Concrete Pipe & Products of Cal., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern Cal., 508 U.S. 602, 54 (1993)

Page:   Index   Previous  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54

Cite as: 508 U. S. 602 (1993)

Opinion of Thomas, J.

to believe that the arbitration proceeding—presumption and all—provides adequate process for the employer. Cf. Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U. S. 319, 334-335 (1976) (adequacy of specific procedures involves consideration of private and public interests and risk of erroneous deprivation). This conclusion rests principally on the nature of the particular statutory determinations to which the presumption applies (those described in §§ 1381-1399 and 1405). Many of these determinations, such as the mathematical computations the trustees must perform under §§ 1386, 1388, and 1391, involve little or no discretion. As a result, the employer will have correspondingly little difficulty proving the existence of any significant error made by the trustees (either inadvertently or because of bias). The same can be said of withdrawal-date determinations under §§ 1381 and 1383, especially where all the information relevant to the determination is better known to the employer than to the trustees.

To me, the public interest is plain on the face of the statute: Congress did not want withdrawing employers to avoid their obligations by engaging in a lengthy arbitration over relatively insignificant errors. At the same time, the employer's interest in correcting miscalculations that are significant is adequately protected by the opportunity for arbitration afforded by § 1401.

For these reasons, I concur only in the Court's judgment that the application of § 1401(a)(3)(A) "did not deprive Concrete Pipe of its right to procedural due process." Ante, at 631.

655

Page:   Index   Previous  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54

Last modified: October 4, 2007