Court Rejects Pensioners’ Arguments, Upholds Government’s Authority to Regulate Failing Plans

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a 2014 law allowing for the reduction of pension benefits to prevent the collapse of financially troubled multiemployer plans does not constitute an uncompensated “taking” of private property under the Fifth Amendment.

In a decision with significant implications for millions of retirees, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of the government, affirming a lower court’s decision.

The case, King v. United States, arose from a lawsuit filed by William King, Stephen Dardzinski, and a class of similarly situated pensioners whose benefits were reduced by the New York State Teamsters Conference Pension & Retirement Fund. The cuts, av

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