Construction Teamsters Health and Welfare Trust v. Con Form Const. Corp., 80-5515
| Decision Date | 01 October 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-5515,80-5515 |
| Citation | 657 F.2d 1101 |
| Parties | 108 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2676, 92 Lab.Cas. P 13,056 The CONSTRUCTION TEAMSTERS HEALTH AND WELFARE TRUST, known more specifically as The Construction Teamsters Security Trust, The Construction Teamsters Vacation Holiday Trust, and The Construction Teamsters Training and Upgrading Trusts, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CON FORM CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, a California Corporation, and Surety Company of the Pacific, a corporation, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Lawrence S. Payne, La Verne, Cal., for defendant-appellant.
Samuel N. Rubino, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Before POOLE and FERGUSON, Circuit Judges, and HARDY, * District Judge.
The Trustees of three Union trust funds, the appellees, sued Con Form Construction Corporation (Con Form), the appellant and signatory to a Short Form Agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council No. 42 (Union), for contributions owed to the trust funds from June 1977 through October 1979. The district court found Con Form liable for contributions from June 1977 through April 1978 when Con Form gave written notice of termination of the Short Form Agreement. Con Form appeals.
On May 23, 1974 Con Form signed a short form collective bargaining agreement with the Union agreeing to be bound by the terms of the Master Labor Agreement (MLA) then in effect from June 1971 to June 1974. Prior to expiration of the MLA all parties thereto received notices of intended modification as required by the MLA. That MLA was renegotiated in June of 1974 and, as newly modified, given effect from June of 1974 to June 1977. In June of 1977 the process was repeated and an MLA executed for the three year period from June of 1977 to June of 1980.
By the terms of Article IV of the Short Form Agreement Con Form agreed to make contributions to the Construction Teamsters Security Trust, Vacation Holiday Trust and Training and Upgrading Trust (the Welfare Trusts) for covered employees based on work performed. Con Form made reports and contributions to the Welfare Trusts from May of 1974 through June of 1977. An audit revealed that Con Form ceased making contributions to all the Trusts except the Pension Trust at this time. Con Form made periodic contributions under protest to the Pension Trust from September 1977 to December 1977. A letter of cancellation was sent by Con Form to the Union on April 13, 1978.
The Trustees brought suit to recover amounts owed to the Trusts under the MLA then in effect. The Trustees argued that Con Form was bound by the terms of the 1980 MLA until written notice of cancellation was received and that such cancellation would become effective at the end of the current agreement in June of 1980. Con Form contended that the short form agreement terminated automatically in June of 1977 when the newly modified MLA was executed. The district court concluded that the Short Form Agreement did not terminate automatically in June 1977 but was cancelled by the letter of April 13, 1978, effective that date. For the reasons discussed
below we agree with the district court and affirm.
The essence of the dispute centers on the interpretation of the following provisions of the Short Form Agreement:
The parties hereto agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of the multiple-employer Labor Agreement, including all supplemental agreements thereto, between the Southern California Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, and others, and the Union, entered into as of May 19, 1968 for application in the Counties of Inyo, Mono, Kern, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Imperial, and all renewals, changes or modifications, thereof, entered into between the Association and the Union thereafter, except as such agreement may be specifically modified herein, and except that the provisions of Article IV, exclusive of Paragraph 403, thereof, and Article V of the aforesaid agreement shall not be a part of this Agreement.
The Agreement shall become effective as of the date shown below and shall continue in effect for the same term as the Master Labor Agreement and for any renewals or extensions thereof referred to above, and, thereafter, unless and until either party gives the other notice of its desire to terminate. In order to be effective the notice must be mailed certified return receipt requested.
On appeal a dispute concerning the proper interpretation of language on the face of the contract is a matter of law fully reviewable by the appellate court. Dillingham Shipyard v. Associated Insulation Co., 649 F.2d 1322 (9th Cir., 1981).
Con Form argues that under Seymour v. Coughlin, 609 F.2d 346 (9th Cir. 1979) written notice of termination is only required of a signatory to a Short Form Agreement where the MLA is renewed or extended but that once a notice of modification of the MLA is mailed by either party to the Agreement the Short Form Agreement is automatically terminated. It is contended that the reference to renewals and changes contained in Article II A is limited to changes in the Counties in which the MLA is to be given effect and therefore is solely a jurisdictional clause.
In Coughlin the court found that under the terms of the Short Form Agreement, the latter remained in effect for any renewals or extension of the MLA but that it would terminate automatically upon significant modification of the MLA. This court affirmed the decision on appeal after...
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