Reid v. Intern. Painters And Allied Trades Indus.
| Decision Date | 08 February 2019 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2:12-cv-00072 |
| Citation | 358 F.Supp.3d 714 |
| Parties | Fred Michael REID, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES INDUSTRY PENSION PLAN, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
Tony C. Merry, Law Offices of Tony C. Merry, LLC, Worthington, OH, for Plaintiff.
John Robert Doll, Doll, Jansen & Ford, Dayton, OH, Judith Ann Sznyter, Kent G. Cprek, Pro Hac Vice, Jennings Sigmond, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, for Defendant.
Plaintiff, Fred Michael Reid, brings this action under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), as authorized by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), to recover pension benefits allegedly due to him by Defendant International Painters and Allied Trades Industry Pension Plan ("IUPAT"). This matter is now before the Court on Plaintiff's Second Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record (Pl.'s Second Mot. J. Admin. R., ECF No. 57) and Defendant's Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment (Def.'s Renewed Mot. Summ. J., ECF No. 62). For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Second Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record and DENIES Defendant's Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment.
Mr. Reid began working as a painter in 1965 and worked for various union painting companies within the jurisdiction of Painters Local Union No. 1275 ("Local 1275"). . Mr. Reid was also a participant in the Painters Local No. 1275 Pension Fund ("Local 1275 Plan"). (Compl. ¶ 6, ECF No. 1 at 2). According to Mr. Reid, he was employed as a Local 1275 painter immediately prior to his 1966–1967 military service and within ten days following his discharge. (. Mr. Reid returned to painting within the jurisdiction of Local 1275 in February 1968. (2013 Admin. R. 189, Reid Aff. ¶¶ 6–7, ECF No. 37-8 at 346). Except for non-union work with Craig Brothers Painting in 1972–1973 (, Mr. Reid asserts that he continued painting for multiple Local 1275 painting companies through 1979. (2013 Admin. R. 194, 220 Reid Aff. ¶ 38, Pl.'s Ex. H, ECF No. 37-8 at 351 and ECF No. 37-9 at 377). On October 1, 1979, the Local 1275 Plan merged into the IUPAT Plan. (2018 Suppl. Admin. R. 273, ECF No. 55 at 1394). At the time of the merger, Mr. Reid had more than three years of service under the Local 1275 Plan and could vest under either the IUPAT Plan or the Local 1275 Plan rules, depending on which plan was more favorable. (2013 Admin. R. at 221, ECF No. 37-9 at 378). Following the merger, Mr. Reid continued working as a union painter until 1982. (2013 Admin, R. at 217, Pl.'s Ex. F, ECF No. 37-9 at 374). In 1982, Mr. Reid left painting to pursue a career in truck driving and did not return to painting within the jurisdiction of Local 1275 until 1999. (2013 Admin. R. 191, Reid Aff. ¶ 22, ECF No. 37-8 at 348).
Both parties submit that the Local 1275 Plan contains the more favorable terms and is the plan at issue for the time period claimed. (Def.'s Mem. Supp. Summ. J. 4, ECF No. 62-1 at 1802). Under the terms of the Local 1275 Plan, a participant loses previously credited service if the participant suffers a permanent break in service. (2013 Admin. R. 1008–09, ECF No. 37-10 at 393–94). But, if a participant completes ten or more years of credited vested service prior to an extended absence, then the participant becomes a Vested Participant (as defined in the Local 1275 Plan) and retains any previously accrued service credit upon return. (Id. at 1008, 393). According to the Local 1275 Plan, a Credited Vesting Service Year equaled 1,000 or more Vesting Hours (as defined in the Local 1275 Plan) in a calendar year, but partial credit of one-tenth of a year could be earned for each 100 full Vesting Hours in years with less than 1,000 Vesting Hours. (Id. at 1004, 389).
Therefore, under the terms of the Local 1275 Plan, if Mr. Reid completed at least ten years of credited vested service and became a Vested Participant prior to his 1982 departure, then he would have retained any pension credits previously earned upon his return to union painting in 1999. According to Mr. Reid's calculations, his combined 1965–1982 service surpassed the ten-year mark, and he should have been considered a Vested Participant upon his departure. Mr. Reid first inquired as to his total benefits hours in 2005 (2013 Admin. R. 18, 22, ECF No. 37-6 at 175, 179) and submitted his pension benefit application in 2008. (2013 Admin. R. 28, ECF No. 37-6 at 185). Over the course of several years and numerous inquiries, IUPAT has communicated to Mr. Reid that he was not vested upon his departure from union painting in 1982 and suffered a permanent break in service and cancellation of any previously credited hours of service. (See, e.g., 2013 Admin. R. 155, ECF No. 37-8 at 312).
This case has been before this Court numerous times. On January 23, 2012, Mr. Reid filed this action against IUPAT. (Compl., ECF No. 1). On October 25, 2012, the Court remanded the case to the IUPAT plan administrator to allow Mr. Reid to first exhaust his administrative remedies. (Order, ECF No. 20). On March 28, 2013, the IUPAT Board of Trustees (the "Trustees") denied Mr. Reid's appeal of the pension fund's September 14, 2012 denial of his pre-merger pension benefits. (2013 Admin. R. 224, ECF No. 37-9 at 381). In its 2013 denial letter, the Board of Trustees explained, "that [Mr. Reid] was not due credit for benefits for work before 1999, the year he returned to the IUPAT Plan." (Id. at 225, ECF No. 37-9 at 382). Though the pension fund office did not "have detailed records of the pre-merger Local 1275 Plan employers or annual hours," and Mr. Reid submitted a detailed earnings report from the Social Security Administration, his own affidavit, and those of former co-workers to support his claim, the Board of Trustees rejected Mr. Reid's calculations. (Id. ). The Board of Trustees concluded that Mr. Reid had 5.6 years of credited service under the Local 1275 Plan and post-merger service of an additional 1.4 years, leaving him far from the required ten-year vesting mark when he left the merged plan in 1982. (Id. at 226, ECF No. 37-9 at 383).
Following receipt of IUPAT's denial letter, and upon Plaintiff's Motion to Reactivate the Case (ECF No. 21), the Court reopened Mr. Reid's case on September 23, 2013. On November 24, 2015, the Court found that the Board of Trustees acted arbitrarily and capriciously in denying Mr. Reid's 2013 claim. (Op. & Order 11–12, ECF No. 43 at 1460–61). The Court determined that the Trustees' decision was not supported by substantial evidence and was not the result of a deliberate and principled reasoning process. (Id. at 12, 1461). The Court remanded the case to IUPAT to address six issues: 1) provide evidence of Mr. Reid's pre-merger and post-merger service; 2) cite evidence showing that Mr. Reid's 1965 service should be divested; 3) include evidence of employer contributions on Mr. Reid's behalf, along with his service record; 4) include other support for reducing Mr. Reid's estimate by 0.9 years; 5) accept or refute Mr. Reid's service record and wage recollections, state grounds for doing so, and provide evidence of the Local 1275 printout's authenticity; and 6) consider all evidence concerning prevailing wage rates at the relevant times. (Id. at 13–16, 18, ECF No. 43 at 1462–65, 1467).
On April 20, 2016, IUPAT submitted a draft response to the Court's six questions to Mr. Reid concluding, "The Fund accepts Reid's reconstruction of pre-merger hours, but this does not give him the additional credit he seeks because many of the hours were not work with contributions to the Local 1275 Plan." (2018 Suppl. Admin. R. 273, ECF No. 55 at 1594). Defendant IUPAT further stated, (Id. ). Defendant IUPAT asserted that Mr. Reid "mistakenly claims credit for work outside the area of the Local 1275 Plan with no apparent contributions to the Local 1275 Plan." (Id. ).
On January 22, 2018, Mr. Reid responded to IUPAT's assertions by submitting two additional affidavits and Internet printouts showing that his claimed employers were based in the Columbus area. (Id. at 375–95, 1696–1716). The two affidavits establish he was never a member of any union other than Local 1275. (2018 Suppl.
Admin. R. 379–80, Reid Aff. ¶¶ 9, 21, ECF No. 55 at 1700–01; Id. at 387, Hiles Aff. ¶ 3, 1708). Mr. Reid's second affidavit also addresses each year for which he claims credit and explains why, under the general rules in effect at that time, the work he performed fell within the jurisdiction of Local 1275. (Id. at 377, 1698).
On March 16, 2018, IUPAT affirmed its denial of benefits to Mr. Reid. (Id. at 396, 1717). In its final determination letter, the Board of Trustees revealed its discovery of a Local 1275 work history card (Id. at 352, 1673) purportedly reflecting Mr. Reid's service by quarter from 1974 to 1979. (Id. at 399, 1720). According to IUPAT, the total hours on the work history card match the 1978 hours shown on the computer printout (2013 Admin. R. 94, ECF No. 37-7 at 251) it previously relied on in its 2013 decision. (2018 Suppl. Admin. R. 399, ECF No. 55 at 1720). A revised service record for Mr. Reid was prepared using these documents and a newly recovered letter (Id. at 282, 1603) summarizing Local 1275 journeyman wage rates for the years at issue. (Id. at 399, 1720). Per IUPAT's calculations, these documents provide Mr. Reid with 6.6 years of pre-merger service. (Def.'s...
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