Metal Lathers Local 46 Pension Fund v. River Avenue Contracting Corp.

954 F. Supp. 2d 250, 2013 WL 3791409, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102970
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 22, 2013
DocketNo. 13 CIV. 234 JSR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 954 F. Supp. 2d 250 (Metal Lathers Local 46 Pension Fund v. River Avenue Contracting Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Metal Lathers Local 46 Pension Fund v. River Avenue Contracting Corp., 954 F. Supp. 2d 250, 2013 WL 3791409, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102970 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JED S. RAKOFF, District Judge.

On January 10, 2013, plaintiffs (the “Funds”), several union benefit funds established and maintained pursuant to collective-bargaining agreements (“CBAs”), filed suit alleging that defendant River Avenue Contracting Corp. (“River”) and the individual defendants, Richard and Sonia Tonyes, Richard Tonyes, Jr., and Robert Dugan, fraudulently established alter ego entities, namely, defendants Extreme Concrete Corp. (“Extreme”) and RNC Industries, LLC (“RNC”), in order to perform work covered by the CBAs between River and the Metal Lathers and Carpenters unions without paying contributions owed to the plaintiff Funds. Defendant Richard Tonyes is the owner of River, and the Amended Complaint alleges that he “is also the 100% owner of RNC and Extreme.” Am. Compl. (“AC”) ¶ 11. Sonia Tonyes, Richard Tonyes’ wife, serves as the president “or other officer” of Extreme. Id. ¶ 12. Richard Tonyes, Jr. (“Tonyes, Jr.”), the son of Richard Tonyes, and Dugan are “Field Superintendents” for RNC and River. Id. ¶¶ 13-14.

On March 11, 2013, plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint, in which they raised nine claims: claims 1 through 4 allege violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) against River, RNC and Extreme, see AC ¶¶ 62-88; claims 5 and 6 allege violations of the Labor Management Relations Act [254]*254(“LMRA”) by River, see id. ¶¶ 89-102; and claims 7 through 9 allege fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and aiding and abetting fraud under state law against all defendants except River, see id. ¶¶ 103-133.

On April 5, 2013, defendants filed motions to dismiss all claims alleged in the Amended Complaint except those brought under the LMRA against River. By Order dated June 10, 2013, the Court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ ERISA, fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, and conspiracy claims, and denied plaintiffs’ request to amend the complaint to name additional plaintiffs. This Memorandum explains the reasons for those decisions.

On a motion to dismiss, beyond the well-pleaded allegations in the Amended Complaint, the Court may also consider those documents “incorporated in [the Amended Complaint] by reference” and “matters of which judicial notice may be taken.” SEC v. Apuzzo, 689 F.3d 204, 207 (2d Cir.2012) (quoting Chambers v. Time Warner, Inc., 282 F.3d 147, 152-53 (2d Cir.2002)).

Plaintiffs in this action are the Metal Lathers Local 46 Pension, Trust, Annuity, Vacation, Apprenticeship, Scholarship, Dental, and Promotion Funds (the “Local 46 Funds”), AC ¶ 6, and the New York City District Council of Carpenters Pension, Welfare, Vacation, and Annuity Funds (the “Carpenters Funds”), AC ¶ 7. Each fund is an “employee benefit plan” and “multiemployer plan” within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 1002(3) and (37), and each group of funds is jointly administered by a Board of Trustees, Id. ¶¶ 6-7.

Defendant River is a party to CBAs with the Local 46 and Carpenters unions. Article III of the Local 46 CBA with River, entitled “Work Covered,” “defines certain lather work as work that should be performed by individuals represented by Local 46,” while Article XII imposes an obligation on River to contribute to the various Local 46 Funds for work completed by Local 46 members. AC ¶¶ 17, 16; Ex. B. Article XIX, entitled “Coverage of Lathing Work,” requires River to assign any covered work to employees represented by Local 46 and forbids River from subcontracting such work unless the subcontractor is also bound by the same CBA. Id. ¶ 18. In relation to the Carpenters Funds, River is bound by three CBAs: a CBA with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which requires member employers (including River) to pay contributions to local Carpenter Union funds as identified in the applicable independent CBA for their locality, id. ¶ 19; an Independent Building Construction agreement with the New York City District Council of Carpenters, id. ¶ 20 & Ex. C; and a multiemployer CBA with the New York City District Council of Carpenters, AC ¶ 21. The latter two agreements include as “covered work” any work performed by an employer that is of the type covered by these agreements and “includes work performed under the name of another corporation or business entity where the Employer exercises direct or indirect control over the terms and conditions set forth in both Agreements.” Id. ¶ 22-23. These agreements require that benefits be paid even when work is performed by such an entity. Id.

Taking the facts alleged in the Amended Complaint as true for the purposes of this motion to dismiss, River and their shared principals have used RNC and Extreme as corporate “alter egos” to avoid hiring union labor for what should have been covered work under the CBAs with Local 46 and Carpenters, and thus fraudulently avoided making contributions to the Funds for such work. Specifically, the Amended Complaint alleges that, beginning in Janu[255]*255ary 2006, Richard Tonyes caused River to send monthly reports to the Local 46 and Carpenters Funds “that purported to identify the number of hours of work” that fell within the jurisdiction of the relevant CBAs that had been performed by River. Id. ¶¶ 24-25. However, the Amended Complaint lists 25 projects occurring between 2006 and 2012, for which River, Extreme, or RNC provided covered work and which “River, Richard J. Tonyes and Sonia Tonyes deliberately omitted from the reports sent to” the Funds. Id. ¶¶ 26-28. Similarly, during the period of October 17, 2007 through September 29, 2009, Richard Tonyes and River made “cash payments to workers performing covered work” in order to avoid making benefit payments to the Funds Id. ¶ 114.

Based on these allegations, among others, the Funds assert claims under ERISA against River, RNC and Extreme for benefit contributions required by the CBAs. See 29 U.S.C. § 1145 (“Every employer who is obligated to make contributions to a multiemployer plan under the terms of the plan or under the terms of a collectively bargained agreement shall ... make such contributions in accordance with the terms and conditions of such plan or such agreement.”).

The defendants first move to dismiss the Funds’ ERISA claims, arguing that the Funds lack standing to sue under ERISA. Under Section 502(a)(3) of ERISA, “a civil action may be brought ... by a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary” of an ERISA plan. 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3). Here, plaintiffs are the employment benefit plans, not one of the enumerated plaintiffs granted standing to sue under ERISA, and so their ERISA claims must be dismissed. See Pressroom Unions-Printers League Income Sec. Fund v. Cont’l Assur. Co., 700 F.2d 889, 891-93 (2d Cir.1983) (finding that 29 U.S.C. § 1132

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954 F. Supp. 2d 250, 2013 WL 3791409, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102970, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/metal-lathers-local-46-pension-fund-v-river-avenue-contracting-corp-nysd-2013.