8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Digest: Jan. 16, 2020.

Byline: Minnesota Lawyer

Civil Opinions

Contracts

Prescription Drug Benefit Plan; Arbitration Agreement; Class Action

Defendants appealed from the District Court's grant of summary judgment to plaintiff in the parties' dispute involving their prescription drug benefit plan agreements, with plaintiff having filed suit to block defendants' demand for class arbitration. The District Court ruled that there was no contractual basis in the parties' agreements for class arbitration.

Where the parties' arbitration agreement was silent on the issue of class arbitration, the court could not infer an agreement to engage in class arbitration but instead had to infer that silence meant prohibition of class arbitration.

Judgment is affirmed.

17-3501 Catamaran Corporation v. Towncrest Pharmacy, appealed from the Southern District of Iowa, Shepherd, J.

Contracts

Overpayments; Fee-Shifting Provision

Where plaintiff corporation sought to recover overpayments arising from a royalty interest paid to the defendant in connection with a settlement agreement, the court already had rejected the defendant's lack-of-standing claim, and there was no dispute as to the amount of the overpayment, so the judgment is affirmed. Judgment is affirmed.

17-3708 Enerplus Resources Corporation v. Wilkinson, appealed from the District of North Dakota, per curiam.

Employer-Employee

Collective Bargaining Agreement; Early Retirement Benefits;Motion to Compel Arbitration

Plaintiff appealed the District Court's denial of plaintiff's motion to compel arbitration of its grievances against defendant. Defendant previously had announced that it would close a manufacturing plant; after discussions, the parties signed a memorandum of understanding extending their collective bargaining agreement to the earlier of the plant's closing or April 2019. In May 2017, plaintiff submitted grievances regarding early retirement benefits for employees terminated by the plan closure. Plaintiff then unsuccessfully sought arbitration.

Where plaintiff sought to determine the manner in which plan benefits would be affected by a plant shutdown, such issues fell within the broad scope of the parties' arbitration agreement, but early retirement benefits were exclusively subject to remedial provisions under ERISA.

Colloton, J., concurring: "A decision resolving the question presented whether these grievances involve 'agreed-upon benefit levels' within the meaning of this agreement would not foreclose either party...