Inland Empire Electrical Workers Welfare Trust v. Excel Electrical Services Inc

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedApril 26, 2022
Docket2:21-cv-00200
StatusUnknown

This text of Inland Empire Electrical Workers Welfare Trust v. Excel Electrical Services Inc (Inland Empire Electrical Workers Welfare Trust v. Excel Electrical Services Inc) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Inland Empire Electrical Workers Welfare Trust v. Excel Electrical Services Inc, (E.D. Wash. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT 3 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON Apr 26, 2022 4 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 BOARDS OF TRUSTEES OF THE No. 2:21-cv-00200-MKD INLAND EMPIRE ELECTRICAL 8 WORKERS WELFARE TRUST; ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ 112/73 RETIREMENT TRUST FUND MOTION FOR DEFAULT 9 NECA-IBEW; and LU 112-NECA JUDGMENT AND ENTERING ELECTRICAL TRAINING TRUST DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST 10 FUND, DEFENDANT EXCEL ELECTRICAL SERVICES, INC. 11 Plaintiffs, ECF No. 8 12 v. 13 EXCEL ELECTRICAL SERVICES, INC., a Washington state foreign 14 corporation, UBI No. 602 717 875, Defendant. 15

16 Before the Court is Plaintiffs’ Motion and Declaration for Entry of Default 17 Judgment, ECF No. 8. The Court has considered the briefing, the record, and is 18 fully informed. For the reasons discussed below, the Court grants the motion and 19 enters default judgment against Defendant Excel Electrical Services, Inc. 20 ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT 1 BACKGROUND 2 This case arises under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of

3 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. ECF No. 1 at 2. Plaintiffs “are the duly 4 qualified and acting Trustees” of the Inland Empire Electrical Workers Welfare 5 Trust, 112/73 Retirement Trust Fund NECA-IBEW, and 112-NECA Electrical

6 Workers Training Trust Fund. ECF No. 1 at 2. Plaintiffs initiated this action 7 against Defendant Excel Electrical Services for its alleged failure to comply with 8 an audit of its payroll records. ECF No. 1 at 4. 9 According to the Complaint, on November 19, 2007, Defendant entered into

10 a collective bargaining agreement with the Inland Empire Chapter of the National 11 Electrical Contractors Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical 12 Workers Local 112 by executing a Letter of Assent. ECF No. 1 at 3. The Letter of

13 Assent bound Defendant to the local Collective Bargaining Agreement and any 14 successor agreements (collectively, the Labor Agreements). ECF No. 1 at 3. The 15 Labor Agreements bound Defendant to the wage rates, fringe benefit contribution 16 rates, apprentice contribution rates, and “the Trust Agreements that govern [the

17 trust funds].” ECF No. 1 at 3. 18 Under the Trust Agreements, “[Defendant] must submit to an audit of its 19 payroll records at the request of the Plaintiff[s].” ECF No. 1 at 3. On April 6,

20 2020, Plaintiffs requested Defendant comply with an audit of its records from ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT 1 January 2019 through December 2019. ECF No. 8 at 4. Defendant failed to 2 comply with the requested audit. ECF No. 1 at 4; ECF No. 8 at 4.

3 On July 1, 2021, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint, ECF No. 1, and issued a 4 Summons to Defendant, ECF No. 2. The Summons and Complaint were properly 5 served upon Defendant’s registered agent on July 10, 2021. ECF No. 4; ECF No. 5

6 at 3. Proof of Service was filed with the Court on July 14, 2021. ECF No. 4. 7 Defendant did not file an Answer or otherwise appear. See ECF No. 5 at 1. On 8 August 18, 2021, Plaintiffs sent Defendant a Notice of Intent to Move for Entry of 9 Default via First Class Mail to Defendant’s registered agent. Plaintiffs also sent

10 the notice via First Class Mail to 322 E. McKinney Avenue in Hermiston, Oregon 11 and by email to excelelectrical@charter.net. ECF No. 5-3. On September 15, 12 2021, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Entry of Default. ECF No. 5. The Clerk entered

13 an Order of Default the same day. ECF No. 6. On November 19, 2021, Plaintiffs 14 filed a Motion for Default Judgment. ECF No. 8. 15 DISCUSSION 16 A. ERISA

17 1. Legal Framework 18 “In enacting ERISA, Congress set out to protect participants in employee 19 benefit plans by establishing standards of conduct, responsibility, and obligations

20 for fiduciaries of employee benefit plans, and by providing for appropriate ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT 1 remedies.” Yeseta v. Baima, 837 F.2d 380, 383 (9th Cir. 1988); see also 29 U.S.C. 2 § 1001. Generally speaking, ERISA requires that plan participants are provided

3 with information about their benefits, imposes fiduciary responsibilities on those 4 who manage and control plan assets, and gives to certain defined entities the right 5 to sue for violations of the law.

6 Under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a), “[a] civil action may be brought [under ERISA] 7 . . . by a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary (A) to enjoin any act or practice 8 which violates any provision of this subchapter or the terms of the plan, or (B) to 9 obtain other appropriate equitable relief . . . or to enforce any provision of this

10 subchapter or the terms of the plan.” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3). An ERISA “plan” 11 includes a “fund.” 29 U.S.C. § 1002(1), (2), (3) (The terms “employee welfare 12 benefit plan” and “welfare plan” and “employee pension benefit plan” and

13 “pension plan” mean “any plan, fund, or program established or maintained by an 14 employer or by an employee organization, or by both”) (emphasis added); see 15 Hawaii Masons’ Pension Trust Fund v. Global Stone Hawaii, Inc., 292 F. Supp. 3d 16 1063, 1066 (D. Haw. 2017) (noting that a pension trust fund, training trust fund,

17 and welfare trust fund “are jointly trusteed labor-management trust funds 18 maintained under 29 U.S.C § 186(c)(5) that operate as employee benefit plans.”). 19

20 ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT 1 2. Jurisdiction and Venue 2 “[T]he district courts of the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction of

3 civil actions [under ERISA] . . . brought by . . . a participant, beneficiary [or] 4 fiduciary.” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(1). In addition, “[t]he district courts of the United 5 States shall have jurisdiction, without respect to the amount in controversy or the

6 citizenship of the parties, to grant the [equitable] relief provided for in subsection 7 (a) of this section in any action.” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(f). 8 An ERISA action “may be brought in the district where the plan is 9 administered, where the breach took place, or where a defendant resides or may be

10 found.” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(2). Plaintiffs state the trust funds are administered 11 within this District in Spokane, Washington. ECF No. 1 at 2. 12 B. Default Judgment

13 1. Procedural Requirements 14 Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, obtaining a default judgment is 15 a two-step process. Fed. R. Civ. P. 55. First, “[w]hen a party against whom a 16 judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend . . .

17 the clerk must enter the party’s default.” Fed. R. Civ. P.

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Inland Empire Electrical Workers Welfare Trust v. Excel Electrical Services Inc, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/inland-empire-electrical-workers-welfare-trust-v-excel-electrical-services-waed-2022.