Saint Peter's management, in a January 15 letter to pension plan members, reports that they have filed for a rehearing of their failed appeal in the Third Circuit appeals court. Their original appeal was denied by a unanimous three-judge panel in late December; the rehearing, if Saint Peter's petition is accepted, would be before the full Court.
We had previously thought it unlikely that Saint Peter's would file for a rehearing, since the panel's unanimous decision would suggest a slim chance of success before the full court. Our guess is that the purpose of the move is to buy time before the hospital's ultimate objective of having the case heard before the Supreme Court. This is the first case of many essentially similar class action cases to have been decided in an appellate court. Saint Peter's points out in the letter that two other such cases are in process in appellate courts: one involving Advocate Health Care Network, which was argued in September, and one involving Dignity Health, scheduled for argument this coming February. Significantly, in both cases the hospitals lost in district court. For Saint Peter's to have a chance before the Supreme Court, they would need a win for a hospital in appellate court to counter their own defeat -- which would seem a long shot given the cases now before appellate courts and the 90-day filing window. If their petition is accepted, Saint Peter's holds off a court order to run the plan as an ERISA plan, while buying time for an appellate court win, in either of the two current appellate cases or one which eventually filters up from the district courts. In the meantime Saint Peter's can continue to run the pension plan as a church plan, with minimal federal oversight or funding requirements.
The management of Saint Peter's University Hospital is using the church to exempt itself from the Federal safeguards that protect your retirement plan. For an introduction, see Your Pension At Risk.
