I.B.E.W. Local No. 910 v. Dexelectrics, Inc.

• Decision Date: 16 May 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-CV-692.,99-CV-692.
• Citation: 98 F.Supp.2d 265
• Parties: I.B.E.W LOCAL NO. 910 WELFARE, ANNUITY, AND PENSION FUNDS, by John LOVE, as Fund Manager; the Watertown Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Fund, by Terry Henry, as Chairman; National Electrical Benefit Fund, by John Grau and Jack Moore, as Trustees; and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 910, by George Intschert, as Business Manager, Plaintiffs, v. DEXELECTRICS, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

98 F.Supp.2d 265

I.B.E.W LOCAL NO. 910 WELFARE, ANNUITY, AND PENSION FUNDS, by John LOVE, as Fund Manager; the Watertown Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Fund, by Terry Henry, as Chairman; National Electrical Benefit Fund, by John Grau and Jack Moore, as Trustees; and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 910, by George Intschert, as Business Manager, Plaintiffs, v. DEXELECTRICS, INC., Defendant.

No. 99-CV-692.

United States District Court, N.D. New York.

May 16, 2000.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Blitman & King LLP, Syracuse, NY, Jennifer A. Clark, Jacqueline B. Jones, of counsel, for Plaintiffs.

Slye & Burrows, Watertown, NY, Christina E. Stone, of counsel for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM-DECISION & ORDER

McAVOY, District Judge.

Plaintiffs commenced the instant action against Defendant Dexelectrics, Inc. pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. to collect delinquent fringe benefit contributions, deductions, interest, liquidated damages, costs and disbursements, and attorneys' fees. Specifically, Plaintiffs move pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 56 for a grant of summary judgment against Defendant in the amount of $43,552.50 representing: (1) $25,292.59 in unpaid fringe benefit contributions and deductions; (2) $3,671.79 in interest; (3) $5,692.44 in liquidated damages; and (4) $8,895.68 in attorneys' fees and costs. See Affidavit of Jacqueline B. Jones, Esq. ("Jones Aff.") at ¶ 7. In connection with their request for monetary damages, Plaintiffs seek postjudgment interest as provided under 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a). See Notice of Motion at 2. Plaintiffs also seek an order directing Defendant to: (1) produce, within ten (10) days following service of the Court's order, its remittance reports and payroll records evidencing hours worked by its employees for the period February 2000 through the date of this order for the purpose of conducting an audit; (2) pay any delinquent amounts uncovered by the remittance reports and audit, including fringe benefit contributions, deductions, interest, liquidated damages, audit fees, and attorneys' fees and costs; (3) perform its obligations to Plaintiffs under the agreements by which it is bound; specifically, to timely furnish Plaintiffs the required monthly remittance reports and payments; and (4) refrain from incurring additional delinquencies in amounts owed, or to become owing in the future. See Jones Aff. at 5-6.

I. Background

Defendant Dexelectrics, Inc. is a party to a collective bargaining agreement with Local Union No. 910 (the "Union"). See Affidavit of George Intschert ("Intschert Aff.") at Ex. A ("Shop Agreement"). Dexelectrics and the Union executed a Letter of Assent that bound each party to the terms and conditions of the Shop Agreement. See id. The current Shop Agreement is in effect for the period June 1, 1999 through May 31, 2001.¹ See id. at § 1.01. The Shop Agreement provides, inter alia, that Defendant make monthly fringe benefit contributions and deductions to various Union funds based on the number of hours worked by each bargaining unit employee covered by the Shop Agreement. See generally Art. IV, §§ 4.01-.08; Pl. Stmt. of Material Facts at ¶¶ 6-7. Defendant is also required to remit monthly remittance reports and fringe benefit contributions and deductions no later than the fifteenth day of the following month. See Shop Agreement at § 4.07-.08; Intschert Aff. at ¶ 8; Pl. Stmt. of Material Facts at ¶ 8.

As a signatory to the Shop Agreement, Dexelectrics is also bound by the terms and conditions of various Agreements and Declarations of Trust for the Union's Welfare, Annuity, Pension and Training Funds (collectively the "Trust Funds"), see Shop Agreement at § 4.10-.11; see also Affidavit of John Love ("Love Aff.") at ¶¶ 3-6 and Exs. A-D, the Restated Employees Benefit Agreement and Trust for the National Electrical Benefit Fund ("NEBF"), see Shop Agreement at § 7.01; see also Love Aff. at ¶ 7 and Ex. E, and the Collections Policy for the Local 910 Welfare, Annuity and Pension Funds ("Collections Policy"). See Shop Agreement at § 4.10-.11; see also Love Aff. at ¶¶ 10-13 and Ex. F; Intschert Aff. at ¶¶ 9-12. Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Shop Agreement, Trust Funds and Collections Policy, Defendant's failure to timely remit amounts owed may result in a finding of liability against Defendant for delinquent contributions and deductions and the imposition of interest, liquidated damages, and attorneys' fees and costs. See Pls. Stmt of Material Facts at ¶ 11; Shop Agreement at § 4.09; Collections Policy at § 1.

Based on Defendant's records and remittance reports, Plaintiffs allege that Dexelectrics: (1) owes $12,131.55 for delinquent fringe benefit contributions and deductions for the period July 1998 through March 1999, exclusive of interest, liquidated damages and attorneys' fees and costs, see Pls. Stmt. of Material Facts at ¶ 13; Love Aff. at ¶ 15; Intschert at ¶ 12; (2) untimely remitted $5,661.46 for delinquent contributions and deductions and $167.35 in interest for the period February 1998 through April 1998, see Pls. Stmt. of Material Facts at ¶ 14; Love Aff. at ¶ 18; (3) untimely remitted $28,052.20 for delinquent contributions and deductions and $1,433.91 in interest for the period January 1995 through June 1995, see Pls. Stmt of Material Facts at ¶ 15; Love Aff. at ¶ 21;² and (4) owes $13,161.04 for delinquent contributions and deductions for the period April 1999 through February 2000, exclusive of interest, liquidated damages and attorneys' fees and costs, see Pls. Stmt. of Material Facts at ¶ 16; Love Aff. at ¶ 24; Intschert Aff. at ¶ 14.

Thus, Plaintiffs seek a total of $25,292.59 ($12,131.55 + $13,161.04) for delinquent fringe benefit contributions and deductions owed by Defendant. In connection with that amount, Plaintiffs also seek interest of $3,671.79, see Love Aff. at ¶¶ 16, 25 ($2,494.33 + $1,068.87); Intschert Aff. at ¶¶ 13, 15 ($78.14 + $30.45), liquidated damages of $5,692.44, see Love Aff. at ¶¶ 16, 19, 22, 25 ($1,248.30 + $579.81 + $2,516.43 + $1,347.90), and attorneys' fees and costs of $8,895.68, see Jones Aff. at Ex. D.

II. Discussion

Because the Court is presented with an unopposed motion for summary judgment, the Court assumes the facts derived from the Complaint to be true and for the purposes of the instant motion, "adopts [P]laintiff[s]' recitation of the facts underlying this dispute."³ Onondaga County Laborers' Health, Welfare, Pension, Annuity and Training Funds v. Sal Masonry Contractors, Inc., 1992 WL 75051, at *10 n. 1 (N.D.N.Y. Apr.7, 1992) (McCurn, C.J.) ("Onondaga County"). Accordingly, Plaintiffs' "uncontested assertions in its [7.1(a)(3)] Statement are deemed admitted for purposes of deciding whether summary judgment should be granted." Id. at *3; see also N.D.N.Y.L.R. 7.1(a)(3). Notwithstanding Defendant's failure to submit any opposition papers to Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, the Court has independently examined Plaintiffs' moving papers to determine whether a grant of summary judgment and an award of monetary damages and injunctive relief against Defendant is warranted. Accordingly, in deciding the instant motion, the Court will apply the well-settled standards applicable to motions for summary judgment that have been set forth in prior decisions by this Court. See Dyke v. McCleave, 79 F.Supp.2d 98, 102-03 (N.D.N.Y.2000); Frink Am., Inc. v. Champion Road Mach. Ltd., 62 F.Supp.2d 679, 681-82 (N.D.N.Y. 1999); Emma v. Schenectady City Sch. Dist., 28 F.Supp.2d 711, 717-18 (N.D.N.Y. 1998), aff'd, 199 F.3d 1322 (1999) (Table).

A. Applicable Legal Standards

Pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1145, "[e]very 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." In Benson v. Brower's Moving & Storage, Inc., 907 F.2d 310 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 982, 111 S.Ct. 511, 112 L.Ed.2d 524 (1990), the Second Circuit recognized only two valid defenses to a suit for contributions due under an employee benefit plan:

(1) that the pension contributions themselves are illegal, and (2) that the collective bargaining agreement is void (not merely voidable). Thus, once an employer knowingly signs an agreement that requires him to contribute to an employee benefit plan, he may not escape his obligation by raising defenses that call into question the union's ability to enforce the contract as a whole.

Id. at 314 (internal citations omitted).

More recently, the Second Circuit held that the employer's obligation to make contributions under a collective bargaining agreement may be excused "if the [a]greement, by its own terms, does not require continuing contributions absent the continuing existence of a condition precedent." DeVito v. Hempstead China Shop, Inc., 38 F.3d 651, 654 (2d Cir.1994).

Having failed to submit opposition papers in connection with the instant motion, Defendant does not contest that it is required to make fringe benefit contributions and deductions under the Shop Agreement, Trust Funds and Collections Policy. Moreover, neither of the affirmative defenses raised by Dexelectrics in its Answer "fit[] within the scope of those which courts have recognized as valid." Onondaga County, 1992 WL 75051, at *5 (footnote omitted). First, Dexelectrics' defense that it is not a party to these agreements is unavailing in light of the fact that Defendant is a signatory to the Shop Agreement, see Answer at ¶¶ 46-48, and has previously remitted contributions to the various funds. See, e.g., New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund v. Boening Bros., Inc., 891 F.Supp. 81, 86 (N.D.N.Y.1995), aff'd, 92 F.3d 127 (1996)....