BITUMINOUS COAL OPERATORS'ASS'N, INC. v. Connors
| Decision Date | 07 July 1987 |
| Docket Number | 87-1238.,Civ. A. No. 87-1205 |
| Citation | 676 F. Supp. 1 |
| Parties | BITUMINOUS COAL OPERATORS' ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff, v. Joseph P. CONNORS, Sr., et al., Defendants/Third-Party Plaintiffs, v. ASSOCIATED ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, et al., Third-Party Defendants. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. BITUMINOUS COAL OPERATORS' ASSOCIATION, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
Gregory S. Lewis, Charles P. O'Connor, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Washington, D.C., for Bituminous Coal Operators' Association, Inc.
James J. Bierbower, Mark B. Bierbower, Washington, D.C., for Joseph P. Connors, Sr., Paul R. Dean, William B. Jordan, William Miller and Donald E. Pierce, Jr.
John R. Woodrum, Smith, Heenan & Althen, Washington, D.C., for Weirton Const. Co., Pennweir Const., Spring Ridge Coal Co. and Pittston Coal Group, Inc.
Paul Andrew Green, Hugh J. Beins, Beins, Axelrod & Osborne, P.C., Michael H. Holland, Earl V. Brown, Jr., United Mine Workers of America, Washington, D.C., for United Mine Workers of America.
John R. Mooney, Paul Andrew Green, Hugh J. Beins, Beins, Axelrod & Osborne, P.C., Michael H. Holland, Earl V. Brown, Jr., United Mine Workers of America, Washington, D.C., for William Hawkins, Jr. and Joe J. Doman.
John M. Wood, Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay, Washington, D.C., for Associated Elec. Co-op, Inc.
Following oral argument on a variety of motions in these consolidated cases which involve efforts to enforce or resist payments to a pension trust as specified in identically worded collectively bargained agreements between the United Mine Workers of America ("Union") and various coal operators,1 the Court, for reasons stated in a separate Memorandum and Order, has dismissed certain claims and has set other claims not yet ripe for scheduling at a July 30, 1987 scheduling conference.
This Memorandum addresses the merits of the only issue which is ripe for resolution pursuant to a motion for summary judgment, which has been fully briefed and argued. The Trustees as third-party plaintiffs in Civil Action No. 87-1205 seek to enforce the provisions of collective bargaining agreements against Weirton Construction Company, Pennweir Construction, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc., and Spring Ridge Coal Company, Inc.,2 signatory coal operators employers and third-party defendants. Each of these companies has separately refused to continue to pay their specified contribution to the 1950 Pension Trust fund according to the terms of the agreements, which continue to be in effect until January 31, 1988.
The separate but identical trust agreements between the Union and each of these companies, on which the Trustees rely, provide in the relevant portion of Article XX(d)(1), as follows:
(emphasis added).
The coal employers named above contend that this provision, read in context, does not require further payments because the pension trust became fully funded before the term of the agreements has run its course. They seek to go behind the written words to inquire into the negotiating history of the quoted provision. In addition, one or more raise several specific objections, charging (1) that the Union fraudulently or negligently misrepresented that there was no possibility the trust could be fully funded by the conclusion of the agreements,3 (2) that the Union has breached its agreements by excusing certain other coal operators subject to identical agreements from paying contributions in full,4 and (3) suggesting that the provision was based on a mutual mistake of fact, namely that full funding would not be reached during the term of the agreements.5
The Court must grant summary judgment to the Trustees.
Section 515 of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1145 (1982), precludes the first two defenses, which may only be asserted, if at all, against the Union. Section 515 states that "every employer who is obligated to make contributions to a multiemployer plan under the terms of the plan or under the terms of a collectively bargained agreement shall, to the extent not inconsistent with law, make such contributions in accordance with the terms and conditions of such plan or such agreement." Congress added Section 515 to ERISA in 1980 to ensure quick and uncomplicated collection by trustees of trust contributions owed. It accomplished this by barring litigation against trustees of claims based on the conduct of the signatory parties and hence unrelated to a trust's entitlement. In this manner it fully endorsed the Supreme Court ruling in Lewis v. Benedict Coal Corp., 361 U.S. 459, 80 S.Ct. 489, 4 L.Ed.2d 442 (1960).
The federal courts have held uniformly that claims of union improprieties in connection with collectively bargained trust fund agreements must be litigated as a separate matter in contract disputes against the union, and may not be raised...
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Connors v. Shannopin Min. Co., Civ. A. No. 87-1780.
...it has no bearing on its ultimate liability, Shannopin alleges that the UMW Trusts are overfunded. See Bituminous Coal Operators' Association, Inc. v. Connors, 676 F.Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1987). Yet we are mindful of the UMW Trusts' argument that, if employers believe they can readily circumvent ......
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Bituminous Coal Operators' Ass'n, Inc. v. Connors, 87-7171
...offered no proof of reliance on events occurring at the negotiating table, [AEC is] bound by the terms of the written agreements." 676 F.Supp. 1. Finding the Agreement itself to be "clear and unambiguous," the court held that AEC was obligated to pay $1.11 per ton to the pension plan for th......