464
Stevens, J., dissenting
Medicare and Long-Term Care of the Senate Committee on Finance, 102d Cong., 1st Sess., 45 (1991) (statement of Bituminous Coal Operator's Association Chairman Michael K. Reilly)). Congress' objective in passing the Coal Act was to "identify persons most responsible for plan liabilities" and to establish an order of priority to ensure the long-term viability of the fund. Energy Policy Act of 1992, Pub. L. 102-486, § 19142, 106 Stat. 3037.
To accomplish that goal, the Act directs the Commissioner to assign primary responsibility to a "signatory operator" that formerly employed the particular miners and to persons "related" to that operator. The broad definition of the term "related person" includes three classes of entities associated with the signatory and a catchall sentence stating that a "related person shall also include a successor in interest of any person described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii)." 1 The question in this case is whether the Act permits the Commissioner to assign retirees to a successor of the signatory itself, or just successors of related persons of the signatory.
The Commissioner reads the statute broadly to include direct successors, whereas the Court has adopted a narrower reading that excludes them from responsibility. Because a signatory operator is not "described in" clause (i), (ii), or (iii),
1 Title 26 U. S. C. § 9701(c)(2)(A) (1994 ed.) provides: "A person shall be considered to be a related person to a signatory operator if that person is—
"(i) a member of the controlled group of corporations (within the meaning of [26 U. S. C. § ]52(a)) which includes such signatory operator;
"(ii) a trade or business which is under common control (as determined under [26 U. S. C. § ]52(b)) with such signatory operator; or
"(iii) any other person who is identified as having a partnership interest or joint venture with a signatory operator in a business within the coal industry, but only if such business employed eligible beneficiaries, except that this clause shall not apply to a person whose only interest is as a limited partner.
"A related person shall also include a successor in interest of any person described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii)."
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