In the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

August Term 2024 Argued: December 12, 2024 Decided: April 29, 2025

No. 23-7868

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE BAKERY DRIVERS LOCAL 550 AND INDUSTRY PENSION FUND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York Docket No. 2:23-cv-1595, Joan M. Azrack, District Judge.

Before: ROBINSON, PÉREZ, and NATHAN, Circuit Judges.

This case requires us to interpret an eligibility provision in the statute establishing the Special Financial Assistance (“SFA”) program, a temporary program created by Congress in 2021 to help struggling multiemployer pension plans. Plaintiff-Appellant, which sponsors a multiemployer plan primarily benefitting unionized bakery drivers in New York City (“the Fund”), applied for SFA in 2022, asserting that it was “in critical and declining status” and thus eligible under the statute. 29 U.S.C. § 1432(b)(1)(A). The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”), the agency responsible for administering the program, found that the Fund’s termination in 2016 made it ineligible. The Fund sued under the Administrative Procedure Act, and the district court granted summary judgment for the PBGC. The Fund now appeals.

Because we do not read the pertinent provision of the SFA statute to exclude plans based solely on a prior termination, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND with instruction to (1) enter summary judgment for the Fund, (2) vacate the PBGC’s denial of the Fund’s SFA application, and (3) remand to the PBGC for reconsideration.

JEREMY P. BLUMENFELD, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Douglas A. Hastings and Brendan J. Anderson (on the briefs), Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

JOHN H. GINSBERG (Karen L. Morris, Daniel Liebman, Benjamin T. Kelly, and Emily J. Allender, on the briefs), Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Washington, DC, for Defendant-Appellee.

MYRNA PÉREZ, Circuit Judge:

This case requires us to interpret an eligibility provision in the statute establishing the Special Financial Assistance (“SFA”) program, a temporary program created by Congress in 2021 to help struggling multiemployer pension plans. Plaintiff-Appellant, which sponsors a multiemployer plan primarily benefitting unionized bakery drivers in New York City (“the Fund”), 1 applied for

1 For simplicity, we use “the Fund” to refer interchangeably to the plan and its sponsor.

2 SFA in 2022, asserting that it was “in critical and declining status” and thus eligible under the statute. 29 U.S.C. § 1432(b)(1)(A). The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”), the agency responsible for administering the program, found that the Fund’s termination in 2016 made it ineligible. The Fund sued under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), and the district court granted summary judgment for the PBGC. The Fund now appeals.

Because we do