Employers and Local 534 Meat Employees Pension Fund et al v. Schuette Stores, Inc.

Filing 9

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER -....IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs' motion for default judgment is DENIED. [Doc. 6]. Signed by District Judge Charles A. Shaw on 2/23/2018. (MRC)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION

EMPLOYERS AND LOCAL 534 MEAT
EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
SCHUETTE STORES, INC.,
Defendant.

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No. 4:17-CV-2735 CAS

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter is before the Court on plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Judgment against defendant
Schuette Stores, Inc. pursuant to Rule 55(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The summons and
a copy of the complaint were served upon defendant Schuette Stores, Inc. on November 28, 2017.
Defendant has not filed an answer or other response to the complaint, and did not seek additional
time to do so. On plaintiffs’ motion, the Clerk of the Court entered default against defendant under
Rule 55(a), Fed. R. Civ. P., on January 24, 2018.
Plaintiffs bring this action pursuant to Section 502(e)(1) and (f) the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e)(1) and (f), and Section 301 of the
Labor Relations Management Act of 1947 (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185. The plaintiffs are an
employee benefit plan and multiemployer plan (the “Pension Fund”) and its four individual Trustees.
Defendant Schuette Stores, Inc., an Illinois corporation, is a party to a collective bargaining
agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 534 (the “Union”), covering the
meat, delicatessen and seafood department employees in defendant’s grocery stores. Under the
terms of the collective bargaining agreement, defendant has been bound to the Agreement and
Declaration of Trust of the Pension Fund.

ERISA provides that employers shall make contributions when required by the terms of a
collective bargaining agreement. 29 U.S.C. § 1145. Employers who fail to make the required
contributions may be liable for the unpaid contributions, liquidated damages, attorney's fees, and
costs. 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2).
In their motion for default judgment, plaintiffs seek $43,215.96 in delinquent and underpaid
contributions, $346.50 in attorneys’ fees, and $604.68 in costs.
The Court concludes it cannot enter default judgment in this matter because plaintiffs have
not adequately proved their damages. In an attempt to establish the amount of delinquent
contributions, plaintiffs have submitted an affidavit of Kim Higgins, a Contribution Processor with
Zenith American Solutions (“Zenith”), which administers the Pension Fund. Ms. Higgins’s duties
include processing payments from employers who are party to collective bargaining agreements with
the Union which require contributions to the Pension Fund. Ms. Higgins estimates the amount of
contributions owed by defendant from March 2017 through December 2017 based on the average
number of hours reported by defendant for the 2016 calendar year.
The record before the Court does not indicate why it was necessary for plaintiffs to estimate
damages in this case rather than performing an audit to obtain an accurate sum owed. Plaintiffs have
not stated that defendant has refused an audit, and they have not asked the Court to order an
accounting of defendant’s records. The Court does not believe that plaintiffs’ estimated damages
are appropriate without some showing of necessity for making such estimates. Cf. Trustees of the
Ceramic Tile and Marble Masons’ Union No. 18 of Mo. Pension Plan v. Jones, No. 4:08-CV-885
CEJ, 2008 WL 4279593, at *1-2 (E.D. Mo. Sept. 15, 2008).

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Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment is DENIED. [Doc.
6]

CHARLES A. SHAW
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Dated this 23rd day of February, 2018.

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