Northwest Administrators Inc v. Maverick Sweeping LLC

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedJune 17, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-01282
StatusUnknown

This text of Northwest Administrators Inc v. Maverick Sweeping LLC (Northwest Administrators Inc v. Maverick Sweeping LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northwest Administrators Inc v. Maverick Sweeping LLC, (W.D. Wash. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3

4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 NORTHWEST ADMINISTRATORS INC, CASE NO. C24-01282-KKE 8

Plaintiff(s), ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR 9 v. DEFAULT JUDGMENT

10 MAVERICK SWEEPING LLC et al.,

11 Defendant(s).

12 Plaintiff Northwest Administrators, Inc. moves for default judgment against Defendants 13 Maverick Sweeping LLC (“Maverick Sweeping”) and Maverick Trucking & Materials LLC 14 (“Maverick Trucking”). Dkt. No. 12. For the reasons below, Plaintiff’s motion is GRANTED. 15 I. BACKGROUND 16 A. Factual Allegations 17 Plaintiff is a Washington corporation and the authorized administrative agency for the 18 Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund (the “Trust”). Dkt. No. 1 at 1. Defendants 19 are California limited liability companies. Id. at 2. The Trust operates under § 302 of the Labor 20 Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185 et seq., to provide retirement benefits to eligible 21 participants. Id. at 1. 22 Maverick Sweeping agreed to a collective bargaining agreement with Local 986 of the 23 International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“Local 986”). Dkt. No. 1 at 2, Dkt. No. 13-1 at 2, Dkt. 24 1 No. 13-3. Likewise, Maverick Trucking agreed to a collective bargaining agreement with Local 2 848 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“Local 848”). Dkt. No. 1 at 2–3, Dkt. No. 13- 3 2 at 2. Both agreements required Defendants to report and pay monthly contributions to the Trust.

4 Dkt. No. 13-1 at 2, Dkt. No. 13-2 at 2. These contributions are based on the compensation rates 5 Defendants pay to its employees who are represented by Local 986 and 848. Dkt. No. 1 at 2–3. 6 Defendants also accepted Plaintiff’s Trust Agreement and Declaration, and agreed to pay 7 liquidated damages equal to 20% of all delinquent and late contributions due to the Trust, interest 8 accruing upon each delinquent contribution, and attorney’s fees and costs incurred relating to the 9 Defendants’ unpaid obligations. Id. at 3, Dkt. No. 13-3 at 14. 10 Plaintiff alleges that Maverick Sweeping failed to promptly report and pay contributions 11 to the Trust since March 1, 2024. Dkt. No. 1 at 3, Dkt. No. 13-4 at 3, Dkt. No. 13-5 at 2, Dkt. No. 12 13-8 at 2. Plaintiff also claims that Maverick Trucking failed to promptly report and pay

13 contributions to the trust for the employment periods of June 2022, June 2023, October 2023, 14 December 2023, and since April 1, 2024. Dkt. No. 1 at 4, Dkt. No. 13 ¶¶ 15–16, Dkt. No. 13-4 at 15 3, Dkt. No. 13-5 at 3, Dkt. No. 13-9 at 2–3. 16 B. Procedural History 17 Plaintiff initiated this action on August 19, 2024 (Dkt. No. 1), and properly served 18 Defendants on September 6, 2024. Dkt. Nos. 5, 6. Plaintiff seeks all delinquent contributions due 19 to the Trust, liquidated damages and pre-judgment interest, and attorney’s fees and costs incurred 20 in connection with Defendants’ delinquency. Dkt. No. 1 at 5. Plaintiff also seeks a court order 21 compelling Defendants to provide monthly accounting to Plaintiff.1 Id. at 6. On November 19, 22 2024, Plaintiff moved for entry of default, and the clerk entered default the same day. Dkt. Nos. 23

1 Plaintiff did not make this request in its motion for default judgment and as such the Court does not address the 24 propriety of this relief. Dkt. No. 12. 1 8, 9. On April 25, 2025, Plaintiff moved for default judgment. Dkt. No. 12. Defendants have not 2 appeared in this case. 3 II. DEFAULT JUDGMENT STANDARD

4 While courts generally prefer to decide cases “upon their merits whenever reasonably 5 possible,” the court has discretion to grant default judgment. Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1472 6 (9th Cir. 1986). At the default judgment stage, the court “takes the well-pleaded factual allegations 7 in the complaint,” except for those related to damages, “as true.” DIRECTV, Inc. v. Hoa Huynh, 8 503 F.3d 847, 854 (9th Cir. 2007) (quoting Cripps v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 980 F.2d 1261, 1267 9 (9th Cir. 1992)) (cleaned up); see also Geddes v. United Fin. Grp., 559 F.2d 557, 560 (9th Cir. 10 1977). “However, necessary facts not contained in the pleadings, and claims which are legally 11 insufficient, are not established by default.” Cripps, 980 F.2d at 1267. When considering whether 12 to exercise discretion in entering default judgments, courts may consider a variety of factors,

13 including: 14 (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of a plaintiff’s substantive claim, (3) the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) the sum of money at 15 stake in the action; (5) the possibility of a dispute concerning material facts; (6) whether the default was due to excusable neglect, and (7) the strong policy 16 underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

17 Eitel, 782 F.2d at 1471–72. This District also requires a party seeking default judgment to provide 18 “a declaration and other evidence establishing plaintiff’s entitlement to a sum certain and to any 19 nonmonetary relief sought” and other documentation depending on the relief sought. Local Rule 20 W.D. Wash. LCR 55(b)(2). 21 “Generally, default judgment is a two-step process: first, the court determines that a default 22 judgment should be entered; then, it determines the amount and character of the relief that should 23 be awarded.” Olson Kundig, Inc. v. 12th Ave. Iron, Inc., No. C22-0825JLR, 2023 WL 3269759, 24 at *3 (W.D. Wash. May 5, 2023) (citing TeleVideo Sys., Inc. v. Heidenthal, 826 F.2d 915, 917–18 1 (9th Cir. 1987)). If the Court finds that Plaintiffs have established Defendant’s liability, it must 2 ensure that the amount of damages is reasonable and demonstrated by Plaintiffs’ evidence. Fed. 3 R. Civ. P. 55(b)(2); LCR 55(b)(2).

4 III. ANALYSIS 5 A. The Court Has Jurisdiction Over This Action. 6 The Court has jurisdiction over this action under ERISA. See 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(1), (f). 7 Venue is proper in this district because Plaintiff’s trust funds are administered in this district. 29 8 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(2). Likewise, the Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants because 9 “service on a defendant in an ERISA case anywhere in the United States is sufficient to establish 10 personal jurisdiction, and there is no need to engage in the ‘minimum contacts’ analysis.” Schuett 11 v. FedEx Corporation Retirement Appeals Comm., No. 15-CV-0189-PJH, 2015 WL 4484153, at 12 *5 (N.D. Cal. July 22, 2015) (citing Cripps, 980 F.2d at 1267).

13 B. Plaintiff Has Satisfied the Eitel Factors and Default Judgment Is Proper. 14 Considering the Eitel factors, default judgment is appropriate here. First, prejudice towards 15 Plaintiff exists because Plaintiff has no other “recourse for recovery” other than default judgment. 16 Curtis v. Illumination Arts, Inc., 33 F. Supp. 3d 1200, 1211 (W.D. Wash. 2014). Defendants have 17 notice of this ongoing lawsuit, and Plaintiff has no other legal remedy to compensate the delinquent 18 amounts due to the Trust and the costs for pursuing the overdue fees. Bd. of Trs. of U.A. Loc. No.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Northwest Administrators Inc v. Maverick Sweeping LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwest-administrators-inc-v-maverick-sweeping-llc-wawd-2025.