Breaux v. Pipefitters Local Union 195
| Decision Date | 27 October 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:91-CV-903.,1:91-CV-903. |
| Citation | 807 F. Supp. 42 |
| Parties | Gene A. BREAUX, v. PIPEFITTERS LOCAL UNION 195 and Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Texas |
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Bruce N. Smith, Law Offices of Bruce N. Smith, Beaumont, Tex., for Gene A. Breaux.
John R. Harney, John Leary, John L. Bohman, O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue, Washington, D.C., Stephen E. Price, Freedman, Hull, Mathews, Hanlon & Price, Houston, Tex., for Pipefitters Nat. Pension Fund.
James A. Morris, Jr., Thomas A. Thomas, Provost & Umphrey, Beaumont, Tex., for United Ass'n of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitters Industry of the U.S. and Canada, AFL-CIO, Pipefitters Local Union No 195.
Gene A. Breaux, plaintiff, filed suit in Jefferson County, Texas District Court, against defendants Pipefitters Local Union 195 (Local 195) and Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund (National Pension Fund) to recover pension benefits and for breach of fiduciary duty. The defendants removed the case to federal district court under Section 502(e)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(1). Both defendants now move for summary judgment. For the reasons given below, both motions are granted.
In November 1987, the plaintiff, a member of Local 195, applied for and received pension benefits from the union for twenty-one years of service. In December 1989, the Trustees of Local 195 Pension Fund suspended his payments for credits received for the years 1986 and 1987 pending investigation. They subsequently found that Breaux had been paid in error for those years. On August 1, 1990, Local 195 Pension Fund merged with National Pension Fund; consequently, the plaintiff appealed Local 195's decision to National's Board of Trustees. The Board denied his appeal in May 1991.
Breaux had been seriously injured on March 22, 1983, and was eventually found to be permanently disabled in July 1989 by the Appeals Council of the Social Security Administration, which granted him disability payments retroactive to August 1986, in relevant part holding that "there is no indication that the claimant has engaged in substantial gainful activity since March 22, 1983, notwithstanding his brief work attempts in 1985 and 1986 as a picket scheduler for his former union." Breaux had been a member of the union's Strike Fund Committee since his accident in 1983 and was elected chairman in 1986, in both instances without salary. The Committee had voted in February and again in April 1986 to make pension contributions to the Local 195 Pension Fund Plan on Breaux's behalf for hours of work done.
In denying his appeal of the Local 195 Pension Fund decision to rescind pension benefits for the years 1986 and 1987, the National Pension Fund Board of Trustees found that there had been no valid agreement between the plaintiff and the Strike Fund Committee concerning pension contributions; and that, in any event, the plaintiff was not employed under the terms of the plan for the years in question. The Board found it significant that the plaintiff was receiving permanent disability payments during the time he claimed to be in the union's employment.
Two preliminary issues must be dealt with at the start. First, plaintiff's state-law claims in his original complaint (in contract, in tort, and for fraudulent misrepresentation) are preempted by ERISA § 514(a), 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). Pilot Life Insurance Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41, 107 S.Ct. 1549, 95 L.Ed.2d 39 (1987); Smith v. Dunham-Bush, Inc., 959 F.2d 6 (2d Cir.1992); Brock v. Premedica, 904 F.2d 295 (5th Cir.1990); Memorial Hospital System v. Northbrook Life Insurance, 904 F.2d 236 (5th Cir.1990); Lee v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours, 894 F.2d 755 (5th Cir.1990); Cefalu v. B.F. Goodrich, 871 F.2d 1290 (5th Cir.1989). Breaux's suit under ERISA is to recover benefits from National Pension Fund, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1132(a)(1)(B), 1132(d), and for fiduciary breach of Local 195, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1105(a), 1109(a).
Second, this Court must reject the plaintiff's invitation to fashion federal common law and allow promissory estoppel as a cause of action under ERISA. Degan v. Ford Motor Co., 869 F.2d 889, 895 (5th Cir.1980) (). Breaux's suit must stand or fall on the Act alone.
Both defendants have moved for summary judgment. A party is entitled to summary judgment only if it meets "the exacting burden of demonstrating that there is no actual dispute as to any material fact in the case." Landry v. Air Line Pilots Association International AFL-CIO, 901 F.2d 404, 424 (5th Cir.1990) (citing Impossible Electronics Techniques, Inc. v. Wackenhut Protective Systems, Inc., 669 F.2d 1026, 1031 (5th Cir. Unit B 1982)). The court must view the evidence and all factual inferences in the light most favorable to the opposing party, resolving all reasonable doubts in its favor. If any factual issues exist, or if reasonable minds might differ on the inferences arising from undisputed facts, the motion for summary judgment must be denied. However, once the movant has made and supported its motion, the adverse party may not rest upon "mere allegations or denials" but must "set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Id.
In considering this motion for summary judgment as to Local 195, the Court must determine whether there exists an issue of material fact as to the union's fiduciary status under ERISA.1 It is not enough to argue, as plaintiff has done, that the union is a fiduciary of the Pension Fund because it elected three of its members to the six-member Board of Trustees. He must also show that the three union members exercised discretionary authority over the management or the assets of the Pension Fund. American Federation of Unions v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc., 841 F.2d 658, 662 (5th Cir.1988) (); Independent Assoc. of Publishers' Employees, Inc., v. Dow Jones & Co., 671 F.Supp. 1365 (S.D.N.Y.1987); Richardson v. U.S. News & World Report, 623 F.Supp. 350 (D.C.D.C. 1985). He must then show that the union influenced the decision-making process. Warren v. Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, Union — Industry Pension Fund, 729 F.Supp. 563 (E.D.Mich.1989) (). See, Gelardi v. Pertec Computer Corp., 761 F.2d 1323, 1325 (9th Cir.1985) (); Eureka Paper v. WBMA, Inc., 767 F.Supp. 642, 651 (M.D.Pa.1991) (). Absent such a showing, the defendant union cannot be sued under ERISA.2
The union members on the Board of Trustees in the years 1986 and 1987 have testified that they exercised no authority over the management or assets of the Pension Fund. Breaux does not contest this. His only response is to shift the ground of attack by pointing to the depositions of Strike Fund Committee members who received advice from a union lawyer and union officials on the legality of taking money out of the Strike Fund to make pension contributions for the plaintiff. However, such advice clearly goes to the Committee's authority over the assets of the Strike Fund, not Local 195's authority over the assets of the Pension Fund. See Useden v. Acker, 721 F.Supp. 1233 (S.D.Fla.1989) ().
Plaintiff further alleges personal animus on the part of the Boardmember who initiated the review of the Strike Fund's pension payments and argues that, if the union is a non-fiduciary, ERISA still imposes liability insofar as the union abetted a fiduciary in his breach of duty. However, while "a nonfiduciary who knowingly participated in a breach of trust" may be liable under ERISA to the same extent as fiduciaries, Whitfield v. Lindemann, 853 F.2d 1298, 1303 (5th Cir.1988) (emphasis added), the plaintiff offers no evidence of, and does not even allege, knowing participation on the part of the union in the Boardmember's alleged breach.3
As there is nothing before the Court showing the fiduciary status of Local 195, Local 195 cannot be made a party to this suit under ERISA.
In considering this motion for summary judgment as to National Pension Fund, the Court must review the decision of its Board of Trustees to uphold Local No. 195 Pension Trust Fund's cancellation of plaintiff's credit for the years 1986 and 1987 under the abuse of discretion standard. Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101, 109 S.Ct. 948, 103 L.Ed.2d 80 (1989). The plaintiff argues for de novo review; however, under Firestone, the abuse of discretion standard applies when the terms of a pension plan require deference to the acts of the plan administrator. In this instance, the unambiguous provisions of the National Pension Fund's Plan of Benefits grant discretionary authority to the Board of Trustees. The Board may interpret and apply the Plan, construe its language and meaning, and issue final and binding...
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Biggs v. John Deere Co.
...not shown the Union was managing or administering any plans under which Biggs now claims more benefits. See Breaux v. Pipefitters Local Union 195, 807 F.Supp. 42 (E.D.Texas 1992). II. Biggs alleges that Deere and the Union breached fiduciary duties to him and, indeed, fraudulently failed to......