PEORIA, Ill.—A federal judge has granted class action status to two lawsuits filed against Caterpillar Inc. by retirees and surviving spouses of Caterpillar employees who contend the heavy equipment maker reneged on an obligation to provide them with free health care for life.
The ruling of Judge Aleta A. Trauger in U.S. District Court in Nashville, Tenn., could affect thousands of retirees and surviving spouses.
“We are very pleased the judge has ruled this way,” attorney Michael Mulder told the (Peoria) Journal Star. “We will proceed now to get health-care coverage restored for our clients at no charge to them.”
One of the lawsuits seeks free lifetime coverage for workers who retired when Peoria-based Caterpillar had no contract with union workers.
The lawsuit filed by seven Caterpillar retirees who now live in Tennessee alleges workers who retired between January 1992 and March 1998 are entitled to terms of a previous contract. It provided free lifetime health care coverage for all eligible retirees and their dependents. That case is scheduled for trial in October 2008.
The second lawsuit seeks free coverage for surviving spouses of Caterpillar employees who retired between March 1998 and January 2005.
Those dates cover a contract between Caterpillar and the union that provided free lifetime health coverage for surviving spouses upon the employees’ deaths, according to the suit filed by three surviving spouses. That case is scheduled for trial in June 2008.
A message was left for a Caterpillar spokesman before business hours Friday morning.
Caterpillar has plants in Illinois, Tennessee, Colorado and Pennsylvania.
