Fund v. Nlg Insulation Inc.

• Decision Date: 29 December 2010
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. CCB–10–918.
• Citation: 760 F.Supp.2d 529
• Parties: ASBESTOS WORKERS LOCAL 24 PENSION FUND, et al.v.NLG INSULATION, INC.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

760 F.Supp.2d 529

ASBESTOS WORKERS LOCAL 24 PENSION FUND, et al.

v.NLG INSULATION, INC.

Civil Action No. CCB–10–918.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

Dec. 29, 2010.

Mark J. Murphy, Eugene Ahn, Mooney Green Saindon Murphy and Welch PC, Washington, DC, for Asbestos Workers Local 24 Pension Fund, Lino Cressotti, Brian Cavey, Dave Nichols, W. Paul Stonebreaker, Rick Pumphrey, Dave Trumble.Stanley Alpert, Law Offices of Stanley Alpert PA, Baltimore, MD, for NLG Insulation, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

CATHERINE C. BLAKE, District Judge.

Pending before this court is a motion for summary judgment filed by the plaintiffs, Asbestos Workers Local 24 Pension Fund (the “Fund”) and the trustees of the Fund, Lino Cressotti, Brian Cavey, Dave Nichols, W. Paul Stonebreaker, Rick Pumphrey and Dave Trumble (collectively, the “trustees”). The plaintiffs have sued NLG Insulation, Inc. (“NLG”) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) to collect withdrawal liability, interest, liquidated damages, attorneys' fees and costs. The issues in this case have been fully briefed and no oral argument is necessary. See Local Rule 105.6 (D.Md. 2010). For the reasons stated below, the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment will be granted and judgment will be entered for the plaintiffs.

BACKGROUND

This case arises out of a collective bargaining agreement, called a Joint Trade Agreement (JTA), between the Heat & Frost Insulators & Allied Workers Local 24 (“Local 24”) and Gamble Insulation Company, Inc. (“Gamble Insulation”).¹ Gamble Insulation was a signatory to the JTA executed in 2000. (Pls.' Ex. A.) Anthony Gamble, the former president of Gamble Insulation and current president of NLG, executed the JTA on behalf of Gamble Insulation. ( Id.) ² As a signatory, Gamble Insulation was obligated to pay pension contributions to the Asbestos Workers Local 24 Pension Fund (“the Fund”) on behalf of its covered employees for work in all jurisdictions covered by the JTA. (Pls.' Ex. A, Art. X(B); Affidavit of Renee Parenti (“Parenti Aff.”) ¶¶ 3–4, Pls.' Ex. I.) The Fund is administered at 7130 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046. (Compl. ¶ 4.)

The 2000 JTA provided:

This Agreement shall remain in full force and effective from October 1, 2000, until September 30, 2003, and shall be automatically renewed for the term of one (1) year and so on from pay raise to pay raise thereafter, until either party shall give notice in writing to the other party ninety (90) days prior to any expiration date of intention to terminate the Agreement or to request changes in the terms and conditions thereof.

(Pls.' Ex. A, Art. XXV (emphasis added).) The 2000 JTA expired on September 30, 2003. (Pls.' Ex. A.) At no time did Gamble Insulation provide written notification of its intent to withdraw from the 2000 JTA. (Affidavit of Lino Cressotti (Cressotti Aff.) ¶ 6, Pls.' Ex. G; Parenti Aff. ¶ 4.) Mr. Gamble, the president of NLG and the former president of Gamble Insulation, avers that “contrary to the Plaintiffs' allegations that the Trade Agreement renewed itself for one (1) year periods, Gamble Insulation Co., Inc. refused to execute Trade Agreements after the year 2003, though same had been submitted for execution.” (Affidavit of Tony Gamble (“Gamble Aff.”) ¶ 2, Def.'s Ex. 3.) “[I]t was made known to the Plaintiffs,” Gamble avers, “that Gamble Insulation Co., Inc. would not participate in the Union in or about the year 2003 ... in communications between said parties during the time the prior litigation was pending.” ( Id. ¶ 2.) Mr. Gamble does not, however, claim that any written notification was provided to withdraw from the JTA.

In 2004, the trustees of the Fund, along with the trustees of the National Asbestos Workers Medical Fund, sued Gamble Insulation to collect pension contributions owed under the 2000 JTA for certain months between January 2001 and December 2003. See Complaint, Trustees of The National Asbestos Workers Medical Fund v. Gamble Insulation Co., Inc., No. 04–291–WDQ (D.Md. Feb. 3, 2004), ECF No. 1 ¶ 30. In January 2005, the plaintiffs amended their complaint, adding Mr. Gamble as a defendant and extending the period of contributions demanded to “the present.” See Amended Complaint, Trustees v. Gamble Insulation, No. 04–291–WDQ (D.Md. Jan. 18, 2005), ECF No. 36 ¶¶ 6, 15. In January 2006, Judge Quarles granted the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, ordering that Gamble Insulation and Mr. Gamble pay delinquent contributions owed through March 2005, plus interest, audit costs and attorney's fees and costs. Trustees v. Gamble Insulation, No. 04–291–WDQ (D.Md. Jan. 4, 2006), ECF No. 68.

Gamble Insulation ceased doing business in 2006. (Deposition of Anthony Gamble, Aug. 13, 2008 (“Gamble Dep.”), Pls.' Ex. H, at 13:12–15:8, 22:11–19.) On March 11, 2008, Gamble Insulation filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland. See In re Gamble Insulation Co., Inc., No. 08–13362 (Bankr.Md. Mar. 11, 2008). This bankruptcy proceeding appears to be currently pending.

In 2009, the trustees determined that Gamble Insulation had withdrawn from the Fund in April 2006, which, it contended, was the date when Gamble Insulation ceased operations and thereby ceased being obligated to contribute to the Fund. (Letter from Paul Green to Stanley Alpert (Nov. 3, 2009) (“Review letter”), Pls.' Ex. D, at 2–3.) On September 18, 2009, the Fund sent an assessment of withdrawal liability to NLG, advising NLG that it owed withdrawal liability to the Fund in the amount of $24,165, based on the withdrawal date of April 2006. (Letter from Reneé Parenti to Anthony Gamble (Sept. 18, 2009) (“Demand letter”), Pls.' Ex. B.) The letter was addressed to “Mr. Anthony Gamble[,] NLG Insulation, Inc.” ( id.) and assessed withdrawal liability in the amount of $24,165, which, if paid in monthly installments under the trustees' proposed payment schedule, would total $26,528. (Pls.' Ex. B.) The trustees arrived at that calculation based on their determination that NLG and Gamble Insulation withdrew from the Fund in April 2006. (Review letter, Pls.' Ex. D, at 2–3.) It determined that withdrawal occurred in 2006 because Mr. Gamble testified during the 2008 bankruptcy proceedings that Gamble Insulation ceased operations that year. ( Id. at 3.)

On October 27, 2009, NLG Insulation, through counsel, requested a review of the withdrawal liability assessment. (Letter from Stanley Alpert to Local 24 Pension Fund Board of Trustees (Oct. 27, 2009), Pls.' Ex. C.) The Fund reviewed NLG's request and responded in detail through counsel in a letter dated November 3, 2009. ( See Review letter, Pls.' Ex. D.) In the letter, the trustees declined to withdraw or modify the withdrawal liability assessment. ( Id.)

The plaintiffs brought the instant action on April 14, 2010 to collect withdrawal liability amounts owed, accrued interest, liquidated damages and attorneys' fees.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 provides that a court “shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The Supreme Court has clarified that this does not mean that any factual dispute will defeat the motion. “By its very terms, this standard provides that the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247–48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (emphasis in original). Whether a fact is material depends upon the substantive law. See id.

“A party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment ‘may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of [his] pleadings,’ but rather must ‘set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens Football Club, Inc., 346 F.3d 514, 522 (4th Cir.2003) (alteration in original) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e)). The court must “view the facts and draw reasonable inferences ‘in the light most favorable to the party opposing the [summary judgment] motion,’ ” Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 378, 127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007) (alteration in original) (quoting United States v. Diebold, 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962)), but the court also must abide by the “affirmative obligation of the trial judge to prevent factually unsupported claims and defenses from proceeding to trial.” Drewitt v. Pratt, 999 F.2d 774, 778–79 (4th Cir.1993) (internal quotation marks omitted).

ANALYSIS

When Congress enacted ERISA in 1974, among its “principal objectives” was “the development of a system that would guarantee that promised benefits be paid to those workers who had met the conditions required to attain a ‘vested’ status within the terms of the plan.” Borden, Inc. v. Bakery & Confectionery Union & Indus. Int'l Pension, 974 F.2d 528, 529 (4th Cir.1992). “By 1980, however, it became clear to Congress that ERISA's scheme for multiemployer plans contained some structural defects which threatened the plans' ability to maintain and ensure funding of vested benefits.” Id. (citing Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. v. R.A. Gray & Co., 467 U.S. 717, 722 n. 2, 104 S.Ct. 2709, 81 L.Ed.2d 601 (1984)). In response, Congress enacted the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPAA), Pub.L. No. 96–364, 94 Stat. 1208 (1980). Under the MPPAA, “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.” 29 U.S.C. § 1145....