What could be in the next stimulus bill in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Congress reportedly is working on a bill (dubbed “Stimulus 3.5”) that includes additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program created by the CARES Act.  Will the new stimulus bill address long-awaited reforms to the multiemployer pension plan system?

The imminent

Both buyers and sellers in asset sale transactions should be cognizant of the ongoing erosion of the common law rule that the purchaser is not responsible for the seller’s liabilities absent a contractual assumption of such liabilities, as evidenced by a recent Ninth Circuit case finding that the theory of successor liability may be used

Employers with collectively bargained employees need to be aware that the costs of participating in a union sponsored benefit fund (i.e., a multiemployer plan) may be much greater than the negotiated contributions. The greatest exposure commonly comes from withdrawal liability — generally an employer’s pro rata share of a multiemployer pension plan’s unfunded vested benefits