The Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 ("MPPAA") amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") and the Internal Revenue Code to make "trade[s] or business[es]" that are under "common...more
Key Points - The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a lower court decision which held that two affiliated private equity funds with indirect ownership interests in the same portfolio company were liable for...more
On November 22, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that two separate private equity funds managed by the same general partner/management firm were not liable for the pension fund withdrawal...more
The recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the Sun Capital Partners case may allay some of the concerns that private-equity and other investment funds that acquire or invest in portfolio...more
First Circuit: Two affiliated funds did not form an implied partnership liable for pension obligations of a portfolio company, but private equity funds can still be subject to controlled group pension liability...more
Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that two co-investing Sun Capital private equity funds (the Sun Funds) had not created an implied “partnership-in-fact” for purposes of determining whether...more
In light of the recent decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Sun Capital, private investment funds, multiemployer pension funds and the...more
The recent opinion by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the Sun Capital Partners case may be troubling to private equity funds and...more
Editor's Overview - This month we feature three key developments. First, we review the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 136 S. Ct. 936, 947 (2016) wherein the Supreme Court held that a...more
A group of related private equity (“PE”) funds were found liable for a bankrupt portfolio company’s pension plan debts in the latest and most worrisome decision in the long-running Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England...more
As we previously reported, two private equity funds (the Sun Funds) managed by Sun Capital Advisors, Inc. (SCAI) have for years battled with the New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund (TPF) over whether the...more
On March 28, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), two private equity funds (1) were engaged in a trade or business, and (2) had...more
On March 28, 2016, a district court in Massachusetts found two private equity funds (under the Sun Capital Partners, Inc. umbrella) jointly and severally liable for withdrawal liability imposed on one of its underlying...more
District Court finds affiliated funds acted in de facto partnership which controlled portfolio company; Decision may be significant in making private equity acquisition structuring choices. As we previously reported, in...more
On March 28, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Sun Capital Partners III LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund, No. 10-10921 (D. Mass. 2016) delivered a surprising...more
District Court finds affiliated funds acted in de facto partnership which controlled portfolio company; Decision may be significant in making private equity acquisition structuring choices. On March 28, 2016, a Federal...more
First Circuit holds that an investment fund may be responsible for controlled group pension liabilities of portfolio companies. On July 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a significant decision...more
The recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the Sun Capital Partners case may be of concern to private equity funds and other investment funds that acquire or invest in portfolio companies with...more
In our November 9, 2012, client alert, we examined an apparent victory for private equity firms resulting from the District Court of Massachusetts decision that held that two related private equity funds were not liable on a...more
In Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund, a U.S. district court in Massachusetts held that investment funds managed by private equity firm Sun Capital Advisors, Inc. (“Sun...more
On October 18, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that two private equity investment funds managed by Sun Capital Partners, Inc. were not liable for their bankrupt portfolio company's...more