Board of Trustees of the Bay Area Roofers Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Westech Roofing

42 F. Supp. 3d 1220, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69897, 2014 WL 2085339
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 19, 2014
DocketCase No. 12-cv-05655-JCS
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 42 F. Supp. 3d 1220 (Board of Trustees of the Bay Area Roofers Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Westech Roofing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Trustees of the Bay Area Roofers Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Westech Roofing, 42 F. Supp. 3d 1220, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69897, 2014 WL 2085339 (N.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

Re: Dkt. No. 41

ORDER GRANTING AMENDED MOTION FOR DEFAULT

JOSEPH C. SPERO, United States Magistrate Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

This action was filed on November 2, 2012. On November 24, 2012, the Complaint and summons were personally served on Laurin Hunt, the agent who is designated by law to accept service of process on behalf of Westech Roofing. See Docket No. 12. Defendant did not answer or appear and on May 1, 2013, the Clerk entered default against Defendant. On January 6, 2014, the Court denied Defendant’s request that the Court vacate the default. Currently before the Court is Plaintiffs Amended Motion for Default Judgment Against Defendant Westech Roofing (“Motion”). A hearing on the Motion was held on March 21, 2014. At the request of the Court, Plaintiffs submitted supplemental materials on April 18, 2014. Defendant filed a response on April 28, 2014 and Plaintiffs filed a reply on May 5, 2014. For the reasons stated below, the Motion is GRANTED.1

II. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are the trustees of the Bay Area Roofers Health & Welfare Trust Fund, Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Plan, East Bay/North Bay Roofers Vacation Trust Fund, Bay Area Counties Roofing Industry Promotion Fund, and Bay Area Counties Roofing Industry Apprenticeship Training Fund. Complaint at 2. Plaintiffs allege that the trust funds are employee benefit plans within the meaning of §§ 3(1) and (3), as well as § 502(d)(1) of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1002(1)2 and (3),3 and [1224]*1224§ 1132(d)(1).4 Id.5

Defendant Westech Roofing (‘Westech”), a California corporation, entered into a written collective bargaining agreement with Local Union 81 of the United Union of'Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Worker, AFL-CIO. Complaint at 3; Declaration of Sandy Stephenson in Support of Motion for Default Judgment Against Defendant Westech' Roofing [Docket No. 19-1] (“July 12, 2013 Stephenson Deck”) ¶2 & Ex. A (Individual Employer Agreement); id., Ex. 2 (Working Agreement) (“Collective Bargaining Agreement” or “CBA”). The CBA incorporates the trust agreements of the Trust Funds and requires employers to make fringe benefit contributions to the Trust Funds on a regular basis for work performed by covered employees. Id., Ex. B, Articles XVIII-XXI.

Under the Trust Agreements, employers are required to submit a monthly report to the Trust Funds identifying the covered employees who worked for the employer that month as well as the fringe benefit contributions due for each covered employee. See Declaration of Sandy Stephenson in Support of Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Briefing (“April 18, 2014 Stephenson Deck”), Ex. HH (Trust Agreement of the Roofer’s Local Union No. 81 Area Health and Welfare Trust Fund (“Health and Welfare Trust Agreement”)), Section III; id., Ex. II (Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Trust Agreement), Section III; id., Ex. JJ (Trust Agreement of the East Bay/North Bay Roofers Vacation Trust Fund, Section III; id., Ex. KK (Amended Agreement and Declaration of Trust Bay Area Counties Roofing Industry Apprenticeship Training Fund), Section III. The Trust Agreements provide for liquidated damages in the event contributions are delinquent; where legal action has been commenced to collect delinquent contributions the amount of liquidated damages is 20% of the late contribution. Id., Ex. HH (Health and Welfare Trust Agreement), Section 111(C)(2); id., Ex. II (Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Trust Agreement), Section III(C)(2)('b)(i); id., Ex. JJ (Trust Agreement of the East Bay/North Bay Roofers Vacation Trust Fund), Section 111(C)(2); id., Ex. KK (Amended Agreement and Declaration of Trust Bay Area Counties Roofing Industry Apprenticeship Training Fund), Section III(B) (incorporating liquidated damages policies and procedures of Health and Welfare Trust). The Trust Agreements also provide for interest on unpaid contributions (but not on liquidated damages) at a rate of 10%. Id., Ex. [1225]*1225HH (Health and Welfare Trust Agreement), Section 111(C)(3); id., Ex. II (Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Trust Agreement), Section 111(C)(3); id., Ex. JJ (Trust Agreement of the East Bay/North Bay Roofers Vacation Trust Fund), Section 111(C)(3); id., Ex. KK (Amended Agreement and Declaration of Trust Bay Area Counties Roofing Industry Apprenticeship Training Fund), Section III(B) (incorporating interest policies and procedures of Health and Welfare Trust).

Under the Trust Agreements, the trustees are given the authority to enact rules and regulations governing the collection of delinquent contributions. Id., Ex. HH (Health and Welfare Trust Agreement), Section III(H); id., Ex. II (Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Trust Agreement), Sec- - tion III(H); id., Ex. JJ (Trust Agreement of the East Bay/North Bay Roofers Vacation Trust Fund), Section III(H); id., Ex. KK (Amended Agreement and Declaration of Trust Bay Area Counties Roofing Industry Apprenticeship Training Fund), Section III(B) (incorporating regulations of Health and Welfare Trust but reserving right of trustees to revoke that delegation of authority). However, employer liability is limited to the liabilities that are expressly set forth or authorized in the Trust Agreements, the CBA or the employers’ individual contribution agreements. Id., Ex. HH (Health and Welfare Trust Agreement), Section III(I); id., Ex. II (Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Trust Agreement), Section III(I); id., Ex. JJ (Trust Agreement of the East Bay/North Bay Roofers Vacation Trust Fund), Section III(I); id., Ex. KK (Amended Agreement and Declaration of Trust Bay Area Counties Roofing Industry Apprenticeship Training Fund), Section 11(C).

The rules and regulations for collecting employer contributions are set forth in a document entitled “Bay Area Roofers Trust Funds: Collection Policies” (hereinafter, - “Collection Policies”), which went into effect in June 2013. July 12, 2013 Stephenson Decl., Ex. D.6 The Collection Policies provide that contributions for a particular month are delinquent if they are not paid by the last day of the subsequent month. Id. The Collection Policies, like the underlying Trust Agreements, provide for 20% liquidated damages where delinquent contributions have been referred to an attorney for collection. Id. The Collection Policies also provide for interest at a rate of 10% per annum, but in contrast to the Trust Agreements, the Collection Policies provide that interest will be imposed on not only delinquent contributions but also the associatéd liquidated damages for those contributions. Id.

In the Complaint, Plaintiffs alleged that Westech failed to make required payments to the Trust Funds and that there were contributions due and owing for the months of June through September 2012. Complaint at 3. The Complaint sought to recover these contributions, as well as any additional contributions that might become due and owing during the course of this litigation, under ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1132. Id. at 3-4.

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42 F. Supp. 3d 1220, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69897, 2014 WL 2085339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-trustees-of-the-bay-area-roofers-health-welfare-trust-fund-v-cand-2014.