Cline v. Indus. Maintenance Eng'g

• Decision Date: 11 January 2000
• Docket Number: 98-16560,Nos. 98-16025,98-16546,98-16616,s. 98-16025
• Citation: 200 F.3d 1223
• Parties: (9th Cir. 2000) THOMAS CLINE; TIMOTHY IRVING; KEITH RINEY; DENNIS TRAMMELL each on his own behalf and on behalf of all the employees similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. THE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING & CONTRACTING CO.; GEORGE R. BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as International President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; PAMELA BARLOW, individually and in her official capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; JOE BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; THOMAS WALSH, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; MAURICE LAMPLEY, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; JOHN DELANEY, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; HAROLD JOHNSON, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; ROBERT ORTEGA, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; GEOFFREY BELTZ, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; OAK TREE ADMINISTRATORS, INC.; ERISA, regulated employee benefit plan; INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PETROLEUM & INDUSTRIAL WORKERS CANADIAN BENEFIT FUND; GREAT WEST LIFE AND ANNUITY CO., Defendants-Appellees. THE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING & CONTRACTING CO; GEOFFREY BELTZ, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; OAK TREE ADMINISTRATORS, INC., ERISA, regulated employee benefit plan; GREAT WEST LIFE & ANNUITY CO., Defendants, and GEORGE R. BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as International President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; PAMELA BARLOW, individually and in her official capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; JOE BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; THOMAS WALSH, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; MAURICE LAMPLEY, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; JOHN DELANEY, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; HAROLD JOHNSON, individually and in his capacity
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1223

200 F.3d 1223 (9th Cir. 2000)

THOMAS CLINE; TIMOTHY IRVING; KEITH RINEY; DENNIS TRAMMELL each on his own behalf and on behalf of all the employees similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. THE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING & CONTRACTING CO.; GEORGE R. BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as International President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; PAMELA BARLOW, individually and in her official capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; JOE BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; THOMAS WALSH, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; MAURICE LAMPLEY, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; JOHN DELANEY, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; HAROLD JOHNSON, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; ROBERT ORTEGA, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; GEOFFREY BELTZ, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; OAK TREE ADMINISTRATORS, INC.; ERISA, regulated employee benefit plan; INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PETROLEUM & INDUSTRIAL WORKERS CANADIAN BENEFIT FUND; GREAT WEST LIFE AND ANNUITY CO., Defendants-Appellees.

THE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING & CONTRACTING CO; GEOFFREY BELTZ, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; OAK TREE ADMINISTRATORS, INC., ERISA, regulated employee benefit plan; GREAT WEST LIFE & ANNUITY CO., Defendants, and GEORGE R. BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as International President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; PAMELA BARLOW, individually and in her official capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; JOE BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; THOMAS WALSH, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; MAURICE LAMPLEY, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; JOHN DELANEY, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; HAROLD JOHNSON, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; ROBERT ORTEGA, individually and in his capacity as a fiduciary; INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PETROLEUM & INDUSTRIAL WORKERS CANADIAN BENEFIT FUND; GREAT WEST LIFE AND ANNUITY CO., Defendants-Appellants, v. THOMAS CLINE; TIMOTHY IRVING; KEITH RINEY; DENNIS TRAMMELL, Plaintiffs-Appellees.

THOMAS CLINE; TIMOTHY IRVING; KEITH RINEY; DENNIS TRAMMELL, PlaintiffsAppellees, v. THE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING & CONTRACTING CO; Defendant-Appellant,

GEORGE R. BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as International President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; PAMELA BARLOW, individually and in her official capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of the I.U.P.I.W. and

as a fiduciary; JOE BELTZ, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President of the I.U.P.I.W. and as a fiduciary; THOMAS WALSH, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; MAURICE LAMPLEY, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary; JOHN DELANEY, individually and in his capacity as fiduciary, Defendants.

THOMAS CLINE; TIMOTHY IRVING; KEITH RINEY; DENNIS TRAMMELL, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. THE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING & CONTRACTING CO., Defendant, and GREAT WEST LIFE AND ANNUITY CO., Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 98-16025, 98-16546, 98-16560, 98-16616

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Argued and Submitted November 4, 1999

Filed January 11, 2000

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

COUNSEL: David A. Rosenfeld, Van Bourg, Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, Oakland, California, for the plaintiffs-appellants and cross-appellees.

James P. Baker, Littler Mendelson, San Francisco, California, for defendantappellee and cross-appellants The Industrial Maintenance Engineering & Contracting Company; Steuart H. Thompson, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellee and cross-appellant Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; Charles R. Breyer, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-96-03618-CRB

Before: Alfred T. Goodwin, Mary M. Schroeder, and Arthur L. Alarcon, Circuit Judges.

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge:

These consolidated appeals arise out of an attempted class action brought to impose ERISA status and liability upon an employee benefit plan which the defendants assert is an IRA plan not covered by Parts 2 and 3 of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. S1001 et seq. The District Court granted summary judgments. The plaintiffs have appealed the judgments, and the defendants have appealed the denial of attorney fees. We affirm.

FACTS

On or about December 1, 1977, Appellee The Industrial Maintenance Engineering & Contracting Co. ("TIMEC") and Appellee International Union of Petroleum & Industrial Workers (the "Union")¹ created a group Individual Retirement Annuity (IRA) plan (the "Plan") for the benefit of Union members who were employees of TIMEC. The Plan purchased a group IRA policy from Appellee Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company ("Great-West"). Another company, Appellee Oak Tree Administration, Inc. ("Oak Tree") provides services to the Plan. At its inception the Plan was funded through employee contributions only. TIMEC, the Union, the Plan, Great-West and Oak Tree are collectively the Defendants, Appellees and Cross-Appellants (the "Appellees").

Between 1977 and 1996, amendments were made to the Plan. In particular, the collective bargaining agreement between TIMEC and the Union (the "CBA") was amended in Article X, Section 1, to provide for employer contributions in the amount of 3% of an employee's gross wages. The Plan was also amended to require participation by employees who worked three consecutive years and maintained a 1600 hour per year workload. Participation was also limited to those employees.

On December 4, 1995, Appellant Thomas Cline, a Union member and TIMEC employee, requested that certain Appellees provide him with Plan documents required to be disclosed to Plan participants under ERISA. On September 17, 1996, Appellants Timothy Irving, Keith Riney and Dennis Trammell, also requested the Plan documents. Except for the participation statements which were apparently delivered after some delay, no Plan documents were provided. Appellees deny that any such documents have ever existed. Thomas Cline, Timothy Irving, Keith Riney, Dennis Trammell and the unnamed members of the class are collectively the Plaintiffs, Appellants and Cross-Appellees (the "Appellants").

On October 4, 1996, Appellants filed the complaint against Appellees and on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated employees. Appellants alleged a wide range of ERISA violations centering on the documentation, participation, reporting and disclosure provisions of the Act. The heart of the complaint is Appellants' contention that ERISA requires inclusion in the Plan of employees with one year of service (instead of three) and 1000 hours of workload (instead of 1600). Because the Appellees did not, and do not, consider the excluded employees participants of the Plan, no contributions have been made on their behalf.

On May 2, 1997, the District Court (Judge Armstrong) dismissed all pending claims with leave to amend. In due course a first amended complaint was filed. That document continued to allege the various ERISA violations and for the first time characterized the subject plan as not IRA qualified. In December of 1997, this case was reassigned to Judge Breyer whose rulings are challenged in these appeals.

Judge Breyer rejected Appellants' claim that the Plan was subject to Parts 2 and 3 of Title I of ERISA and the minimum participation standards contained therein. He held that the plaintiffs could not allege that the Plan was not an IRA, because their earlier pleadings had identified the Plan as an IRA. Furthermore, the Court held that they had failed to raise a material issue of fact as to the IRA status of the Plan. The Court granted Appellees summary judgments but denied their motions for attorney fees under 29 U.S.C. S 1132(g)(1) and 28 U.S.C. S 1927 in the amount of $206,173.50. The various appellees have cross-appealed the denial of attorney fees. All parties have requested fees on appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

This court reviews a grant of summary judgment de novo. Smith v. Hughes Aircraft Co., 22 F.3d 1432, 1435 (9th Cir. 1993). We employ the same analysis used by the district court in reviewing a summary judgment order. Levi's Strauss & Co. v. Shilon, 121 F.3d 1309, 1312 (9th Cir. 1997). We must determine whether, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, there exists any genuine issue of material fact, and whether the district court correctly applied the substantive law. Tarin v. City of Los Angeles, 123 F.3d 1259, 1263 (9th Cir. 1997); Smith, at 1451.

The "materiality" requirement provides that "[o]nly disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). In order to raise a "genuine" issue of fact the "evidence [must be] such that a reasonable [judge or] jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Id.

The moving party bears the burden of establishing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24 (1986). That burden may be met by " `showing' -that is, pointing out to the district court -that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case." Id., at 325. Once the moving party meets its burden of establishing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact, the nonmoving party must go beyond the pleadings and identify facts which show a genuine issue for trial. Id., at 323-24; Tarin, 123 F.3d at 1263. "[A] party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment...