United Auto. Workers Local 259 v. Metro Auto

• Citation: 501 F.3d 283
• Decision Date: 04 September 2007
• Docket Number: No. 05-4974.,05-4974.
• Parties: UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS LOCAL 259 SOCIAL SECURITY DEPARTMENT, v. METRO AUTO CENTER, Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

501 F.3d 283

UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS LOCAL 259 SOCIAL SECURITY DEPARTMENT, v. METRO AUTO CENTER, Appellant.

No. 05-4974.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued November 8, 2006.

Filed September 4, 2007.

Joseph M. Labuda (Argued), Milman & Heidecker, Lake Success, NY, Counsel for Appellant.

Jeremy E. Meyer (Argued), Cleary & Josem, Philadelphia, NY, Counsel for Appellee.

Before: SLOVITER, CHAGARES and GREENBERG, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

CHAGARES, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an award of attorneys' fees for an action brought by a union pension and welfare fund against an employer pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 ("ERISA"). After granting a motion for summary judgment in favor of the fund, the District Court ordered the employer to pay attorneys' fees. The employer appeals, arguing that the District Court should have dismissed the fund's application for fees as untimely and, in the alternative, that the amount of the award was unreasonable.

We conclude that the motion for fees was timely and that the fee award was reasonable. Accordingly, we will affirm the District Court. In so doing, we consider two questions left unanswered by this Court's previous decisions: first, whether a trial court must award interest under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2)(B) on an employer's delinquent contributions that were unpaid at the time a suit was filed but paid by the time of judgment, and, second, whether proportionality necessarily limits mandatory fee awards in the ERISA context. We answer yes to the first question and no to the second.

I.

Plaintiff United Automobile Workers Local 259 Social Security Fund ("the Fund") is a union pension and welfare fund. Defendant Metro Auto Center ("Metro") is an employer obligated by a collective bargaining agreement to pay monthly contributions to the Fund. On May 7, 2003, the Fund filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey pursuant to ERISA § 515, 29 U.S.C. § 1145, seeking unpaid contributions totaling $1,928.00, as well as interest on the unpaid contributions and attorneys' fees. In March 2004, while the action was pending, Metro paid the Fund $964.00, but denied that it owed the Fund another $964.00.

The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment. By an order dated December 8, 2004, the District Court denied Metro's motion for summary judgment and granted the Fund's motion. The District Court Judge signed the order on December 13, 2004, and the clerk entered it on December 14, 2004.

On January 14, 2005, the Fund moved for attorneys' fees and costs in the amount of $35,304.89 pursuant to ERISA § 502(g)(2)(D), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2)(D), which instructs courts to award reasonable fees to prevailing plans in actions to collect delinquent contributions under ERISA § 515, 29 U.S.C. § 1145. On October 20, 2005, the District Court entered an order granting the Fund $28,623.14 in fees, a $6,681.75 reduction from the amount requested. The District Court concluded the full amount requested was unreasonable because it included fees for work spent on legal matters not necessary to the successful claim for contributions. The District Court refused Metro's request to reduce the award in order to create proportionality between the fee award and the underlying damages. Additionally, the District Court rejected Metro's objection that 67 hours of charges were "excessive," noting Metro provided "no specific explanation setting forth why this Court should agree." United Auto. Workers, Local 259 Soc. Sec. Dep't v. Metro Auto Ctr., No. 03-cv-02123, slip op. at 4 (D.N.J. Oct. 20, 2005) (unpublished) (order granting motion for fees).

II.

It is undisputed that ERISA mandates an award of reasonable attorneys' fees when, as here, a fund prevails in an action for unpaid contributions pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1145. See 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2)(D); Bd. of Trs. of Trucking Employees of N. Jersey Welfare Fund, Inc. v. Centra, 983 F.2d 495, 509 (3d Cir. 1992); Penn Elastic Co. v. United Retail & Wholesale Employees Union, 792 F.2d 45, 47-48 (3d Cir.1986). The relevant procedures for filing requests for fees are dictated by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Civil Rules of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d); D.N.J. L. Civ. R. 54.2; Planned Parenthood of Cent. N.J. v. Att'y Gen. of N.J., 297 F.3d 253, 259-61 (3d Cir.2002).

Metro appeals the award granted to the Fund on two grounds. First, Metro argues the District Court should have dismissed the Fund's application for fees as untimely. Second, Metro argues the fee award is unreasonable.

Because the District Court's order of October 20, 2005, reduced the fee award to a definite amount, it was a final decision. See Interfaith Cmty. Org. v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc., 426 F.3d 694, 701 (3d Cir.2005). Accordingly, we have jurisdiction over the District Court's order granting fees. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

A.

We first consider whether the Fund's request for fees was timely. We review the legal interpretation of procedural rules de novo. Planned Parenthood, 297 F.3d at 259.

Rule 54 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that motions for attorneys' fees must be filed no later than fourteen days after entry of judgment, unless otherwise provided by statute or order of the court. Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d)(2)(B). Rule 54.2 of the Local Civil Rules of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey provides "an attorney seeking compensation for services or reimbursement of necessary expenses shall file with the Court an affidavit within 30 days of the entry of judgment or order, unless extended by the Court," setting forth information about the services rendered. We have previously held that Local Civil Rule 54.2 extends the time within which to file for fees from fourteen days to thirty as a standing order of the district court. See Planned Parenthood, 297 F.3d at 261.

In this case, the Fund filed its application for attorneys' fees on January 14, 2005, thirty-one days after the clerk entered the District Court's summary judgment order. The parties agree that the rules provide a thirty-day time period within which to file a request for fees, and they agree that the clock starts to run when the District Court enters final judgment on the underlying claim. They disagree, however, about whether December 14, 2004, the date of entry of the summary judgment order, should be considered the date of entry of a final judgment giving rise to the fee request.

1.

At the outset, we must consider the application of Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to the time period for a motion for fees. Rule 58 is most well known for clarifying the time within which an appeal must be taken, but it also clarifies the timing of post-trial motions.¹ Rule 58(a) provides "[e]very judgment and amended judgment must be set forth on a separate document" except for those disposing of certain motions. If a separate document is required, but no separate document is issued, a court must deem the judgment's date of entry as 150 days after its entry in the civil docket. Fed.R.Civ.P. 58(b). We mechanically apply Rule 58 to prevent uncertainties as to the date on which a judgment is entered, see United States v. Indrelunas, 411 U.S. 216, 221-22, 93 S.Ct. 1562, 36 L.Ed.2d 202 (1973) (per curiam); In re Cendant Corp. Sec. Litig., 454 F.3d 235, 243-44 (3d Cir.2006), because "[d]etermining the date of entry is critical for motion practice under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure[] and for the timely filing of a notice of appeal." United States v. Fiorelli, 337 F.3d 282, 287 (3d Cir.2003) (footnote omitted).

Metro argues Rule 58(a) does not require a separate document for a judgment to trigger the time period of a Rule 54(d) fees motion. The text of Rules 58 and 54 require that we reject this argument. Rule 58 addresses the "time of entry" for judgments for the "purposes of these rules" and Rule 54 requires motions for fees to be filed within 14 days after the "entry of judgment." Rule 58 enumerates certain exceptions to its formalities, none of which are relevant here.² Therefore, when an order does not comply with Rule 58, there is no immediate "entry of judgment" triggering the time period for Rule 54(d) motions. In such circumstances, the time period begins 150 days after entry of the order, as set forth in Rule 58(b).³

Accordingly, if the District Court's December 14 summary judgment order is not a separate document, the time period for an application for fees provided by Rule 54(d) (and extended by D.N.J. L. Civ. R. 54.2) began to run 150 days after December 14. More specifically, if the December 14 order was not a separate document, the Fund's motion for fees was timely.

2.

An order is considered a separate document for purposes of Rule 58 if it satisfies three requirements: "first, the order must be self-contained and separate from the opinion; second, the order must note the relief granted; and third, the order must omit (or at least substantially omit) the District Court's reasons for disposing of the parties' claims." Cendant Corp., 454 F.3d at 241 (citing Local Union No.1992 of Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. Okonite Co., 358 F.3d 278, 285 (3d Cir. 2004)).

Here, the District Court's order granting summary judgment satisfied the first and third requirements of the separate-document rule, but did not specify the relief to which the Fund was entitled.⁴ Metro argues the amount of the relief could easily be determined by 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2), even though the amount was not explicit in the District Court's order. See Vitale v. Latrobe Area Hosp., 420 F.3d 278, 281 (3d Cir.2005) (describing a narrow exception to the general rule regarding final orders that treats an order as final as long as the relief can be determined through a mechanical and uncontroversial...