By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

About 300 Formica Corp. retirees lost the first round in their fight to keep the company from cutting their pension payments, but they are continuing the battle.

U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith, in an 11-page decision last week, denied the retirees' request for an order to keep the company from cutting the benefits, but the attorney for the group said his clients are appealing.

In her decision, Beckwith said the type of injunctive relief sought by the retirees doesn't appear to be available under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

"The type of relief to which (the retirees) may be entitled is very limited and, unfortunately for them, does not include recovery of what amounts to compensatory damages," she wrote.

"I'm disappointed, but we're not deterred and not defeated,'' said Marc Mezibov, who filed a notice of appeal with the Cincinnati-based U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Cases before the appeals court can take a year or more, but Mezibov said he plans to ask for an expedited hearing.

In March, the retirees filed suit to stop the company from reducing their benefits after the company said its auditor found that 440 of 624 retirees in its defined pension plan dating from 1985 were receiving incorrect benefits.

In January, the company said 295 retirees received overpayments totaling about $1 million and another 145 retirees had been underpaid a total of about $500,000. While the company made up the underpaid amounts, it also reduced the payments of those who were overpaid. It also indicated it may have to recover the overpayments from the retirees.

The laminate maker, which is emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, said it was required by federal law to correct the benefit payment mistakes. The retirees argued that they retired based on the company's estimates of what they would receive in monthly payments.

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E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com