Dueling Alcoa, Lockheed Pension Decisions Hinge on Injury Risk

The litigation push against companies that use annuities to remove workers from their pension plans intensified over the past week, as judges reached opposite conclusions in cases against Alcoa USA Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Alcoa defeated claims challenging its purchase of annuities from subsidiaries of Athene Holding Ltd., while Lockheed retirees advanced their lawsuit over similar conduct. Both rulings turned on whether the plaintiff retirees had suffered an injury giving them standing to sue.

The Alcoa retirees lacked standing, according to Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, because they ...