Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio, and Alfred M. Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio, and Alfred Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio and Alfred Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio and Alfred Bell, and Affiliated Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund of Maryland Teamsters Allied Pension Fund of Maryland and Allen R. Holland, in His Capacity as Trustee, Beneficiary and Participant in Both of the Above Funds

667 F.2d 420
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 19, 1982
Docket19-4658
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 667 F.2d 420 (Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio, and Alfred M. Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio, and Alfred Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio and Alfred Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio and Alfred Bell, and Affiliated Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund of Maryland Teamsters Allied Pension Fund of Maryland and Allen R. Holland, in His Capacity as Trustee, Beneficiary and Participant in Both of the Above Funds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio, and Alfred M. Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio, and Alfred Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio and Alfred Bell, Donald E. Brink and John F. Eline v. Leo Dalesio and Alfred Bell, and Affiliated Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund of Maryland Teamsters Allied Pension Fund of Maryland and Allen R. Holland, in His Capacity as Trustee, Beneficiary and Participant in Both of the Above Funds, 667 F.2d 420 (4th Cir. 1982).

Opinion

667 F.2d 420

108 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2975, 109 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3310,
92 Lab.Cas. P 13,096,
2 Employee Benefits Ca 2057

Donald E. BRINK and John F. Eline, Appellees,
v.
Leo DaLESIO, Defendant,
and
Alfred M. Bell, Appellant.
Donald E. BRINK and John F. Eline, Appellees,
v.
Leo DaLESIO, Appellant,
and
Alfred Bell, Defendant.
Donald E. BRINK and John F. Eline, Appellants,
v.
Leo DaLESIO and Alfred Bell, Appellees.
Donald E. BRINK and John F. Eline, Plaintiffs,
v.
Leo DaLESIO and Alfred Bell, Appellees,
and
Affiliated Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund of Maryland;
Teamsters Allied Pension Fund of Maryland and Allen R.
Holland, in his capacity as Trustee, Beneficiary and
Participant in both of the above funds, Appellants.

Nos. 81-1085 to 81-1088.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fourth Circuit.

Argued Sept. 1, 1981.
Decided Nov. 5, 1981.
As Modified on Denial of Petition for Rehearing Jan. 19, 1982.

Arthur L. Fox, II, Paul A. Levy, Washington, D. C. (Alan B. Morrison, Public Citizen Litigation Group, Washington, D. C., Theodore W. Hirsh, David L. Bowers, James N. Schuth, Edward F. Shea, II, Miles & Stockbridge, Baltimore, Md., on brief), for appellants and intervenors-appellants.

Ransom J. Davis, Baltimore, Md. (H. Russell Smouse, Baltimore, Md., on brief), and Walter E. Dillon, Jr., Washington, D. C., for appellees.

Before WINTER, Chief Judge, and BUTZNER and SPROUSE, Circuit Judges.

WINTER, Chief Judge:

Plaintiffs, two members of Teamsters Local 311, sued (a) Leo DaLesio, the principal officer of both Local 311 and Teamsters Joint Council 62, (b) Alfred M. Bell, the administrator and insurance consultant for the Local 311 employee benefit trust funds, and (c) two of Bell's wholly-owned corporations, Alfred Bell, Inc. and Fund Administration, Inc. The object of the suit was to redress violations of fiduciary duties imposed on union officers and fiduciaries of employee benefit plans under § 501 of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, 29 U.S.C. § 501 (LMRDA), the Fiduciary Responsibility provisions of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1101 et seq. (ERISA), § 302(c)(5) of the Labor Management Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(5), and the common law.

After a trial consuming several weeks, the district court found that defendants had violated the fiduciary standards imposed on union officers and employee trust fund fiduciaries in many respects; but it held that plaintiffs lacked standing to remedy fiduciary violations on behalf of two of the employee benefit funds, and it denied plaintiffs the full monetary relief that they sought. It also declined to permit postjudgment intervention by two of the employee benefit funds after it held that plaintiffs could not represent their interests.

All parties have appealed. We hold that greater monetary relief, including prejudgment interest, should have been granted, that one of plaintiffs had standing to represent the interests of one of the employee benefit funds deemed to be unrepresented by the district court, and that, as to the other fund, deemed to be unrepresented by the district court, it was error to deny intervention. We affirm in part and reverse in part and remand for further proceedings.

I.

The facts and decision of the case on its merits are set forth in the opinion of the district court in Brink v. DaLesio, 496 F.Supp. 1350 (D.Md.1980). The decision not to amend the judgment to include prejudgment interest and to deny postjudgment intervention is set forth in Brink v. DaLesio, 88 F.R.D. 610 (D.Md.1980). See also Brink v. DaLesio, 453 F.Supp. 272 (D.Md.1978), denying defendants' motions to dismiss, and Brink v. DaLesio, 82 F.R.D. 664 (D.Md.1979), on DaLesio's motion to dismiss or to limit evidence and request for a protective order and on plaintiffs' motions to compel discovery and to unseal certain documents. Since the factual findings of the district court, as distinguished from its conclusions of law, are largely undisputed, there is no need for us to state the facts beyond a preface and a summary statement of the context in which each contested legal issue arose.

Defendant Leo DaLesio was Secretary-Treasurer of Local 311, its chief executive officer, from 1964 to 1977. Defendant Alfred M. Bell, through his two wholly-owned corporations, Alfred Bell, Inc. and Fund Administration, Inc., performed consulting, administrative and insurance brokerage services for several union pension and welfare funds. Plaintiffs were both members of Local 311. They were participants in, and beneficiaries of, the Local 311 Pension Fund; and when suit was filed, they were participants in, and beneficiaries of, the Local 311 Health and Welfare Fund (later the Affiliated Fund), but not members of, or participants in, the Allied Pension Fund.

The evidence showed that DaLesio caused a trust fund (the Severance Fund) to be established to provide payments to him when he ceased his employment as Secretary-Treasurer. Payments by Local 311 into the Severance Fund were increased from time to time. DaLesio was furnished a late-model, fully-equipped Cadillac automobile and virtually all of its operating expenses at the expense of Local 311, plus a monthly automobile allowance contributed by Teamsters Joint Council 62. In addition to his salary, DaLesio received a tennis club membership, season tickets to professional football games and a daily dining allowance at the expense of Local 311.

Defendant Bell was chosen by DaLesio as the administrator and insurance consultant for four employee trust funds sponsored by Local 311. Bell charged the funds a percentage of the employer contribution as a fee for his services, and unknown to anyone other than DaLesio, he also contracted to represent the adverse interests of several insurance carriers which provided insurance to underwrite the funds and accepted commissions from them, the commissions being charged by the carriers to the funds in addition to the established premium. Bell provided DaLesio with the year-round use of a seashore condominium and paid all of the costs of maintaining it, including monthly telephone and cable TV charges, beginning at the time that DaLesio rented office space for Local 311 in a building owned by Bell at an exorbitant rent.

We will state other facts in connection with the legal issues to which they relate. We therefore proceed directly to the consideration of those issues.II.

The Severance Fund

The Severance Fund was established in 1966. As we have said, its purpose was to provide compensation to DaLesio whenever he ceased his employment as Secretary-Treasurer of Local 311. Initially the union contributed $200 per week to the fund in addition to the salary paid to DaLesio. The amount of contribution was increased from time to time until it reached $500 per week in 1974. By 1977, when this litigation was instituted, the balance in the fund was approximately $250,000.

Plaintiffs contend that DaLesio violated § 501 of LMRDA in promoting the establishment of the fund as well as in securing later increases in union contributions. DaLesio contends he never violated § 501.

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