CNH Industrial NV v. Reese
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 20, 2018 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- February 20, 2018
- Term
- October Term 2017
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Private Action
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Cite as: 583 U. S. ____ (2018) 1 Per Curiam SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES CNH INDUSTRIAL N.V., ET AL. v. JACK REESE, ET AL. ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT No. 17–515. Decided February 20, 2018 PER CURIAM. Three Terms ago, this Court’s decision in M&G Poly- mers USA, LLC v. Tackett, 574 U. S. ___ (2015), held that the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was required to interpret collective-bargaining agreements according to “ordinary principles of contract law.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 1). Before Tackett, the Sixth Circuit applied a series of “Yard-Man inferences,” stemming from its decision in International Union, United Auto, Aerospace, & Agricul- tural Implement Workers of Am. v. Yard-Man, Inc., 716 F. 2d 1476 (1983). In accord with the Yard-Man inferences, courts presumed, in a variety of circumstances, that collective-bargaining agreements vested retiree benefits for life. See Tackett, 574 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 7– 10). But Tackett “reject[ed]” these inferences “as incon- sistent with ordinary principles of contract law.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 14). In this case, the Sixth Circuit held that the same Yard- Man inferences it once used to presume lifetime vesting can now be used to render a collective-bargaining agree- ment ambiguous as a matter of law, thus allowing courts to consult…
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