Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund

Issue: (1) Whether the First Circuit erred by holding (contrary to decisions of the Seventh and D.C. Circuits) that “trade or business” status under ERISA should be governed by a novel, multi-factor “investment plus-like” test rather than by this Court’s decisions defining “trade or business” status for purposes of Section 162(a) of the Internal Revenue Code; and (2) whether the First Circuit erred by holding, contrary to Whipple v. Commissioner that an entity that solely makes investments and manages the businesses in which it has invested is a “trade or business.”