Court Opinion

ID: 9491685
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:20:40.150983+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:53.242891
License: Public Domain

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Today’s opinion continues this circuit’s incremental movement toward a new emphasis on literalism in the interpretation of labor contracts. Whatever might be the value of such a change in this court’s jurisprudence— a matter upon which I need not comment extensively today — its retrospective application to labor contracts negotiated in a different legal ambiance and reflecting the tenor of labor relations at an earlier time is a matter requiring significant reflection. The impact of today’s ruling on retired workers who spent their active work years in this circuit is significant. As Judge Cudahy pointed out in his opinion in Bidlack v. Wheelabrator Corp., 993 F.2d 603 (7th Cir.1993) (en banc), this new emphasis on literalism comes too late for those who have settled expectations based on the collective bargaining process of past years. Our retrospective rule of decision ought to be one that will most likely reflect the intent of the parties at the time that the agreement was made.
When we turn to the case before us, it is clear that this contract is sufficiently ambigú*443ous to require, even under the formula set forth in the lead opinion in Bidlack, that extrinsic evidence be admitted. The parties certainly did not believe that the issue of retiree benefits was expressed with singular clarity in the contract itself. Indeed, Pabst admitted as much in its opening pleading. Pabst’s estimation of the clarity of the document is certainly substantiated by a study of the text of the contract. The majority places a great deal of emphasis on the clause “[f]or the term of this Agreement.” But this clause is part of a sentence that can be read quite reasonably to mean that, during the term of the agreement, the benefits will be those specified by Appendix A — not that the benefits themselves exist only for the duration of the contract. This reading of the contract is also supported by several other aspects of the text. The contract provides that the dependents of a retiree will continue to receive benefits until six months after the retiree’s death. As in Bidlack, this factor is evidence that the retiree’s benefits were meant to continue until death. See id. at 608. The contract also provides that retirees on total and permanent disability “will be covered until they reach age 65.” This provision presupposes that the benefits will continue longer than the term of the contract. See id. Even under the formulation articulated by the principal opinion in Bidlack, therefore, recourse to extraneous evidence is required.
Labor contracts are forged in the real world of labor-management negotiations. They rarely reflect the pristine symmetry of the textbook contract. When we ignore the process that produces such contracts, and notably the Secretary of Labor suggests that the majority’s result does just that, we risk not only substantial injustice to the workers who depend on the collective bargaining process, but also substantial hardship to the communities that, in taking care of those now bereft of their benefits, must assume significant economic and social burdens.