Beck

In the course of Chapter 11 liquidation proceedings, debtors Crown Vantage, Inc. and Crown Paper Co. (Crown) decided to terminate Crown’s pension plans through the purchase of an annuity, rather than by merging the plans into a multiemployer plan sponsored by PACE International Union (PACE). Plan participants and PACE filed an adversary action against Crown in bankruptcy court, alleging that Crown’s directors breached their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 , by failing to consider adequately the proposed merger. The bankruptcy court agreed and issued a preliminary injunction ordering that Crown maintain the residual assets— approximately $5 million — in the plan in an interest-bearing account pending a final decision on the allocation of the assets. Pursuant to the bankruptcy court’s order, the parties submitted a joint plan for the distribution of the residual assets for the benefit of the plan participants and stipulated that the court’s ruling on the preliminary injunction could be treated as a final ruling on the merits under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(a)(2). The bankruptcy court…