Hawaii Carpenters Trust Funds et al v. Commercial Finish, Inc. et al

Filing 14

ORDER REJECTING THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION TO ENTER DEFAULT JUDGMENT AND AWARD DAMAGES AGAINST DEFENDANT COMMERCIAL FINISH, INC., AND RECOMMITTING THE MOTION FOR ENTRY OF DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST COMMERCIAL FINISH, INC., TO THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE re 13 .. Signed by JUDGE ALAN C KAY on 6/23/11. (eps)CERTIFICATE OF SERVICEParticipants registered to receive electronic notifications received this document electronically at the e-mail address listed on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF). Participants not registered to receive electronic notifications were served by first class mail on the date of this docket entry

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII
)
)
)
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
)
vs.
)
Commercial Finish, Inc., et al.,)
)
Defendants. )
)
Hawaii Carpenters Trust Funds,
et al.,

Civ. No. 11-00064 ACK-BMK

ORDER REJECTING THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE’S FINDINGS AND
RECOMMENDATION TO ENTER DEFAULT JUDGMENT AND AWARD DAMAGES
AGAINST DEFENDANT COMMERCIAL FINISH, INC., AND RECOMMITTING THE
MOTION FOR ENTRY OF DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST COMMERCIAL FINISH,
INC., TO THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE
On June 3, 2011, Magistrate Judge Kurren issued his
Findings and Recommendation to Enter Default Judgment and Award
Damages against Defendant Commercial Finish, Inc. (“F&R”) (ECF
No. 13.)

The F&R is an adoption of a proposed findings and

recommendation that Plaintiffs’ counsel submitted to Magistrate
Judge Kurren.

(“Proposed F&R”) (ECF No. 11.)

was adopted without apparent change.

The Proposed F&R

No objections to the F&R

have been filed by any party.
The F&R contains the same deficiencies that the Court
identified in another recent findings and recommendation
involving these plaintiffs and a different defendant.

See Hawaii

Carpenters Trust Funds v. TP Builders, Inc., Civ. No. 11-00016
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ACK-BMK (D. Haw. June 20, 2011) (order rejecting the findings and
recommendation and recommitting the motion for entry of default
judgment to the magistrate judge).

Namely, the F&R presupposes

that Plaintiffs are entitled to damages for unpaid contributions,
even though the complaint contains no allegation that there are
any delinquent contributions.

Furthermore, the recommended

judgment in the F&R is unclear; relies on an unsupported
$5,000.00 estimate of damages (assuming that Plaintiffs are
entitled to damages at all); and awards attorneys’ fees for
certain time billed at $195.00 per hour even though Plaintiffs’
attorney declared that her billing rate for this matter was only
$170.00 per hour.

(See ECF No. 12 at 8; ECF No. 8-2 at 5.)

For the foregoing reasons, as set forth in more detail
in the Court’s June 20, 2011, order in TP Builders, Inc., the
Court (1) REJECTS the magistrate judge’s Findings and
Recommendation to Enter Default Judgment and Award Damages
against Defendant Commercial Finish, Inc.; and (2) RECOMMITS
Plaintiffs’ Motion for Entry of Default Judgment against
Commercial Finish, Inc., to the magistrate judge.
Finally, because the Court’s rejection of the F&R is
traceable to inadequacies in the Proposed F&R, which was prepared
by Plaintiffs’ counsel, no additional costs or attorneys’ fees
concerning the motion for entry of default judgment shall be
awarded to Plaintiffs.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED:

Honolulu, Hawai#i, June 23, 2011.

________________________________
Alan C. Kay
Sr. United States District Judge

Hawaii Carpenters Trust Funds v. Commercial Finish, Inc., Civ. No. 11-00064
ACK-BMK: Order Rejecting the Magistrate Judge’s Findings and Recommendation to
Enter Default Judgment and Award Damages against Defendant Commercial Finish,
Inc., and Recommitting the Motion for Entry of Default Judgment against
Commercial Finish, Inc., to the Magistrate Judge

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