Patriot Coal's push to cut thousands of retirees' health care and pension benefits is in the hands of a judge. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States has until May 29 to rule for either Patriot or the United Mine Workers union, following a hearing last week. The company, which is a spin-off of Peabody Energy, filed for Chapter 11 protection last summer. CEO Bennett Hatfield has called the cuts necessary for Patriot's survival and the preservation of more than 4,000 jobs, many of them in Kentucky.