Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Transport, Inc.

991 F. Supp. 1003, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 430, 1998 WL 34820
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided January 8, 1998·No. No. 96 C 2067·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM'OPINION AND ORDER

COAR, District Judge.

Before this court is plaintiffs Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund’s, Central States, Southeast and Southwest Health and Welfare Fund’s, and Fund trustee Howard McDougall’s (“plaintiffs” or “funds”) motion for summary judgment against defendant Transport, Inc. (“Transport” or “defendant”) for past due contribution payments, interest, liquidated damages, attorney’s fees, audit costs, and costs pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2).1 For the reasons set forth below, plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.

I. Facts

A. The Funds

The Funds are separate employee benefit plans and trusts. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶ 1.) Each of the Funds is primarily funded by contributions remitted by multiple participating employers pursuant to collective bargaining agreements (“CBA”) negotiated with local unions affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (“IBT”) on behalf of employees of those same employers. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶¶ 2, 4.) All principal and income from the contributed monies are held and used for providing benefits (pension benefits by the Pension Fund and health and welfare benefits by the Health and Welfare Benefits) to the participants and beneficiaries of each Fund, as well as to pay for the administrative expenses of each Fund. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶ 3, 5.) Plaintiff McDougall is a Trustee and a fiduciary of each of the Funds as that term is defined under § 3(21)(A) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). 29 U.S.C. § 1002(21)(A). (Ptfs 12(M) Stmt. ¶ 6.)

The Funds each have rules prohibiting the Funds from accepting CBAs which permit employers to contribute to the Funds for some, but not all, of the employees within a particular class of workers, i.e., for some truck drivers but not all of them. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶¶ 13, 15; Ptfs’ Ex.F (Pension Fund’s Special Bulletin 90-7); Ptfs’ Ex.G (Health and Welfare Fund’s Special Bulletin 77-19).)2 When establishing the contribu[1005] tion rates necessary to support benefit levels, the Funds rely upon the cost estimates of actuaries. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶ 17.) In making their calculations, one of the assumptions that the actuaries make is that each employer will pay equal contributions for all employees with the same job classification. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶ 18.)3 Another assumption that the actuaries make is that some participants who have contributions paid on their behalf will never receive any pension benefits or have less expensive health and welfare benefits than other participants. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶ 19.) In fact, the contributions paid for participants who either never receive benefits or receive fewer benefits from the Funds are necessary to support the level of benefits provided to other employees and, without contributions on all employees, including those less likely to receive benefits, the actuarial assumptions are unsound and there may not be sufficient assets to pay the promised benefits. (Ptfs’ 12(M) ¶¶ 20-21.)

B. The CBA between Transport and Union as received by the Funds (1992-95)

Transport is a Minnesota corporation and an “employer” and a “party-in-interest” as those terms are defined by §§ 3(5) and 3(14)(C) of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1002(5) and 1002(14)(C). (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶¶ 22-23.) Local Union No. 116 (“Union”) of the IBT is a labor organization which represents for the purpose of collective bargaining, certain Transport employees; the Union has represented Transport employees at all times during the period from January 1, 1990 to the present, including employees who perform work as truck drivers. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶¶ 24r-25.) From February 15,1988, through February 29, 1992, Transport was bound by a CBA with the Union which was captioned “NORTH DAKOTA RIDER TO THE CENTRAL STATES AREA TANK TRUCK AGREEMENT” (“1988-92 Rider”); this is a rider to “Central States Area TANK TRUCK AGREEMENT — period covered— November 15, 1988 to November 14, 1991” (“1988-91 Agreement”). (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶¶ 26-28.) On July 21, 1992, the Funds received a CBA signed by the Union and by Transport captioned “NORTH DAKOTA RIDER TO THE CENTRAL STATES AREA TANK TRUCK AGREEMENT FOR THE PERIOD March 1, 1992 to February 28,1995” (“1992-92 Rider”); this is a rider to “CENTRAL • STATES AREA TANK TRUCK AGREEMENT — Period Covered— November 15, 1991 to November 14, 1991” (“1991-94 Agreement”). (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶¶ 29-31.)4 On March 1, 1992, Transport and the Union entered into a Participation Agreement. (Ptfs’ 12(M) Stmt. ¶¶ 32-33.)

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Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Transport, Inc., 991 F. Supp. 1003, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 430, 1998 WL 34820 (N.D. Ill. 1998).

991 F. Supp. 1003 (Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Transport, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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