Stuart M. Gerson, Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Health Care & Life Sciences practices, in the firm's Washington, DC, and New York offices, was quoted in National Law Journal, in “No Clear Rule Likely from Justices on Retiree Health Benefits,” by Tony Mauro. (Read the full article - subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker & Green, who also attended the argument, concurred that business is "unlikely to get a blanket rule" requiring explicit wording on vesting. He was not surprised at the court's resistance, citing a long history of allowing the use of "extrinsic evidence" in interpreting bargaining agreements.
Gerson added that "there are a surprising number of agreements" where the wording is ambiguous or absent, prompting lawsuits brought by employers who are "only too eager" to curtail retiree health care costs.