Donovan v. Schmoutey

592 F. Supp. 1361
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedAugust 6, 1984
DocketCV-LV 77-47 RDF
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 592 F. Supp. 1361 (Donovan v. Schmoutey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donovan v. Schmoutey, 592 F. Supp. 1361 (D. Nev. 1984).

Opinion

ROGER D. FOLEY, District Judge.

FINDINGS OF FACTS

I. PARTIES

1. On March 30, 1977, the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) filed a complaint in the United States District Court, District of Nevada, naming the Southern Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Pension Trust (Pension Trust) as an involuntary plaintiff, certain of the Pension Trust’s trustees as defendants, and Morris A. Shenker (Shenker) and certain companies owned or controlled by him as defendants. On December 14, 1982, the Secretary amended his complaint.

The original and amended complaints of the Secretary arise under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Pub.L. No. 93-406, 88 Stat. 829, generally codified as amended in 29 U.S.C. secs. 1001-1381 (1976 & Supp. V 1981) and were brought by the Secretary to enjoin acts and practices of the defendants which violate title I of ERISA and to obtain other equitable relief to redress violations and enforce the provisions of that title. The Secretary specifically alleged the following claims:

a. The defendant trustees breached their fiduciary obligations with respect to the Pension Trust and its participants and beneficiaries by engaging in imprudent acts by making loans to certain Shenker defendants in violation of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. sec. 1104(a)(1)(B) (1976).

b. The defendant trustees breached their fiduciary obligations with respect to the Pension Trust and its participants and beneficiaries by failing to diversify the investments of the Pension Trust so as to minimize the risk of large losses in violation of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. sec. 1104(a)(1)(C) (1976).

c. The defendant trustees caused the Pension Trust to engage in transactions which they knew or should have known constituted a direct or indirect lending of money or extension of credit to parties in interest in violation of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. sec. 1106(a)(1)(B) (1976), by causing the Pension Trust to lend money to defendant Sierra Charter Corporation (Sierra) for the benefit of defendants I.J.K. Nevada, Inc. (I.J.K.), Murrieta Hot Springs (Murrieta), and Shenker and by extending credit to Murrieta by classifying and treating delinquent interest owed to the Pension Trust as principal on the loans made to Murrieta.

d. Defendants Shenker, I.J.K., Murrieta, Sierra, and S & F Corporation (S & F) knowingly participated in these breaches of fiduciary obligations of the defendant trustees. The Secretary requested that the court order these defendants to make restitution to the Pension Trust of all monies unlawfully received by these defendants or lost by the Pension Trust as a result of their knowing participation and also as a result of their violations of ERISA.

Prior to the commencement of the trial in this case, the Secretary, the involuntary plaintiff, and the then trustee defendants, except for Ben Sehmoutey, finally settled *1369 all claims between them. The then trustee defendants and the third party defendants, I.R. Ashleman II, Roland C. Davis, Ashleman & Sabbath, and Davis, Cowell & Bowe, likewise settled the claims between them without admitting liability for those claims. The Secretary, the involuntary plaintiff, and these third party defendants also entered into agreements, which were effectuated and memorialized in consent decrees and stipulations, that expressly provided that they shall not constitute an adjudication on the merits of any of the claims thereby finally resolved. The then trustee defendants did not participate as parties in the trial.

The evidence at trial discloses that in September of 1976 three new trustees, Richard P. Crane Jr., Harry R. Stang, and Bernard W. Menke, were appointed to the Pension Trust board of trustees. The court notes that these trustees recognized the perilous circumstances of the Pension Trust and took action, including giving of notification of said loan transactions to the Department of Labor, with the object of terminating the Pension Trust relationship with the Shenker defendants.

After investigating the actions of Crane, Stang, and Menke as trustees, the Secretary and the involuntary plaintiff entered into an agreement, which dismisses with prejudice the claims previously asserted against them in this action.

In addition to bringing the loans referred to herein to the attention of the Department of Labor, Crane, Stang, and Menke sought to investigate the legality of and to remedy the effects of the loans. Accordingly, these findings of fact and conclusions of law shall not be construed as reflecting in any manner on the conduct of Richard P. Crane Jr, Harry R. Stang, and Bernard W. Menke as fiduciaries.

At the commencement of trial, S & F Corporation and Palm Development were party defendants and counterclaimants against the Pension Trust. All claims by the Secretary, the involuntary plaintiff, S & F and Palm were finally settled prior to the conclusion of trial. No adjudication of such claims and the defenses thereto is made by the court.

The trial of the Secretary’s claims against Morris A. Shenker, I.J.K. Nevada, Inc., Sierra Charter Corp., and Murrieta Hot Springs, with respect to which the following findings of fact and conclusions of law are made, do not involve an adjudication of any of the settled claims and no such adjudication has been made by the court. The following findings and conclusions are not an adjudication on the merits of the settled claims or of the defenses thereto as to the settling parties only, but are of course an adjudication on the merits as to Shenker, Sierra, and I.J.K.

2. The Secretary is a governmental officer authorized by statute to sue on behalf of a pension trust pursuant to ERISA, 29 U.S.C. sec. 1132(a)(2) (1976).

3. The Secretary was sued as a counter-defendant by Shenker and Sierra. They allege that the Secretary failed to properly investigate his claims against Shenker and that the action was merely a vendetta on the part of the Secretary to prevent Shenker corporations from obtaining monies from pension funds. These counterclaims were subsequently dismissed by the court.

4. The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 (Local 226) is a labor union that was comprised of approximately 24,000 members working in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the years 1973 through 1977. The Bartenders Union Local 165 (Local) is a labor union that was comprised of approximately 1400 to 1500 members working in Las Vegas, Nevada during the years 1973 through 1977. Locals 226 and 165 have bargained jointly with employers since before 1963.

5. The Nevada Resort Association (NRA) is an organization of employers, principally casino and hotel employers in Las Vegas, Nevada, which bargains with Locals 226 and 165 on a multiemployer basis. The NRA represents certain hotels and casinos for collective bargaining purposes. The NRA is comprised of two different groups: (1) the strip group, those properties south of Sahara, and (2) the *1370 downtown group, those properties on Fremont Street and in the downtown area. Locals 226- and 165 have collectively bargained with the NRA since 1970.

6.

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Bluebook (online)
592 F. Supp. 1361, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donovan-v-schmoutey-nvd-1984.