Brown-Graves Co. v. Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, 206 F.3d 680 (6^th Cir. 2000); 2000 FED App. 0097P (6th Cir.)-Brown-Graves appealed the ruling of the district court that it had to make contributions to the Central States Fund for truck drivers it employed through a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).  Brown-Graves argued that the drivers in question were "casual drivers" and therefore fell under a provision, in the CBA for several years, which stated that Brown-Graves could hire casual drivers with no fringe benefits.

            The issue for this court was whether to give the term "casual drivers" its plain meaning, since the CBA did not define it, or to allow Brown-Graves in effect to supply the meaning. Apparently, Brown-Graves called every newly hired employee a "casual" for an indefinite period of time (up to four years) so it could avoid pension payments.  After evaluating conflicting holdings in the 7^th and 8^th Circuits, this court placed special importance on the fact that Central States had no notice of Brown-Graves' unusual use of the term "casual."  A basic rule of contract interpretation therefore applied—that the ordinary meaning binds signatories, unless the parties communicated and shared a different private intent.  Since Central States had no notice, the parties did not share a different private intent.  Under the ordinary meaning, none of the truck drivers in question were "casual drivers."  Lastly, appellants failed to show the elements of the defenses of laches and estoppel.