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Temme v. Bemis Co., Inc.

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ARGUED FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Before KANNE and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and SPRINGMANN, District Judge.*fn1

For over twenty years, a small group of 62 retirees, former plant maintenance workers and their spouses, have been receiving their health care coverage through Hayssen Manufacturing Company (“Hayssen”) and its successor, Bemis Company, Inc. (“Bemis”) as a result of a 1985 Plant Closing Agreement. In 2005, Bemis changed the insurance provider of its medical plan and made changes to deductible and co-pay amounts related to medical care and prescription drugs. In 2007, Bemis also informed the retirees that it would no longer provide a prescription drug benefit. The retirees then sued under the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1132, alleging that the 2005 and 2007 changes breached the agreement negotiated by an employer and a labor organization. The district court held that the Plant Closing Agreement included no promise of lifetime benefits to the retirees and granted summary judgment to Bemis. However, we find that the parties’ agreement was to provide lifetime benefits to retirees and remand the case to the district court for further proceedings on the question of whether Bemis breached its agreement by making the changes to the retirees’ medical benefits.

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