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New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund v. Sun Capital Partners III, LP, et al

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, No. 16-1376, 19-1002 · judgment November 22, 2019

Certiorari denied · October 5, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 3%–10%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a First Circuit decision below and a circuit split argued in the petition, and down for a business respondent.

Questions presented

  1. Whether the First Circuit’s holding that the Sun Funds did not form a partnership-in-fact is inconsistent with this Court’s precedent in Culbertson v. Commissioner and presents a conflict among the circuits.

  2. Whether the First Circuit’s analysis has created a judicial exemption shielding private equity funds from withdrawal liability in contravention of the purpose of ERISA and the MPPAA as intended by Congress and as set forth by this Court.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Catherine Marie Campbell
Feinberg, Campbell & Zack, PC

For respondent
John Caviness O'Quinn
Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Case

Subject area
Economic Activity (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Order
Order list, October 5, 2020 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. Oct 05 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 14 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Better Markets, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
  3. Aug 19 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  4. Aug 14 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Sun Capital Partners III, LP; Sun Capital Partners III QP, LP; and Sun Capital Partners IV, LP to respond filed.
  5. Aug 10 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 14, 2020)