Chicago Truck Drivers, Helpers & Warehouse Workers Union Pension Fund v. Brotherhood Labor Leasing

406 F.3d 955, 2005 WL 1026983
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided May 4, 2005·No. 02-3622·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinions

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

The law firm of Dysart, Taylor, Lay, Cotter and McMonigle, P.C., appeals from [957] the order of the District Court1 finding the firm in civil contempt of court and imposing sanctions. We affirm.

In the underlying action that gave rise to the finding of contempt, Chicago Truck Drivers, Helpers and Warehouse Workers Union Pension Fund and its trustees (collectively, the Fund) sued several corporations owned by Steven Gula to collect withdrawal liability payments under ERISA.2 At one time during the relevant period, the corporations were represented by Dysart Taylor. On December 4, 1996, the District Court entered summary judgment for the Fund, holding that the corporations would “be required, within 60 days of the date of the judgment order issued herewith, to pay to plaintiffs the interim payments demanded by the plaintiffs in the amended demand.” Chicago Truck Drivers Union Pension Fund v. Bhd. Labor Leasing, 950 F.Supp. 1454, 1471 (E.D.Mo.1996). In accordance with the provisions of ERISA, the court ordered that any further disputes between the parties would be “submitted to an arbitrator.” Id. On June 13, 1997, Dysart Taylor was granted leave to withdraw from the case. On June 25, 1997, the District Court entered an amended judgment against the corporations, which included awards to the Fund for delinquent and future withdrawal liability, with dollar amounts noted and due dates specified, and awards for attorney fees, costs, interest, and liquidated damages. Chicago Truck Drivers Union Pension Fund v. Bhd. Labor Leasing, 974 F.Supp. 751, 756-57 (E.D.Mo.1997).

In November 1998, the Fund sought to have the corporations and their officers held in contempt for failure to pay any of the court-ordered judgments. The District Court denied the Fund’s petition. The Fund appealed and we remanded. Chicago Truck Drivers Union Pension Fund v. Bhd. Labor Leasing, 207 F.3d 500 (8th Cir.2000). We concluded that the District Court had made some errors in ruling on the Fund’s petition and so it was an abuse of the court’s discretion to deny the contempt petition. In remanding, we also said this in a footnote: “The suggestion that the Appellees’ attorneys advised them to pay their legal fees in lieu of making court-ordered payments, if true, is troubling. But we have no occasion to consider the question [of whether prior counsel might be held in contempt] on this record because the Fund only sought a contempt sanction against the Appellees and Gula, not their lawyers.” Id. at 507 n. 7.

On remand, the Fund amended the petition to name the corporations’ and officers’ attorneys as additional alleged con-temnors. The District Court held a hearing on the petition and determined that Steven Gula and Dysart Taylor acted in contempt of the court’s orders.3 Chicago Truck Drivers Union Pension Fund v. Bhd. Labor Leasing, 230 F.Supp.2d 963, 970 (E.D.Mo.2002). According to the court, the law firm aided and abetted Gula’s failure to pay the Fund. The court agreed with the Fund’s' assertion that attorneys at Dysart Taylor were aware that the corporations’ assets were not sufficient to pay both the Fund and other creditors, including Dysart Taylor, and nevertheless [958] advised Gula to pay the others first. As a sanction, the District Court ordered Dy-sart Taylor to pay the Fund the amount that it had received in payment from the corporations, $12,855.55. Dysart Taylor appeals. “We review the district court’s decision to enter a civil contempt order for abuse of discretion, reviewing its factual findings for clear error.” Jake’s, Ltd. v. City of Coates, 356 F.3d 896, 899 (8th Cir.2004).

Dysart Taylor first asserts that the firm cannot be held in contempt of the December 1996 order because it was neither a final order nor an injunction and it could not be construed as an injunction. We disagree. In our most recent prior opinion in this litigation, when speaking of the amended order of June 1997, we noted that although it “was not labeled an injunction, it looked like one: it compelled the [corporations’] affirmative, prospective obedience with it.” Chicago Truck Drivers, 207 F.3d at 507. The December order was no different. Dysart Taylor’s argument that the order lacked the necessary specificity is unavailing. The order is not “unintelligible,” nor does its “command ... def[y] comprehension.” Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n, Local 1291 v. Philadelphia Marine Trade Ass’n, 389 U.S. 64, 76, 88 S.Ct. 201, 19 L.Ed.2d 236 (1967). While the December 1996 order could have been written with more detail (as it ultimately was in June 1997), it nevertheless put the corporations on notice of what they should do and when they should do it: “to pay to plaintiffs the interim payments demanded by the plaintiffs in the amended demand” and to do so “within 60 days of the date of the judgment order issued herewith.” Chicago Truck Drivers, 950 F.Supp. at 1471. In any event, the attorneys knew that Gula’s corporations were on shaky ground financially and were responsible for substantial interim withdrawal payments. And they should have known, if they did not, that advising Gula to pay other bills (including Dysart Taylor’s own bills) before paying the Fund was the same as advising Gula to disregard the order. We conclude that Dysart Taylor was complicit in “a violation of a court order by one who fully understands its meaning but chooses to ignore its mandate.” Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n, 389 U.S. at 76, 88 S.Ct. 201.

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Chicago Truck Drivers, Helpers & Warehouse Workers Union Pension Fund v. Brotherhood Labor Leasing, 406 F.3d 955, 2005 WL 1026983 (8th Cir. 2005).

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