Waxman v. Luna
| Decision Date | 27 July 1989 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 88-5407,88-5548,s. 88-5407 |
| Citation | 881 F.2d 237 |
| Parties | , 11 Employee Benefits Ca 1467 Stanley R. WAXMAN and wife, Jean Waxman, and Michael L. Waxman, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Donald E. LUNA; LHC & Associates, Incorporated, Defendants, and Hardaway Construction Company, Inc., Employee Benefit Plan; Charles Hardaway; Hardaway Construction Co., Inc.; L. Hall Hardaway, Sr.; L. Hall Hardaway, Jr.; American Group Administrators, Inc.; and Lafayette Life Insurance Co., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Stanley R. Waxman, Memphis, Tenn., pro se.
Jean Waxman, pro se.
Michael L. Waxman, pro se.
Thomas M. Pinckney, Jr., Douglas Fisher, Howell, Fisher & Branham, Nashville, Tenn., for Hardaway Const. Co., Inc., Charles Hardaway, Donald Luna, L. Hall Hardaway, Sr., and L. Hall Hardaway, Jr.
Hertz & Schram, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., for Corporation.
T. Patrick Freydi, Freydi & Associates, Birmingham, Mich., for Rick Kay, Robert Fox, Charles Forbes, Olympia Stadium Corp., Prophet Productions, Ltd., Michael Tinik, Vincent Bannon and Building Group.
Tova Shaban, Alan M. Gershel, Alan C. Harnisch, Seyburn, Kahn, Ginn, Bess & Howard, Southfield, Mich., for Robert Cavalieri, and Michael Illitch.
Charles A. Moore, William M. Wolfson, Alan M. Gershel, Detroit, Mich., for City of Detroit and Olympia Arenas, Inc.
Before KENNEDY, GUY, and NORRIS, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs filed this action pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1001, et seq. Plaintiffs are seeking to recover medical and hospital expenses that they claim are due them because of their participation in the Hardaway Construction Company, Inc., Employee Benefit Plan (Hardaway Plan). Subsequent to a trial, the district court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and determined that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear this action because plaintiff Stanley Waxman did not have standing to sue under ERISA since he was never defendants' employee. Plaintiffs appeal and, upon review, we affirm the district court's dismissal of this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The underlying facts in this case are generally uncontested, and therefore our recitation of the facts is as the district court found them. See Waxman v. Hardaway Constr. Co., 693 F.Supp. 587 (M.D.Tenn.1988). Plaintiff Stanley Waxman is a financial consultant with an extensive business background. At one time, while serving as a vice-president of industrial relations for a corporation unrelated to this action, he was responsible for negotiating insurance contracts with insurers and reinsurers. Defendant Hall Hardaway, Jr., was and is vice-chairman of Hardaway Construction Company. He is active in 150 partnerships and ten corporations, and is one of the trustees of the Hardaway Plan. Defendant Charles Hardaway was the Hardaway Plan's coordinator. Defendant Donald Luna was a mortgage broker in the business of procuring loans.
Waxman did loan brokering work for Luna on an independent contractor basis. In early 1982, Hall Hardaway, Jr., agreed to allow Luna and some of his business associates to use office space owned by Hardaway Construction Company. At that time, Luna was attempting to secure financing for construction projects in which Hardaway was involved. Luna was paid a fee or a percentage from loans that he procured for Hardaway. Neither Luna nor Waxman was ever on the regular payroll of any Hardaway entity.
In the early summer of 1982, Luna asked Hall Hardaway, Jr., if Luna and one or two of his associates could participate in the Hardaway Plan, which provided hospitalization and medical coverage to participants. Luna agreed to pay the premiums for himself and his associates and, as a result, Hall Hardaway, Jr., permitted them to join. Waxman was subsequently enrolled and was given a booklet outlining benefits and an enrollment card. Waxman testified at trial that he viewed his participation in the Hardaway Plan as a gift or perk, and that he was not interested in who specifically made the gift. Waxman additionally enrolled his wife and his dependent son, Michael.
For the five months of June through October 1982, the Hardaway Plan paid claims submitted by Waxman. However, Waxman's premiums were not paid for this time period. Charles Hardaway, who was the Hardaway Plan's coordinator, relied on Luna to pay the premiums, and sent Luna notices that payments were delinquent. Waxman denied receiving these notices from Luna, but did acknowledge that he knew his payments were overdue.
On October 31, 1982, Charles Hardaway terminated Waxman from the plan for delinquent payments. Charles Hardaway did not immediately notify Waxman that his coverage was terminated, but, beginning in January of 1983, Waxman received four notices that he no longer had coverage under the Hardaway Plan. Waxman testified that he never received two of the notices that were mailed to his home address. He stated that he did not accord much significance to the notices that he did receive because both Luna and Hall Hardaway, Jr., were simultaneously telling him that the problems were being worked out.
In February of 1983, Luna's corporation, LHC & Associates, became entitled to a fee from a Hardaway development corporation. Charles Hardaway determined that Luna and his associates owed the Hardaway Plan the sum of $3,260.60, which included Waxman's unpaid premiums from June through October 1982. Hardaway deducted this sum prior to paying the balance to Luna. This was the only instance in which payments were made to the Hardaway Plan on Waxman's behalf.
In June of 1984, Luna called Hall Hardaway, Jr., and asked if Hardaway could help get Michael Waxman admitted into a Memphis hospital. Luna said that he would take care of the payments. Hall Hardaway, Jr., said that he did not think that Waxman had any coverage under the Hardaway Plan, but would check to see. Luna later talked to Charles Hardaway and told Hardaway to send the bills for Michael Waxman's hospitalization to Luna. When a representative from the Memphis hospital called Charles Hardaway to verify coverage, Hardaway told the representative to send the bills to him. Hardaway forwarded the bills to Luna, but Luna did not pay them.
Waxman subsequently filed this suit seeking, inter alia, over $20,000 related to his son's hospitalization in June of 1984. Waxman asserts that this hospitalization was for the purpose of removal and replacement of defective shunts relating to the treatment of Michael's longstanding problems of a brain tumor and hydrocephalus. Waxman filed suit against Hardaway Construction Company, Inc., Employee Benefit Plan; Charles Hardaway; Hardaway Construction Company, Inc.; L. Hall Hardaway, Sr.; L. Hall Hardaway, Jr.; American Group Administrators, Inc. (collectively referred to as the Hardaway defendants); Lafayette Life Insurance Company; Donald E. Luna; and LHC & Associates. Defendants Donald Luna and LHC & Associates did not answer the complaint and did not appear at trial. Prior to trial, the district court severed all issues related to defendant Lafayette Life Insurance Company and all issues related to the amount of liability, if any. The Hardaway defendants claimed at trial that Waxman lacked standing to bring an ERISA action because Waxman was never an employee of the Hardaway defendants and, therefore, plaintiffs were never ERISA participants or beneficiaries. The Hardaway defendants also claimed that Waxman lacked standing because he was terminated from the Hardaway Plan for non-payment of premiums prior to June of 1984, when Michael's medical expenses were incurred. The district court agreed that plaintiffs were never ERISA participants or beneficiaries, and consequently lacked standing to bring an ERISA action. The district court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and dismissed plaintiffs' claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The district court subsequently certified its decision regarding the Hardaway defendants as a final judgment pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and this appeal followed. 1
Plaintiffs assert numerous claims on appeal in their pro se brief, but the only issue before us is whether the district court erred in dismissing this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 2 In Taylor and Gaskin, Inc. v. Chris-Craft Industries, 732 F.2d 1273 (6th Cir.1984), we set forth the applicable standards of review of a trial court's findings. We explained that factual findings must be upheld unless clearly erroneous; however, we review de novo "findings of ultimate facts which result from the application of legal principles to subsidiary factual determinations." Id. at 1277 (citation omitted). Conclusions of law are also subject to de novo review. Therefore, whenever the trial court arrives at its conclusion by application of statutory law to the facts, such holding becomes a conclusion of law reviewable under the de novo standard. Id. In the case before us, the district court has applied ERISA statutory law to the facts of the case, and, therefore, we will undertake a de novo review of the district court's conclusions of law.
The sole jurisdictional basis asserted for this action is ERISA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1001, et seq. Section 502(a) of ERISA sets forth the persons empowered to bring a civil action for enforcement of ERISA. This subsection states:
A civil action may be brought--
(1) by a participant or beneficiary--
(A) for the relief provided for in subsection (c) of this section, or
(B) to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify his rights to future benefits under the...
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