Retirees’ lawsuit given class action status

A Michigan District Court judge has granted a motion to allow a class action lawsuit brought by former Maytag employees against Whirlpool to move forward. Judge Gordon Quist, in the U.S. District Courth for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division, ruled last month to grant the motion to allow the case to be heard as a class action lawsuit. Whirlpool announced last year that it intended to bring former Maytag employees’ health insurance in line with Whirlpool workers, angering the Maytagers, who say they fought for and earned their current health insurace. Whirlpool lawyers argued that the plaintiff’s definition of those eligible for the health insurance was “complicated and unnecessary,” the judge ruled otherwise, and that the definition “appears to cover all persons who may be entitled to health benefits, while Defendants’ definition excludes some of these persons.” David Radtke, an attorney with Klimist, McKnight, Sale, McClow and Canzano, representing the Maytag retirees, in a letter to Larry Shaver, UAW Local 997 Retirees representative, said his office also has filed a motion for summary judgment, and preliminary injunction for the Maytag retirees. The motion seeks to return the health care benefits to what was in place before the changes on Jan. 1. Although Whirlpool attorneys attempted to stop the court from considering the former Maytag employees’ motion until the lawsuit was settled, the judge denied the request and ordered Whirlpool to respond to the motion. The defendants also include former employees of Whirlpool’s Mt. Sterling, Ky. plant. Whirlpool acquired the Mt. Sterline plant from the Emerson Contract Division, Inc., in the late 1980s, and assumed Emerson’s obligations under Emerson’s collective bargaining agreements with UAW International and UAW Local 1562. Whirlpool acquired the Newton plant from Maytag in 2006.

John Jennings can be contacted at 792-3121 ext. 425 or via e-mail at jjennings@newtondailynews.com.