacity for the new and old Case Corporations, executed both certificates.” Id. The district court also found that those individuals who were officers of JI Case prior to 12:01 a.m. on July 1, 1994, were the same individuals named as officers of Case Corporation at 12:02 a.m. Id. The new Case Corporation (Case LLC and then CNH America) operated under the same name as JI Case in the same manufacturing facilities with the same officers, employees, and business. Id. The new Case Corporation continued to correspond with retirees of JI Case using the same JI Case letterhead previously used by the old corporation. Id. at 7-8. “The letters from the new Case Corporation were signed by the same employees, working at the same locations, and in the same positions as the letters from the old Case Corporation.” Id. at 8. The Benefits Agreement included a provision that, except as otherwise specifically stated within the agreement, CNH America assumed and agreed to pay “all employment, compensation and benefit liabilities, whether arising prior to or after [the date of the agreement], with respect to all employees and former employees of [each subsidiary of Tenneco that assigned assets used in the farm and construction business to Case Corporation].” Id. Furthermore, CNH America assumed Nos. 04-1182/1818/1821/2492 Yolton, et al. v. El Paso Tenn. Pipeline Co., et al. Page 15 all CBAs covering employees of the farm and construction equipment business of JI Case, including the 1990 CBA. Id. Based on the above factors, the district court concluded that the plaintiffs were likely to establish that CNH America is the alter ego of JI Case and therefore retained JI Case’s labor law obligations. Id. The court further concluded, however, that the plaintiffs were not likely to succeed in their claim against El Paso regarding the labor law obligations because Tenneco was never a party to any CBAs. Thus, the district court concluded that the plaintiffs “will not likely succeed in establishing that El Paso is obligated under those agreements to pay the costs of Plaintiffs’[s] health insurance benefits.” Id. at 9 (emphasis in original) (citing Serv., Hosp., Nursing Home & Pub. Employees Union v. Commercial Property Servs., Inc., 755 F.2d 499, 503 (6th Cir. 1985) (concluding that non-signatory to a CBA who is neither a successor or alter ego of signatory to the CBA cannot be bound by the provisions of the agreement)). Finally, the district court noted that it may ultimately be correct in its initial conclusion that El Paso assumed CNH America’s obligations to provide the benefits in the Reorganization Agreement, but noted that the plaintiffs do not seek relief based upon the Reorganization Agreement. Instead, El Paso’s liability arises only as a result of CNH America’s cross-claim against El Paso for breach of those agreements. Therefore, the court concluded it was premature to adjudicate that claim when addressing the plaintiffs’s motion for a preliminary injunction. We agree with the district court’s approach and affirm its judgment.