Hibernia Bank v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers

411 F. Supp. 478, 1 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1527, 92 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3223, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15889
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMarch 26, 1976
DocketC-75-1809-CBR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 411 F. Supp. 478 (Hibernia Bank v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers) 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
Hibernia Bank v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers, 411 F. Supp. 478, 1 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1527, 92 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3223, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15889 (N.D. Cal. 1976).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION AND ORDER

RENFREW, District Judge.

In this case plaintiff Hibernia Bank (“Bank”) has brought suit to recover damages for losses it allegedly suffered as a result of alleged misfeasances in the composition and administration of cer *481 tain union trust funds. 1 Defendants include the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (“Teamsters Union”), one of its local unions, two of its joint councils, numerous trustees of the union trust funds, and the trustees of the Teamsters Security Fund of Northern California, Inc. (“TSF”). In each of the five claims asserted, the Bank puts forward a separate theory of recovery 2 for a loss in excess of $700,000 which it allegedly incurred when TSF failed to repay overdrafts 3 of that amount in its commercial account with the Bank. TSF has subsequently entered into bankruptcy proceedings under Chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., and is not presently a party to this action. The Bank also seeks punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000 and injunctive and declaratory relief against defendants.

Two of the claims asserted by the Bank are based on alleged violations of federal statutes. The jurisdiction of this Court is alleged to exist pursuant to Section 302(e) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186(e); Section 502(e)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(1); and 28 U.S.C. § 1337. 4 To these federal claims the Bank seeks to append, by way of the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction, the three claims based exclusively on state law. The plethora of motions made by the multitude of defendants requires the Court to determine whether the two federal claims are sufficient to allow this case to proceed in federal court. The Court has concluded that the Bank lacks standing to sue under either of the federal statutes upon which it relies and that jurisdiction over the state claims is not justified.

A brief summary of the factual allegations of the amended complaint will suffice for the resolution of the motions before the Court. TSF is a nonprofit California corporation organized by certáin officers of two joint councils of the Teamsters Union operating in Northern California. The articles of incorporation *482 of TSF provide that one of its purposes is to:

“maintain and establish administrative offices for the collection of contributions, processing, handling and paying of claims for insurance benefits due individuals under the terms of trust agreements formulated pursuant to collective bargaining agreements between local unions of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, an unincorporated association, and any and all employers signatory to said contracts providing for such benefits.”

The administrative services provided by TSF were subsequently utilized by the trustees of a number of union trust funds which had been established pursuant to collective bargaining agreements between certain local unions and the employers of the union members represented by the local unions.

TSF and the individual trusts maintained commercial accounts with the Bank. In addition, after 1969, each of the trusts maintained a savings account with the Bank. The gravamen of the amended complaint is that the Bank has lost or is in the process of losing in excess of $700,000, which is the amount by which the TSF commercial checking account was overdrawn at the time TSF applied for bankruptcy. TSF exercised certain control over the commercial and savings accounts of the individual trusts. The amended complaint alleges:

“Sometime in 1969 Hibernia Bank was made, by letter of agreement, the agent of each of the defendant Trusts. As the agent of the defendant Trusts, Hibernia Bank was authorized (1) to receive employer payments to the defendant Trusts, (2) upon the direction of defendant Carlson [one of the three directors of TSF], to pay out of the commercial accounts of individual defendant Trusts ‘applicable administrative fees’ to TSF, and (3) as directed by Carlson, to make transfers from the savings accounts of the individual defendant Trusts to their respective commercial accounts.”

I

The first claim set forth in the amended complaint alleges one or more violations of Section 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186. Subsections (a) and (b) of Section 302 make it unlawful for an employer to pay and for any representative of its employees to receive, any money passing from the former to the latter. 5 Subsection (c) provides eight exceptions to this general proscription, the fifth of which is for money paid to a welfare trust fund for the “sole and exclusive benefit of the employees of such employer, and their families and dependents.” 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(5). In order to qualify under Section 186(c)(5), a trust fund must meet certain statutory conditions. The Bank’s claim for declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief is based on the alleged failure of defendants to comply with those conditions.

The Bank’s first claim is not a model of precise pleading, including as it does a wide array of factual allegations which are only loosely associated with the legal grounds on which recovery is sought. One putative “claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief” is clear. Fed.R.Civ.P. 8. Because of the relationship between TSF and the trusts to which it provided administrative serv *483 ices, the Bank alleges that TSF was subject to the requirements of Section 302. One specific requirement of the statute is that “employees and employers [be] equally represented in the administration of such fund * * *.” 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(5)(B). The Bank alleges that the directors were drawn exclusively from union groups, and therefore TSF was not in compliance with the statute. The first claim also includes a number of allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty by the various defendants, although these are not specifically characterized in the complaint as violations of Section 302.

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Bluebook (online)
411 F. Supp. 478, 1 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1527, 92 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3223, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15889, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hibernia-bank-v-international-brotherhood-of-teamsters-chauffeurs-cand-1976.