Glass Repair Shop Can’t Slip Pension Bill Using Bankruptcy Quirk

A Florida glass repair company can’t use a “quirk” in bankruptcy law to avoid paying more than $1.5 million in withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension fund, the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday.

The dispute centered on how to characterize a proof of claim submitted to Florida Glass of Tampa Bay Inc.'s bankruptcy proceedings by the International Painters & Allied Trades Industry Pension Fund. Florida Glass said this filing was a formal notice and demand under federal pension law that started the clock running on the pension fund’s deadline to sue—making the fund’s eventual lawsuit untimely.

The US Court of Appeals ...