Opinion ID: 3010175
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Signatory Operator

Text: We first take up Lindsey's contention that it is not covered by the Coal Act because it is not a signatory operator. A signatory operator is a person which is or was a signatory to a coal wage agreement. 26 U.S.C.A. 9701(c)(1). It is undisputed that the Lindsey Coal Mining Corporation was a signatory to two coal wage agreements, one in 1947 and one in 1950. The only question, then, is whether the current Lindsey Liquidating Trust is the same person as the Lindsey Coal Mining Company that became a signatory to those agreements. Lindsey contends that it is not a signatory operator that can lawfully be assigned premium liability under the statute because it is not the same entity as the Lindsey Coal Mining Company. Because, in 1975, the Lindsey Coal Corporation became the Lindsey Liquidating Trust, the Lindsey Coal Mining Company has not existed for over twenty years, Lindsey argues. The government responds, and the Commissioner and the district court held, that Lindsey Coal is a signatory operator because the current trust is essentially the same entity -- and thus the same person under the Coal Act -- as the Coal Mining Company. We cannot say that the Commissioner abused her discretion in determining that Lindsey, in its current form as Lindsey Liquidating Trust, is the same person that was a signatory to the coal agreements. The former shareholders of the corporation are now the beneficiaries of the trust, and the trust engages in the same activities -- primarily leasing its property for coal, gas, mineral, and lumber extraction -- that the corporation did for over twenty years before it changed form. And, as Lindsey appears to concede, its mere cessation of active mining activities in 1952 -- while it continued to operate as the Lindsey Coal Mining Company -- could not transform it into a different entity. The Coal Act makes clear that a person can be liable for premiums even if it is no longer in the coal industry at all. See 26 U.S.C.A. 9701(c)(7) ([A] person shall be considered to be in business if such person conducts or derives revenue from any business activity, whether or not in the coal industry.) (emphasis added). Thus, Lindsey is a signatory operator for purposes of the Coal Act.