I.A.M. National Pension Fund, Benefit Plan A v. Wakefield Industries, Inc.

699 F.2d 1254, 226 U.S. App. D.C. 102
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedFebruary 11, 1983
DocketNo. 81-1883
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 699 F.2d 1254 (I.A.M. National Pension Fund, Benefit Plan A v. Wakefield Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
I.A.M. National Pension Fund, Benefit Plan A v. Wakefield Industries, Inc., 699 F.2d 1254, 226 U.S. App. D.C. 102 (D.C. Cir. 1983).

Opinions

FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal the vacating of a civil contempt order issued against the president of defendant corporation for failure to comply with an injunction directed to defendant and its officers. The appeal raises the questions whether there was sufficient service of the summons on defendant and whether there was sufficient service of the civil contempt motion on the president.

Defendant Wakefield Industries, Incorporated is a Connecticut corporation. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwich Electronics, Inc., which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capehart Corporation. Defendant was named in the summons and complaint as “Wakefield Industries, Incorporated, Division of Capehart Corporation.” The president of defendant is Marvin Margolis; he is the sole appellee appearing here.

Plaintiffs are trustees of I.A.M. National Pension Fund, Benefit Plan A, an employee pension benefit plan administered in the District of Columbia under the provisions of Section 302 of the Labor-Management Rela[104]*104tions Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186 and Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461.

On July 1, 1980, plaintiffs brought suit against Wakefield Industries, Incorporated to compel compliance with defendant's obligations under a Trust Agreement, executed in 1977 pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement with an I.A.M. Local Lodge. Among other things, the Trust Agreement obligated defendant to file monthly reports and make monthly contributions to the Pension Fund on behalf of employees at its Norwich, Connecticut manufacturing plant. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Because the plan is administered in the District of Columbia, action in that district was authorized by 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(2). The summons and complaint were served by a deputy marshal on Margolis at the office in New York of Capehart Corporation, of which he is also president.

Wakefield Industries did not answer the complaint and a default judgment was entered against it on August 20, 1980. The judgment directed Wakefield and its “officers, agents, successors, and assigns” to prepare reports of all debts owing to the Pension Fund and enjoined them from refusing to make reports and contributions to the Pension Fund as they came due. A copy of the j udgment was mailed to W akef ield Industries at Margolis’ New York office, and six months later was personally served on Margolis at the same address. Wakefield Industries still did not respond, and on February 10, 1981 the Pension Fund moved the district court to hold both Wakefield Industries and Margolis in civil contempt.

The contempt motion was mailed to Margolis on February 10,1982 at the same New York address at which the complaint and default judgments were served. Sixteen days later, with no answer from Wakefield Industries or its president, the district court found Wakefield Industries and Margolis in civil contempt, imposed a fine of five hundred dollars ($500.00) to be paid to the Pension Fund, and directed the contemnors to comply with requirements of the Trust Agreement as well as pay the Pension Fund its costs of litigation within ten days of service of the contempt order or face a fine of twenty-five dollars a day.

The contempt order was personally served on Margolis at his home and at his Capehart office. Again, there was no response. On April 16, 1981 the Pension Fund moved the court for an order to commit Margolis for contempt. It was at this point that counsel for Margolis appeared before the district court with a motion to vacate the civil contempt order.

Counsel argued that (1) while Margolis should have responded sooner to the Pension Fund’s complaint, he was unable to comply any further with the terms of the Trust Agreement because of the financial straits of Wakefield Industries and Capehart Corporation, and (2) Margolis was served with the contempt motion in New York City, well outside the territorial limits of a federal district court sitting in the District of Columbia. In vacating its civil contempt order, the district court was persuaded by this second argument. The court noted that Margolis was served with the contempt motion based on ERISA’s extraterritorial service of process proyision, Section 1132(e)(2). Because the court believed this provision only authorized service on defendants to the action, and because Margolis was not a named defendant, the court held that it lacked personal jurisdiction over him and vacated the contempt order. Plaintiff Pension Fund appeals.

I.

While the district court decided that it lacked personal jurisdiction over Margolis, on appeal Margolis argues, additionally, that the defendant corporation was never served; hence the district court had no jurisdiction to enter the injunction which Margolis is alleged to have violated.

There may well be doubt whether Margolis can properly challenge the district court’s personal jurisdiction over the defendant corporation. Plaintiffs, however, have not claimed that the question was improperly raised, but have argued its merits.

[105]*105The question of the district court’s jurisdiction over Wakefield Industries arises under the special provisions of ERISA governing venue and service of process. Section 1132(e)(2) provides:

Where an action under this subchapter is brought in a district court of the United States, it may be brought in the district where the plan is administered, where the breach took place, or where a defendant resides or may be found, and process may be served in any other district where a defendant resides or may be found.

29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(2) (1975). As noted, the action was brought in the district where the plan is administered. The question then is one of service: whether the defendant Wakefield Industries was “found” in the Southern District of New York within the meaning of Section 1132(e)(2).

The leading case interpreting Section 1132(e)(2) is Varsic v. United States District Court for the Central District of California, 607 F.2d 245 (1979). In that decision the Ninth Circuit was called upon to decide where an unincorporated association could be “found” for purposes of establishing venue. The Ninth Circuit held that Congress intended, by allowing venue wherever a defendant might be “found,” to permit suit in any district where a defendant entity’s contacts “are sufficient to satisfy the ‘minimum contacts’ test for personal jurisdiction” as defined by International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 318-19, 66 S.Ct. 154, 159, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). Id. 607 F.2d at 248-49. See also Bostic v. Ohio River Co. (Ohio Division) Basic Pension Plan, 517 F.Supp. 627, 633 (S.D.W.Va.1981) (following the. Varsic interpretation of “may be found” under Section 1132(e)(2)).

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699 F.2d 1254, 226 U.S. App. D.C. 102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iam-national-pension-fund-benefit-plan-a-v-wakefield-industries-inc-cadc-1983.