Solar Roofing Company Loses $5.3 Million Pension Battle

Solar roofing company Petersen-Dean Inc. failed to convince a California federal judge to adopt an employer-friendly exception to the “pay now, dispute later” framework of pension plan withdrawal liability disputes.

Petersen-Dean can’t avoid paying the $5.3 million in withdrawal liability requested by the Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Plan by arguing that it’s in “financial distress” and can’t afford the payment, Judge Nathanael M. Cousins of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held Tuesday.

The dispute centered on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s withdrawal liability regime, which requires employers that withdraw from multiemployer pension funds to ...