Southeastern Sheet Metal Joint Apprent. v. Barsuli, 93-C-967.

• Decision Date: 15 January 1997
• Docket Number: No. 93-C-967.,93-C-967.
• Citation: 950 F.Supp. 1406
• Parties: SOUTHEASTERN SHEET METAL JOINT APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING FUND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Joseph BARSULI, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin

Page 1406

950 F.Supp. 1406

SOUTHEASTERN SHEET METAL JOINT APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING FUND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Joseph BARSULI, Defendant.

No. 93-C-967.

United States District Court, E.D. Wisconsin.

January 15, 1997.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Matthew R. Robbins, Renata Dash, Previant, Goldberg, Ulemen, Gratz, Miller & Brueggeman, Milwaukee, WI, for Plaintiffs.

Gary M. Williams, Williams Law Offices, Hales Corners, WI, for Defendant.

DECISION AND ORDER

RANDA, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. For the following reasons, plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is granted and the defendant's motion is denied.

FACTS

Boiled down to its essentials, this case is basically a collection action. The National Training Fund for the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Industry ("the National Fund") is a multi-employer apprenticeship and training trust fund established pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (Defendant's Proposed Findings of Fact ("DFOF") at ¶ 1; Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's Proposed Findings of Fact ("PR") at 1.) So too, the Southeastern Sheet Metal Joint Apprenticeship Training Fund ("the Local Fund") is a multi-employer apprenticeship and training fund established pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (DFOF at ¶ 2; PR at 1.) The Local Fund operates in Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties in the State of Wisconsin. (Id.) Marc De Jarlais ("Jarlais") is a fiduciary of the Local Fund. (Id.) A separate entity, called the Southeastern Sheet Metal Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee ("the Local Committee"), is a joint labor-management committee which is regulated by, and assists, the State of Wisconsin — Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations — Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards ("DILHR-BAS") in the operation of sheet metal apprenticeship programs within Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties. (DFOF at ¶ 3; PR at 1.) The Local Fund and the Local Committee share the same office in Racine, Wisconsin. (DFOF at ¶ 6; PR at 1.) They share the same equipment and the same files. (Id.) They employ the same individual, Lois Young, for secretarial assistance and they even use the same stationary and envelopes. (Id.) Nevertheless, while the National Fund, the Local Fund and Jarlais are party-plaintiffs in this action, the Local Committee is not a party to this action.

On or around October 29, 1986, Joseph Barsuli ("Barsuli") signed an Apprentice Indenture ("the Indenture") with the Local Committee. (Krawczyk Aff., Ex. G.) The Indenture committed Barsuli to a five-year apprenticeship in the Local Committee's Environmental Systems Technician Apprenticeship Program ("EST"). (DFOF at ¶ 10; PR at 1.) The EST apprenticeship is to be distinguished from the building trades Sheet Metal Apprenticeship Program ("SMA"), which is another apprenticeship program run by the Local Committee. (Jarlais Dep. at 12-13.) The EST program trains individuals in the servicing of air conditioning, heating and refrigeration units. (Id.) The SMA program trains individuals in the actual fabrication of sheet metal into various configurations. (Id.) Thus, SMA apprentices learn how to "set" heating and air conditioning units and form or install the ductwork, while EST apprentices learn how to subsequently run the wiring to such units, optically control the rooms they heat or cool, start the units up, and maintain or repair the units. (Id.) To this end, the EST program calls for certain specified hours of training in the areas of "Air Balance", "Start-Up and Certification of Comfort Systems", "Basic Installation — Heating and Cooling", "Maintenance & Warranties", "Equipment Connections to Energy Source", etc. (Krawczyk Aff., Ex. K.)

In accordance with federal and state regulations, the EST Indenture Barsuli signed was subsequently filed with, and approved by, DILHR-BAS. (DFOF at ¶ 12; PR at 1.) Also in accordance with federal regulations, the EST apprenticeship program in which Barsuli participated was properly "registered" with either the United States Department of Labor — Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training ("BAT") or DILHR-BAS. (DFOF at ¶ 13; PR at 1.) Subsequently, on or around March 3, 1987, Barsuli signed the first of five separate Sheet Metal Scholarship Loan Agreements ("SLA's"). (Krawczyk Aff., Ex. D.) The SLA's were not filed with any federal or state authority. (DFOF at ¶ 23; PR at 1.) The SLA's were virtually identical form documents pre-signed and supplied by the National Fund. (PR, ¶ 3 at 4; Defendant's Reply to Plaintiffs' Response to Defendant's Proposed Findings of Fact ("DRPR"), ¶ 3 at 9; Jarlais Dep. at 28.) Under the express terms of the SLA's, Barsuli warranted that he "understands and agrees that the Local Committee and the National Training Fund will expend significant sums of money for the training of [Barsuli] in the specialized skills necessary for employment in the Sheet Metal Industry; ...." (Id.) Barsuli agreed, within each SLA, to a specific dollar value for these expenditures, itemized as "the cost of the training, including books, manuals, necessary equipment, instructors' salaries (where applicable) and related materials, ... [and] indirect and intangible value and worth". (Id.) He warranted that he "understands that these considerable expenditures will be repaid to the NTF and the Local Committee by [his] working in the Sheet Metal Industry resulting in contributions being made to the NTF and the Local Committee pursuant to Collective Bargaining Agreements." (Id.) Specifically, Barsuli would "receive a credit for each calendar year" he worked for a contributing employer, for a total of ten years, at which time the loan would be repaid "in-kind". (Id.) In this regard, Barsuli also agreed "that he ... will neither seek nor accept employment from an Employer engaged in, nor become an Employer engaged in, any general, mechanical sheet metal, testing and balancing, roofing, residential, sign or food service work or any other work covered by the Constitution of the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association unless such employment is performed under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement that provides for the payment of contributions by such Employer to the NTF or to the Local Committee...." (Id.) If Barsuli breached the agreement by accepting sheet metal work from a non-contributing employer, he agreed that "all amounts due and owing on the Scholarship Loan, reduced by any credit received by [Barsuli] ..., or by any cash payments made, will become immediately due and payable, together with interest at the prime interest rate then prevailing at the Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C., from the date of breach." (Id.) In addition, in the event of such a breach, Barsuli agreed that he "will be liable for all costs of collection, including reasonable attorneys' fees." (Id.)

Barsuli signed an SLA form for each of the five years of his apprenticeship.¹ (Id.) As preprinted forms supplied by the National Fund, each SLA referred to the National Fund and the Local Committee as the parties to the contract providing the loan to Barsuli. (Id.) The Local Fund is not referenced anywhere in the agreements. (Id.) Moreover, Lois Young, who is employed by both the Local Fund and the Local Committee, typed in the name of the Local Committee, not the Local Fund, under the "Notices" provision of each agreement, as that is the name called for by the preprinted form. (Id.; PR, ¶ 3 at 4; DRPR, ¶ 3 at 9.) The Local Fund maintains that this was essentially a clerical mistake and that it, and not the Local Committee, is the real party in interest to the contract, along with the National Fund. This explains why the Local Fund is a plaintiff in this action and the Local Committee is not. As support for its position, the Local Fund explains that in parts of the country other than Wisconsin, local training funds and local training committees are one and the same entity. (Krawczyk Aff., Ex. F at ¶ 7; Ex. N at ¶ 11.) This could explain why the Local Committee is listed as a party on a SLA form intended to be used across the country.² In Wisconsin, however, the Local Fund and the Local Committee are technically distinct entities, although they share common offices, common employees common files and common equipment. (PR at ¶ 6 at 5.) As such, it is undisputed that any funds expended in connection with Barsuli's training were expended by the National Fund and the Local Fund. (PR, ¶ 9 at 5; DRPR, ¶ 9 at 12-13.) The Local Committee has no monetary assets and is therefore incapable of funding apprenticeship training. (PR, ¶ 7 at 5.) Indeed, the Local Fund is established and maintained for the express purpose of providing the Local Committee with funding when necessary to train apprentices. (PR, ¶ 6 at 5.)

Barsuli admits that he read the first of the five SLA's before signing it and that he understood its terms. (Krawczyk Aff., Ex. B ("Barsuli Dep.") at 81.) Specifically, he understood that the SLA's were designed "to keep me from using the training I was receiving under the apprenticeship program to work for non-union contractors in the geographic area within which [the Local Committee] operated the program — Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties...." (Plaintiff's Proposed Findings of Fact ("PFOF") at ¶ 8; Defendant's Response to Plaintiff's Proposed Findings of Fact ("DR") at ¶ 8.) Barsuli did not read the subsequent SLA's because they were essentially the same as the first. (Barsuli Dep. at 84-88.)

Barsuli completed his apprenticeship on or around October 1, 1991. (DFOF at ¶ 26; PR at 1.) Towards the end of his apprenticeship and continuing thereafter, Barsuli worked in the sheet metal industry for a company called United Mechanical, which was a contributing employer. (Barsuli Dep. at 33-34, 37.) Sometime during the Fall of 1992, however, he was considering accepting employment with Abbott Laboratories, which is a non-contributing employer. (...