Regional District Council et al v. Mile High Rodbusters, Inc.

Filing 45

ORDER ADOPTING 44 RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE: The 42 Motion for Partial Default Judgment and an Order Compelling an Accounting is GRANTED in part. DEFAULT JUDGMENT SHALL ENTER against the defendant, Mile High Rodbusters Inc in favor of the plaintiffs on the claim asserted in Count I of the Complaint. A total monetary award in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendant of 79,079.87 dollars for damages, interest, attorney fees, and costs. Count II of the Complaint is DISMISSED with prejudice. By Judge Robert E. Blackburn on 3/9/2015.(alowe)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Judge Robert E. Blackburn
Civil Action No. 13-cv-00214-REB-KLM
REGIONAL DISTRICT COUNCIL, by and through Daniel S. Parker, in his
representative capacity as President,
DANIEL S. PARKER, in his representative capacity as President of Regional District
Council,
REGIONAL LOCAL UNION NO. 847, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE,
STRUCTURAL, ORNAMENTAL AND REINFORCING IRON WORKERS, AFL-CIO, by
and through Donald A. Zampa, in his representative capacity as Administrator,
DONALD A. ZAMPA, in his representative capacity as Administrator of Regional Local
Union No. 847, International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and
ReinforcingIron Workers, AFL-CIO,
REGIONAL DISTRICT COUNCIL WELFARE TRUST FUND, by and through its Board
of Trustees,
REGIONAL DISTRICT COUNCIL VACATION TRUST FUND, by and through its Board
of Trustees, and
REGIONAL DISTRICT COUNCIL TRAINING TRUST, by and through its Board of
Trustees,
Plaintiffs,
v.
MILE HIGH RODBUSTERS, INC.,
Defendant.

ORDER ADOPTING RECOMMENDATION OF
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Blackburn, J.
This matter is before me on the following: (1) the Motion for Partial Default
Judgment and an Order Compelling an Accounting [#42]1 filed July 29, 2014; and
(2) the Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge [#44] filed November

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“[#42]” is an example of the convention I use to identify the docket number assigned to a
specific paper by the court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). I use this
convention throughout this order.

25, 2014. No objection to the recommendation has been filed. Therefore, I review it for
plain error only. See Morales-Fernandez v. Immigration & Naturalization Service,
418 F.3d 1116, 1122 (10th Cir. 2005). Finding no error, much less plain error, in the
recommendation of the magistrate judge, I approve and adopt the recommendation
[#44].
The plaintiffs assert claims under the Employee Retirement income Security Act
of 1974 (ERISA). The defendant is a signatory to a collective bargaining agreement
(CBA) with plaintiff Regional Local Union No. 847, International Association of Bridge,
Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, AFL-CIO (Regional Local Union)
and plaintiff Regional District Council. The CBA requires the defendant to file reports of
hours worked by its employees and to pay contributions to plaintiffs Regional District
Council Welfare Trust Fund, Regional District Council Vacation Trust Fund, Regional
District Council Training Trust (the Trusts), Regional District Council, and Regional
Local Union. The amounts contributed depend on specified rates for hours worked by
the employees of the defendant during employment covered by the CBA. The CBA
requires the defendant to file reports and make contributions on the fifteenth day of
each month for work done in the prior month. The CBA provides also that if the
defendant does not timely pay fringe benefit contributions, then (1) the defendant is
liable for interest on the unpaid amounts at a rate of 1.5% per month, and (2) the
defendant is liable for accounting fees, attorney fees, auditing fees, and expert fees in
the event that litigation is required to collect unpaid contributions.
The defendant is now delinquent in its obligation to report and pay contributions
to the Trusts and has therefore violated its duties under the CBA. Demand was made
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on the defendant to resolve its delinquency, but it failed to do so. For the reasons
detailed in the recommendation [#44], entry of default judgment against the defendant is
proper.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. That the Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge [#44] filed
November 25, 2014, is APPROVED and ADOPTED as an order of this court;
2. That the underlying Motion for Partial Default Judgment and an Order
Compelling an Accounting [#42] filed July 29, 2014, is GRANTED in part;
3. That under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55, DEFAULT JUDGMENT SHALL ENTER
against the defendant, Mile High Rodbusters, Inc., in favor of the plaintiffs on the claim
asserted in Count I of the Complaint [#1];
4. That the default judgment SHALL INCLUDE a total monetary award in favor
of the plaintiffs and against the defendant of 79,079.87 dollars for damages, interest,
attorney fees, and costs allocated as follows:
a. unpaid contributions under the CBA for 2012 in the amount of
34,845.89 dollars;
b. interest on unpaid contributions in the amount of 14,686.52 dollars;
c. additional interest under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2)(C)(i) in the amount of
14,686.52 dollars;
d. reasonable attorney fees in the amount of 14,378.43 dollars; and
e. costs in the amount of 482.51 dollars;
5. That otherwise the Motion for Partial Default Judgment and an Order
Compelling an Accounting [#42] filed July 29, 2014, is DENIED;

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6. That Count II of the Complaint [#1] is DISMISSED with prejudice; and
7. That this case is CLOSED.
Dated March 9, 2015, at Denver, Colorado.
BY THE COURT:

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