Bakery and Confectionary Union and Industry International Pension Fund et al v. Bear Claw Management Group, Inc. et al

Filing 24

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER. IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that parties shall file a joint status report no later than February 13, 2015. Status Report due by 2/13/2015.. Signed by District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr on 1/30/15. (MRS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
BAKERY AND CONFECTIONARY
UNION AND INDUSTRY
INTERNATIONAL PENSION
FUND, et al.
Plaintiffs,
vs.
BEAR CLAW MANAGEMENT
GROUP, INC., et al.
Defendants.

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Case No. 4:14-cv-1130 SNLJ

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Plaintiffs are a Pension Fund and its trustees who filed this action to collect a sum
of “withdrawal liability” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C.
§§ 1001 et seq. (“ERISA”), from defendants Bear Claw Management Group, Inc.
(“BCMG”), Bear Claw L.P. (“BCLP”), St. Louis Gooey L.P. (“SLGLP”), and Gooey
Butter L.P. (“GBLP”).
According to the complaint, on March 7, 2012, Haas Baking Company (“HBC”)
withdrew its participation from the plaintiff pension fund, which is a multiemployer
pension fund. As a withdrawing employer, HBC incurred an obligation to pay
“withdrawal liability” to the Pension Fund. “Withdrawal liability” is the liability incurred
by an employer for certain employee benefits upon withdrawing participation from a
1

multiemployer pension plan. See 29 U.S.C. § 1381. To collect that sum of money,
plaintiff Pension Fund filed suit in this Court, No. 4:13cv144 RWS, on January 23, 2013,
and obtained a default judgment against HBC in the amount of $5,250,355.11 against
HBC, the Joseph Haas Investment Company (“HIC”), and any other “trades or businesses
under common control with HBC.”
Then, on October 16, 2013, HBC and HIC filed for bankruptcy in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(a),
any collection actions by plaintiffs became subject to an automatic stay.
Plaintiffs filed the instant complaint in this Court on June 23, 2014 on the ground
that, as “trades or businesses . . . under common control” with HBC within the meaning
of 29 U.S.C. § 1301(b), each defendant was jointly and severally liable for the full
amount of withdrawal liability owed to plaintiffs by HBC.
HBC then filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against plaintiffs,
defendants, and HIC in the bankruptcy court, No. 13-494433-705, on August 8, 2014.
HBC claimed that plaintiffs’ efforts to establish control group liability against BCMG,
BCLP, SLGLP, and GPLP rendered those entities contingent creditors of HBC and HIC
and that HBC was unable to proceed with its bankruptcy case until adjudication of the
relative rights and liabilities between all of the parties had occurred.

Three days later,

on August 11, defendants filed a Joint Motion to Stay Proceedings in Lieu of Answer in
this case (#13). Eight days after that, the Pension Fund filed a motion to withdraw the
2

reference from bankruptcy court of HBC’s declaratory judgment action, arguing that
HBC’s adversary proceeding, although brought as part of the bankruptcy proceeding, was
subject to mandatory referral to district court because the complaint is predicated on
ERISA and federal tax law. See Case No. 4:14cv1439 JAR. Two days later, the United
States Trustee in HBC’s bankruptcy case filed a motion to dismiss the bankruptcy
proceedings; the Pension Fund joined that motion.
Matters relating to the withdrawal liability of HBC and/or entities allegedly related
to HBC are thus pending between four judges: Judge Rendlen in the Bankruptcy Court
(No. 13-494433), Judge Sippel in the District Court (No. 4:13cv144)1, Judge Ross in the
District Court (No. 4:14cv1439), and the present matter before the undersigned. A
hearing on the motion to dismiss in Bankruptcy Court was to be held on November 19,
2014. That hearing was continued to December 10, and the audio recording of the
hearing was posted to the Bankruptcy Court’s docket sheet (#48).
According to the audio recording of the hearing, the parties had come to the
following agreement: HBC agreed to dismiss the declaratory judgment, the defendants
here agreed to withdraw the motion to stay, and the Pension Fund agreed to withdraw the
motion to dismiss. The parties expressed a desire to continue with mediation in the case
before “Judge Sippel,” however, in light of the plan to withdraw the motion to stay in this

1

The matter before Judge Sippel is closed; however, it appears that proceedings regarding
collection of the judgment were underway when the matter was stayed.

3

case, this Court presumes the parties intend to continue litigating this matter, No.
4:14cv1130.
The defendants in this matter never filed a reply brief in support of their motion to
stay, nor have they withdrawn the motion to stay as was indicated at the December 10
hearing. Because it appears that the parties intend for this case to proceed, this Court will
order the parties to file a joint status report setting forth the parties’ intentions for this
matter in light of the other three ongoing cases.

Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that parties shall file a joint status report no later
than February 13, 2015.

Dated this 30th

day of January, 2015.

_________________________________
STEPHEN N. LIMBAUGH, JR.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

4