Retired GM Execs Lose Legal Appeal on Pension Cuts

A U.S. appeals court has ruled in favor of General Motors Co. by upholding a lower court decision that refused to restore lost pension benefits to more than 100 of the company's retired executives.

During In its bankruptcy in 2009, GM saved $221 million by a two-thirds cut of executive pensions that exceeded $100,000 per year. The cuts were demanded by the U.S. government to ensure that all the company's stakeholders shared the financial sacrifices of reorganization.

The plaintiffs included former global sales and marketing chief John Middlebrook, ex-president of GM Latin America Richard Nerod and former Saturn president Don Hudler. The lawsuit they filed in 2011 claimed they were shortchanged because GM incorrectly calculated their benefits.

A federal judged dismissed the plaintiffs' claims, calling their interpretation why they were entitled to larger payments "implausible." The appeals judges agreed.