Scarfi v. Bright Star Industries, Inc.

779 F. Supp. 687, 14 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2281, 139 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2331, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87, 1992 WL 1359
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 2, 1992
DocketNo. CV-92-3766
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 779 F. Supp. 687 (Scarfi v. Bright Star Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scarfi v. Bright Star Industries, Inc., 779 F. Supp. 687, 14 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2281, 139 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2331, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87, 1992 WL 1359 (E.D.N.Y. 1992).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GLASSER, District Judge:

This is an action brought under Sections 502 and 515 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1132 and 1145, and under Sections 301 and 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 185 and 186. The plaintiffs — John Scarfi, Richard Hubert, I. Michael Braceo, Victor Bobes, William Henry, Alan I. Stem, and Jerome Friedman— are trustees of the District No. 15 Machinists’ Pension Fund (the “Fund”). They allege that the defendant Bright Star Industries, Inc. (“Bright Star”), as the employer of the Fund beneficiaries, is obligated to contribute to the Fund under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement and under the terms of a trust agreement. The trustees brought this action to enforce those agreements and to compel Bright Star to make specific contributions to the Fund that the trustees allege have not yet been paid by Bright Star. Bright Star has moved to dismiss this action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and (6). For the reasons set forth below, that motion is denied.

FACTS

Bright Star argues that jurisdiction over this action is preempted by proceedings already terminated before the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) — proceedings to which the plaintiffs claim they were not parties. On January 22, 1990, the NLRB issued an order in which the Board determined that Bright [688]*688Star had engaged in unfair labor practices; inter alia, the order directed that Bright Star “make whole” 125 employees who had suffered from those unfair labor practices. Specifically, the Board found that Bright Star had wrongly refused to reinstate those 125 employees after a labor strike. Bright Star did not contest the decision of the NLRB. Subsequently, William Pasca-ren, Regional Director of NLRB Region 22, issued a “Compliance Specification” to Bright Star. Defendant’s Exhibit 3. The Compliance Specification alleged that Bright Star owed $43,936.00 to the Fund as contributions that should have been made on behalf of the 125 employees. Id. 1113. It appears that the NLRB and Bright Star reached a settlement on the amount of the outstanding contributions: On March 11, 1991, Bright Star and the NLRB represented to an NLRB Administrative Law Judge that they had agreed that Bright Star would contribute 85 percent of the $43,-936.00 set out in the Compliance Specification. Defendant’s Exhibit 5. However, counsel for the NLRB noted that:

Pension contributions are a separate area treated by the parties. Respondent [Bright Star] agrees to pay at least 85 percent of the pension payments listed in the specification. At this point, the Union is unable to agree to that payment until it receives clearance from its Pension Fund, which will be reported shortly. But, at no point will payment be for less than 85 percent of the pension claims that are asserted in the specification.

Id. at 4. Since that settlement was entered into the record of the proceedings before the NLRB, Bright Star has paid approximately 85 percent of the entire amount of outstanding contributions. Defendant’s Exhibit 7.

The defendant now moves to dismiss this action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) on the ground that the National Labor Relations Act confers exclusive jurisdiction for matters concerning unfair labor practices with the NLRB; hence, the defendant argues, this court is without jurisdiction over this action. Bright Star also moves to dismiss this action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (although it conceded at oral argument that the Rule 12(b)(6) motion is essentially duplicative of its Rule 12(b)(1) motion). Finally, Bright Star moves for costs and attorney’s fees— apparently under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11.

DISCUSSION

Section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended (“NLRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 160, grants exclusive jurisdiction to the NLRB over disputes that concern allegations of unfair labor practices. The plaintiffs do not dispute that this grant of exclusive jurisdiction precludes a federal district court from adjudication of such an action. However, Section 502 of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1132, grants jurisdiction to federal courts over actions that are brought to enforce rights under a pension plan — such as the trust agreement in this action. Further, Section 301 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 185, confers jurisdiction on federal courts for actions that are brought to enforce a collective bargaining agreement — such as the labor contract in this action. Nonetheless, the defendant characterizes this suit as a dispute over unfair labor practices; thus, the defendant maintains, the NLRA — and not ERISA or the LMRA — governs this matter. For this reason, the defendant argues that the only adjudicative body with jurisdiction over this action is the NLRB.

The only difficulty with the argument of the defendant is that the relevant statutes, the settled case law, and sound reasoning compel a different conclusion. First, as to the relevant statutes, Bright Star does not argue — nor could it — that the grant of exclusive jurisdiction in the NLRB expressly overrides the clear grants of jurisdiction to the federal courts under ERISA and under the LMRA. That is, the defendant is unable to demonstrate statutory support for its implicit proposition that the exclusive grant of jurisdiction under the NLRA controls an action under ERISA or under the LMRA if that action also implicates questions of unfair labor practices. Rather, there is no explicit statutory coordination of these provisions.

[689]*689Such coordination is provided, however, by the settled case law. In Smith v. Evening News Association, 371 U.S. 195, 197, 83 S.Ct. 267, 268, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962), the Supreme Court held that the “authority of the Board to deal with an unfair labor practice which also violates a collective bargaining contract ... does not destroy the jurisdiction of the courts in suits under § 301 [of the LMRA].” More recently, the Second Circuit acknowledged “that federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction with the NLRB to hear cases involving both alleged NLRA violations and claims of breach of collective bargaining agreements _” International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots v. Trinidad Corp., 803 F.2d 69

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779 F. Supp. 687, 14 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2281, 139 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2331, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87, 1992 WL 1359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scarfi-v-bright-star-industries-inc-nyed-1992.