International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, District Council No. 4 et al v. Bison Painting & Decorating Corp. and Paul Scouras

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedJune 8, 2026
Docket1:23-cv-00341
StatusUnknown

This text of International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, District Council No. 4 et al v. Bison Painting & Decorating Corp. and Paul Scouras (International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, District Council No. 4 et al v. Bison Painting & Decorating Corp. and Paul Scouras) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, District Council No. 4 et al v. Bison Painting & Decorating Corp. and Paul Scouras, (W.D.N.Y. 2026).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ) PAINTERS & ALLIED TRADES, ) DISTRICT COUNCIL NO. 4 et al, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) Vv. ) Case No. 1:23-cv-341-GWC ) BISON PAINTING & DECORATING ) CORP. and PAUL SCOURAS, ) ) Defendants. } ORDER ON SECOND MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT (Doc. 16) Plaintiffs! filed their Complaint in this case in April 2023, alleging that Bison Painting & Decorating Corp. (“Bison”) and Paul Scouras—Bison’s “controlling officer and managing agent”—-violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Labor- Management Relations Act (LMRA), the collective bargaining agreement, and the trust agreements with the union’s funds “by failing, refusing and/or neglecting to comply with specific statutory and contractual obligations.” (Doc. | {[{]2, 16.) Plaintiffs allege that Mr. Scouras “breached his fiduciary duty to the Funds by failing to effect payment of employee fringe benefit contributions from Defendant BISON to the Funds.” Cd. 3.) Currently pending is Plaintiffs’ Second Motion for Default Judgment. (Doc. 16.) □

' Tn addition to the above-captioned union, the plaintiffs in this case include individuals serving as trustees for the union’s Health & Welfare Fund, its Finishing Trades Institute, and its Labor Management Cooperative Initiative Trust Fund.

Procedural History After Defendants failed to timely respond to the Complaint, Plaintiffs sought a clerk’s entry of default. (Doc. 6.) The clerk issued an entry of default under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a) on June 14, 2023. (Doc, 7.) Plaintiffs then sought entry of default judgment by the clerk in the amount of $164,953.15 under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b)(1). (Doc. 9.) Noting that $13,500 of the requested amount constituted attorney fees, the court ruled that judgment under Rule 55(b)(1) was not appropriate and suggested that Plaintiffs seek judgment under Rule 55(b}(2). (See Doc. 11.) Plaintiffs filed a motion for default judgment under Rule 55(b)(2) on October 4, 2023. (Doc. 12.) On April 5, 2024, the court noted that Defendants had not responded to the motion and ordered Defendants to show cause within 30 days why the motion should not be decided on the papers. (Doc. 14.) Defendants did not respond to that show-cause order. Ruling on the papers, the court denied the October 2023 motion, reasoning that Plaintiffs’ submission lacked a memorandum of law and did “not demonstrate that the allegations of the Complaint establish the defendants’ liability on each cause of action.” (Doc. 15.) The court stated that the denial was without prejudice to renewal of the motion “with appropriate support.” Cd.) Plaintiffs filed their Second Motion for Default Judgment under Rule 55(b)(2) on June 12, 2025. (Doc. 16.) That motion inchides a memorandum of law (Doc, 16-1) and” supporting materials, including an affidavit and exhibits (not previously submitted) from the union’s business manager and secretary treasurer, Michael Hogan (Dec. 16-2), and updated affidavits and exhibits from Plaintiffs’ accounting manager, Susan Bernat (Doc. 16-5), and from Plaintiffs’ counsel, Candace Morrison (Doc. 16-9). Defendants did not respond to the Second Motion, and on August 21, 2025, the court issued an order for Defendants to show cause within

30 days why the motion should not be granted. (Doc. 18.) The copy of the August 21 show- cause order was returned as undeliverable. Defendants have not advised the court of their current mailing address. Background The following facts are derived from the Complaint and are taken as true because Defendants have failed to answer or otherwise defend. Plaintiff International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, District Council No. 4 (the “Union”) is a labor organization that maintains an office in Cheektowaga, New York. (Doc. 1 6-7.) The Union—and employers that have signed collective bargaining agreements with the Union—collect dues and assessments, which the employers deduct from employees’ wages and remit to the Union. Ud. 78.) Twelve individual plaintiffs are trustees of “jointly administered, multi-employer, labor-management trust funds” constituting an employee benefit plan to provide health and welfare benefits for Union employees (the “Health Fund”; “Health and Welfare Fund”; or “H& W Fund”). Ge. 99] 9-10.) Thirteen individual plaintiffs (some of whom are also Health Fund trustees) are trustees of the Union’s “Finishing Trades Institute of Western and Central New York” (“DC4 FTT”’), an employee benefit plan whose purpose is to provide apprentice training and journeyperson retraining for Union employees. Ud. §. 11.) Four individual plaintiffs (three of whom are also trustees of the Health Fund and the DC4 FTD are trustees of the Union’s “Labor Management Cooperative Initiative” trust fund (the “STAR. Fund”), the purpose of which is to expand job opportunities for Union painters, allied tradespeople, and their signatory contractors. Ud. 4 12.) The court refers to the Health Fund, the DC4 FTY, and the STAR Fund collectively as the “Funds.”

Defendant Bison was at all relevant times a business corporation with a principal place of business in Kenmore, New York. Ud. 4] 15.) Defendant Mr. Scouras was at all relevant times Bison’s controlling officer and managing agent, (/d. J 16.) Bison was a signatory to a collective bargaining agreement with the Union (the “CBA”). (Ud. 18.) The CBA binds Bison to the Trust Agreements for the Funds. (/d. {| 19.) The terms of the CBA (see Docs, I-1, 1-2) and the Trust Agreements for the Health Fund (Doc. 1-3) and for DC4 FTY (Doc. 1-4) required Bison to:

a. File contribution reports (sometimes referred to as “Remittance Reports”) with the Funds by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the month during which the work covered by the applicable CBA (hereinafter referred to as “covered work”) was performed; b. Pay by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the month during which the covered work was performed monetary contributions to the Health Fund at the rates set forth in the CBA for all hours of work performed by Defendant BISON’s employees covered by the CBA; c. Pay by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the month during which the covered work was performed monetary contributions to the DC4 FT] at the rates set forth in the CBA for all hours of work performed by Defendant BISON’s employees covered by the CBA; and d. Pay contributions to the STAR Fund at the rates set forth in the CBA by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the month during which the covered work was performed by its employees; e. Deduct Union membership dues and dues assessments from the wages of each of its employees performing covered work at the rates set forth in the CBA and remit such deducted Union membership dues to Plaintiff Union by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the month during which the covered work was performed by its employees. (Doc. 1 7 25(a)-{e).) Plaintiffs allege Bison employed Union members from April 2 te December 25, 2022, and performed work for Bison covered by the CBA. Ud. 39.) Plaintiffs further allege that Mr. Scouras decided that Bison would not pay contributions to the Health Fund and DC4 FTI for

work performed by Bison employees from April 2 to August 24, 2022, and for September 26 to December 25, 2022 (the “Relevant Period”). Ud. § 40.) Bison failed to remit employee fringe benefit contributions to the Health Fund and to DC4 FTI for work performed by its employees covered by the CBA during this period. (/d. 141.) Plaintiffs further allege that Bison failed to remit contributions to the STAR Fund for work performed by its employees covered by the CBA during the Relevant Period. Gd.

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Bluebook (online)
International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, District Council No. 4 et al v. Bison Painting & Decorating Corp. and Paul Scouras, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-union-of-painters-allied-trades-district-council-no-4-et-nywd-2026.