Opinion ID: 524085
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether time for initiating arbitration is tolled.

Text: 47 Having decided that the issue of employer status is arbitrable, we now must decide whether Banner waived its right to arbitrate by filing first in district court. A statute of limitations may be subject to both waiver and equitable tolling. Zipes v. TWA, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 393, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 1132, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982). Because the issue raised by Banner was a difficult one, and because Banner moved decisively to present the issue in court within the statutory time period for arbitration, the district court held that Banner's filing suit in federal court tolled the statutory time frames set out in Sec. 1401(a)(1). This is not a case in which the party assessed did absolutely nothing, waited until the pension filed a collection against it, and then for the first time tried to assert its defenses in court when it should have proceeded in arbitration. Banner took the immediate and affirmative steps to contest its liability.We will uphold a district court's exercise of its equitable power unless the court has abused its discretion. Cf. Ohio v. Peterson, Lowry, Rall, Barber & Ross, 651 F.2d 687, 693-94 and 693 n. 13 (10th Cir.1981). Under the circumstances of this case, Banner did risk waiving the statute of limitations, and the court could have ruled either way. But under this deferential standard of review, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that Banner did not waive its defenses to withdrawal liability by first seeking declaratory relief in the district court. 48 Not every imaginable question of statutory construction will toll the period during which arbitration must begin. Certainly the next similarly-situated employer who litigates rather than arbitrates will do so in the face of our opinion here. Litigation under similar circumstances could be considered frivolous, and any hardship suffered by avoiding arbitration would be a self-inflicted wound. See I.A.M. National Pension Fund v. Clinton Engines Corp., 825 F.2d 415, 426-27 (D.C.Cir.1987).