Greater St. Louis Construction Laborers Welfare Fund et al v. RST Contracting, LLC

Filing 14

DEFAULT JUDGMENT IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment is GRANTED as set forth herein. [Doc. 12] IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that plaintiffs shall recover from defendant RST Contracting, LLC, the total of One Thousand Eight Hundred Twenty-Two Dollars and Forty-One Cents ($1,822.41). SO ORDERED. Signed by District Judge Charles A. Shaw on 7/23/2014. (NCL)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
GREATER ST. LOUIS CONSTRUCTION
LABORERS WELFARE FUND, an employee
benefit plan, and BRANDON FLINN, RAYMOND
LINEHAN, PASQUALE LOPICCOLO, CHARLES
BEAN, DONALD WILLEY, GARY ELLIOTT,
JAY SCHULTEHENRICH, DAVID A. GILLICK,
BRAD GRANT, RICH LEDBETTER, ADAM
KNOEBEL and NORMAN MERLO, Trustees of the
Greater St. Louis Construction Laborers Welfare Fund,
and CONSTRUCTION LABORERS PENSION
TRUST OF GREATER ST. LOUIS, an employee
benefit plan, and, JEFFREY O’CONNELL, RICHARD
McLAUGHLIN, PASQUALE LOPICCOLO,
CHARLES BEAN, DONALD WILLEY, GARY
ELLIOTT, JOSEPH W. BEETZ, JOSEPH LERITZ,
DOUG WACHSNICHT, JOE HOETTE, WILLIAM L.
LUTH and DONALD C. GRANT, Trustees of the
Construction Laborers Pension Trust of Greater St.
Louis, and ST. LOUIS VACATION FUND –
VACATION PLAN, an employee benefit plan, and
GARY ELLIOTT, BRANDON FLINN, PASQUALE
LOPICCOLO, JAY SCHULTEHENRICH, NORMAN
MERLO and WILLIAM L. LUTH, Trustees of the
St. Louis Vacation Fund – Vacation Plan, and
AGC–EASTERN MISSOURI LABORERS’ JOINT
TRAINING FUND, an employee benefit plan, and
LARRY BLOOMER, DONALD WILLEY,
PERRI PRYOR, GARY ELLIOTT, RICHARD
McGUIRE, BRANDON FLINN, JOHN B.
MORGAN, PHIL HOCHER, ROBERT J.
WESOLICH, FRANCIS R. WOJEHOWSKI,
CLIFF LAND, and JOHN J. SMITH, SR.,
Trustees of the AGC–Eastern Missouri Laborers’
Joint Training Fund, and LOCAL UNION NOS.
42-53-110, LABORERS INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL-CIO,
labor organizations,
Plaintiffs,
v.

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No. 4:13-CV-873 CAS

RST CONTRACTING, LLC,

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Defendant.

DEFAULT JUDGMENT
Plaintiffs filed this action to recover, among other things, delinquent contributions,
liquidated damages, and interest allegedly owed to the plaintiff employee benefit funds pursuant
to 29 U.S.C. §§ 185 and 1132. Plaintiffs also seek to recover accounting fees, attorneys' fees,
and costs incurred in this action. Plaintiffs served the complaint and summons on defendant RST
Contracting, LLC, on May 12, 2013. Defendant has not entered an appearance or filed an answer.
A Clerk’s Entry of Default pursuant to Rule 55(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, was entered on
June 18, 2013 (Doc. 8). On July 1, 2013, the Court granted plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Order to
Compel an Accounting, and ordered defendant to provide to plaintiffs its books and records
reflecting or pertaining to all hours worked by and wages paid to defendant’s employees since
August 1, 2009 (Doc. 10).
Plaintiffs have established that defendant is a signatory to collective bargaining
agreements with Laborers Local Unions 42-53-110. These agreements require defendant to
submit monthly report and monthly contributions to the Laborers Funds, and authorizes plaintiffs
to examine the financial records of defendant to ascertain whether the required contributions
were made.
Plaintiffs move for default judgment, submitting in support of their motion a
memorandum, exhibits, and the affidavits of John Massa and Janine M. Martin. Based upon
plaintiffs' motion, the Court finds the following:
A financial examination was performed on defendant’s financial records pursuant to the
collective bargaining agreements for the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2013. The
financial examination revealed that defendant had failed to report and pay fringe benefit
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contributions on 15 hours worked by employees in July 2010. Based on the report issued by the
accountants, plaintiffs determined that defendant owes $187.20 in contributions, $37.44 in
liquidated damages, and $17.77 in interest through April 30, 2014.
The collective bargaining agreement and ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2), requires
defendant to pay attorneys' fees and costs.

Plaintiffs incurred $51.00 in accounting fees,

$1,042.00 in attorneys' fees, and $487.00 in court costs and special process server fees. Based on
the evidence presented, the Court finds the services performed by plaintiffs' attorneys were
reasonable and necessary to the litigation of this case, the rates charged were reasonable, and the
amount sought for attorneys' fees is reasonable.
The total amount owed by defendant to plaintiffs during this time period is $1,822.41.1
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Judgment is
GRANTED as set forth herein. [Doc. 12]
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that plaintiffs shall
recover from defendant RST Contracting, LLC, the total of One Thousand Eight Hundred
Twenty-Two Dollars and Forty-One Cents ($1,822.41).
SO ORDERED:

__________________________________
CHARLES A. SHAW
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Dated this 23rd day of July, 2014.

Plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Judgment and the Memorandum in Support sought judgment in the amount
of $2,422.41. This appears to have been a mathematical error.

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