Steelworkers Pension Trust objected to bankrupt debtor’s sale of aluminum smelter and related assets free and clear of any successor liability claim of the Trust. The Trust held a claim estimated at $5 million for under-funding of the debtors’ pension plan.
The Bankruptcy Court concluded that the Congressional policy favoring multi-employer pension plans expressed in ERISA and MPPAA did not trump the express provisions of the Bankruptcy Code permitting the sale of the debtor’s assets free and clear of the Trust’s successor liability claim.