Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity v. Kenneth R. Ambrose, Inc.

• Decision Date: 07 December 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-2243,80-2243
• Citation: 665 F.2d 466
• Parties: 26 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1302, 92 Lab.Cas. P 13,145 CARPENTERS HEALTH AND WELFARE FUND OF PHILADELPHIA AND VICINITY By Robert Gray, Trustee Ad Litem & Carpenters Pension Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity By Robert Gray, Trustee Ad Litem & Carpenters Joint Apprentice Committee By Robert Gray, Trustee Ad Litem & Industry Advancement Program By Joseph Washkill, Trustee Ad Litem & Metropolitan District Council of Philadelphia and Vicinity United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Appellees, v. KENNETH R. AMBROSE, INC., & Kenneth R. Ambrose & Linda Ambrose, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 466

665 F.2d 466

26 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1302, 92 Lab.Cas. P 13,145

CARPENTERS HEALTH AND WELFARE FUND OF PHILADELPHIA AND

VICINITY By Robert Gray, Trustee Ad Litem & Carpenters

Pension Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity By Robert Gray,

Trustee Ad Litem & Carpenters Joint Apprentice Committee By

Robert Gray, Trustee Ad Litem & Industry Advancement Program

By Joseph Washkill, Trustee Ad Litem & Metropolitan District

Council of Philadelphia and Vicinity United Brotherhood of

Carpenters and Joiners of America, Appellees, v. KENNETH R. AMBROSE, INC., & Kenneth R. Ambrose & Linda

Ambrose, Appellants.

No. 80-2243.

United States Court of Appeals,

Third Circuit.

Argued May 19, 1981.

Decided Nov. 25, 1981.

As amended Dec. 7, 1981.

Anthony B. Quinn, (argued), Baratta & Takiff, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.

Thomas W. Jennings, Jeffrey S. Orchinik (argued), Sagot & Jennings, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellees.

Before ADAMS, ROSENN and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, Jr., Circuit Judge.

In a Memorandum and Order of June 11, 1980, the district court found Kenneth and Linda Ambrose individually liable and the corporation, Kenneth R. Ambrose, Inc., liable to the Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity ¹ (hereinafter the "Fund") for delinquent fringe benefit contributions due under the applicable collective bargaining agreement. Jurisdiction was invoked under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (LMRA) ² and the district court assumed pendent jurisdiction to consider liability under Pennsylvania's Wage Payment and Collection Law. ³ Although the district court noted that due to the close relationship of the Ambroses' to the corporation they would "most likely" be considered employers for § 301 purposes, it is clear that the district court's grounds for imposing liability, including a 25% liquidated damage award, was the Pennsylvania statute.

On appeal, the appellants have argued strenuously that the Pennsylvania statute is preempted. We cannot, however, reach the merits of this case because the order appealed from is not final under our recent en banc opinion in Croker v. The Boeing Co. (Vertol Division), 662 F.2d 975 (3d Cir. 1981). Therefore, the appeal must be dismissed.

I. Facts

The facts in this case are not contested and were heard in a one day trial conducted on January 9, 1980. Kenneth and Linda Ambrose are the sole officers and majority shareholders of the corporation, Kenneth R. Ambrose, Inc. ⁴ The corporation is engaged in the construction business and, apparently, at the behest of the Carpenters Union undertook a job for which it was never compensated. The failure to receive compensation resulted in an inability by the corporation to make contributions to the Fund as required by the collective bargaining agreement. At the January 9th hearing, the corporation stipulated to the entry of judgment against it in the amount of $17,944.75 plus costs and attorney's fees. This sum represented the total amount owing the Fund. The corporation did not concede liability as to the liquidated damage claim under Pennsylvania law. Similarly, Kenneth and Linda Ambrose denied all individual liability for the contributions owing and the liquidated damages.

Trial was held on the issues of liquidated damages and the individual liability of Kenneth and Linda Ambrose. As noted above, the district court found that, because of the close relationship between the Ambroses' and the corporation, the Ambroses' were individually liable for the delinquent contributions. The district court then applied the Pennsylvania liquidated damage clause to both the corporation and the individual defendants. Judgment was entered against the corporation in the amount of $17,944.75 plus $4,486.19 in liquidated damages. The Ambroses' were assessed $14,747.82 plus $3,686.95 liquidated damages. Liability for the amount of judgment was determined to be joint and several. Finally, the district court awarded the Fund costs, "including reasonable attorney's fees, ..., to be determined at a later date." App. at 22. The corporation has appealed insofar as the judgment provides for liquidated damages and the Ambroses have appealed the entire judgment as it pertains to them individually.

II. Appealability

A threshold issue in this case is whether we have appellate jurisdiction to hear this matter. Though neither party has challenged this court's jurisdiction, we must conduct an independent review as appellate jurisdiction cannot be conferred by the consent of the parties. Richerson v. Jones, 551 F.2d 918 (3d Cir. 1977). At the time the instant Notice of Appeal was filed on August 12, 1980, for those cases where the trial court had rendered a liability verdict on the main issue but had not awarded a specific amount on counsel fees, there was either confusion or conflict in this circuit as to when an order becomes final and appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. ⁵ The gist of the issue is whether a district court order which disposes of the merits of a case is final if it decides entitlement to attorney's fees but does not fix the amount of those fees. In Richerson, the district court had entered three orders in the course of the litigation. The first was entered on December 18, 1975, and made findings of fact and conclusions of law resulting in a judgment in favor of the plaintiff. It did not reach the issue of entitlement to attorney's fees nor did it decide the amount, if any, of the fees. Clearly, the December 18th order was not final under § 1291. 551 F.2d at 921, citing Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Wetzel, 424 U.S. 737, 96 S.Ct. 1202, 47 L.Ed.2d 435 (1976). The second order was entered on March 12, 1976 and it granted the plaintiff's requested relief "but did not include provisions respecting attorney's fees." The defendant filed a timely Notice of Appeal from this order. Finally, on April 29, 1976, the district court ordered counsel fees and expenses to the plaintiff. Both the plaintiff and defendant appealed from the April 29th order. Our court had to decide whether the March 12th order, which decided the merits and relief issues, or the April 29th order which left nothing "to be done but to enforce by execution what has been determined," was the final order. 551 F.2d at 922, quoting St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Ry. Co. v. Southern Express Co., 108 U.S. 24, 28-29, 2 S.Ct. 6, 8, 27 L.Ed. 638 (1883). The court decided that, "the order of March 12, which left the issue of attorney's fees unresolved, did not terminate the litigation between (the plaintiff) and the (defendant) and, thus, was not a final order." Id. Later in DeLong Corp. v. Raymond International, Inc., 622 F.2d 1135 (3d Cir. 1980), at 1139 n.3, our court wrote:

When the district court has determined that a party is entitled to an award of attorney fees but has not yet calculated the amount of the award, the court's order disposing of the merits of the case is, nevertheless, final and appealable.

In the present case, the order appealed from establishes entitlement to attorney's fees but, as in DeLong, leaves open the calculation of a final amount. Under Richerson, the Notice of Appeal would be premature. The advantage with the approach taken in the Richerson case is that it presents the appellate court with a truly final order. The conflict between DeLong and Richerson has been resolved by our court's en banc decision in Croker v. The Boeing Co. (Vertol Division), 662 F.2d 975 (3d Cir. 1981) which specifically overrules DeLong. In Croker, Chief Judge Seitz wrote for the court that "(u) ntil the amount of attorney's fees is set, or a fund from which they are to be awarded is established, litigation over the extent of parties' liabilities has not been terminated." At 984.

Under our court's recent decision in Croker, the appeal filed in this case was premature and, consequently, we do not have appellate jurisdiction. In accordance with the Croker decision, we will dismiss the appeal. After the district court fixes the amount of attorney's fees, if any, an appeal will be appropriate.

III.

Though we can not reach the merits of this case, our decision probably exemplifies the "troubling result" which Judge Adams recently noted in his concurring opinion in deMouy v. Ingvoldstad, 664 F.2d 21 (3d Cir. 1981), when he stated that though "judicial tidiness has considerable virtues, ... when applied inexorably it loses much of its...