Opinion ID: 459860
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: APPLICATION OF UNITED MINE WORKERS HEALTH & RETIREMENT FUNDS v. ROBINSON

Text: 33 CLPT's final argument is merely a variation of its position that courts must not second guess the reasoning of trustees. In this version, CLPT urges that under United Mine Workers Health & Retirement Funds v. Robinson, 455 U.S. 562, 102 S.Ct. 1226, 71 L.Ed.2d 419 (1982) there is absolutely no reasonableness requirement in 29 U.S.C. Sec. 186(c)(5) (1982). This is an obtuse reading of Robinson, particularly in light of recent Ninth Circuit cases which have clearly construed Robinson otherwise. 34 The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Robinson to decide whether [29 U.S.C. Sec. 186(c)(5) ] authorizes federal courts to review for reasonableness the provisions of a collective-bargaining agreement allocating health benefits among potential beneficiaries of an employee benefit trust fund. 455 U.S. at 564, 102 S.Ct. at 1228 (emphasis added). The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had found there was such a requirement. The Supreme Court reversed, explaining that the Court of Appeals had relied on cases in which, unlike in Robinson, trustees and not collective bargaining parties had full power to fix the eligibility requirements. Id. at 573, 102 S.Ct. at 1232. This circuit has consistently interpreted Robinson to have left intact a reasonableness requirement in situations where trustees maintained the independent rulemaking power not present in Robinson. Music v. Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund, 712 F.2d 413, 417 (9th Cir.1983); Hurn v. Retirement Fund Trust of the Plumbing, Heating & Piping Industry, 703 F.2d 386, 389 (9th Cir.1983); Harm v. Bay Area Pipe Trades Pension Plan Trust Fund, 701 F.2d 1301, 1305 n. 4 (9th Cir.1983). 35 CLPT tries to distinguish its situation by pointing out that its trustees sit by appointment, and at the pleasure, of the collective bargaining parties, and that the collective bargaining parties know of and approve all the trustees actions. CLPT has conceded that the eligibility requirement and benefit levels are nonetheless promulgated by the Board of Trustees, but argues that Robinson does not require a showing that the collective bargaining parties have actually instructed the trustees to set particular standards. Robinson, however, does draw a line between rules which were the subject of bargaining and those which were determined by the trustees. 455 U.S. at 569, 573, 102 S.Ct. at 1230, 1232; see also Hurn, 703 F.2d at 389. 36 CLPT has not given any indication that the rules it promulgated were the subject of bargaining. Nor does it show how its relationship with interested collective bargaining parties is different from the relations present in Music, Hurn or Harm. Hurn makes it absolutely clear that even a specific requirement that the trustee's rules be ratified by the collective bargaining parties does not make those rules unreviewable under Robinson because [i]ndependent approval by representatives of each side ... is not the equivalent of collective bargaining. 703 F.2d at 389. 37 Affirmed.