Trustees of Empire State Carpenters Annuity, Apprenticeship, Labor-Management Cooperation, Pension and Welfare Funds v. North Star Concrete Construction Corp.

Filing 16

MEMORANDUM & ORDER granting 15 Motion to Consolidate Cases; For the foregoing reasons, the Funds' Motion (Funds Action, Docket Entry 15; North Star Action, Docket Entry 15) is GRANTED and the Clerk of the Court is directed to CONSOLIDATE Trus tees of Empire State Carpenters Annuity, Apprenticeship, Labor-Management Cooperation, Pension and Welfare Funds v. North Star Concrete Construction Corp., No. 14-CV-3132, and North Star Concrete Construction Corp. v. Empire State Carpenters Annuity, Apprenticeship, Pension, Welfare, and Labor Management Cooperation Funds, No. 14-CV-3498. All future filings are to be docketed in the earlier case number, 14-CV-3132, and the Clerk of the Court is directed to mark case number 14-CV-3498 CLOSED. Upon consolidation, the Clerk of the Court is directed to add the Complaint and Answer in Case No. 14-CV-3498, (Docket Entries 1 and 4), on the docket in Case No. 14-CV-3132. SO ORDERED by Judge Joanna Seybert on 12/8/2016. C/ECF (Valle, Christine)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
--------------------------------------X
TRUSTEES OF EMPIRE STATE CARPENTERS
ANNUITY, APPRENTICESHIP, LABORMANAGEMENT COOPERATION, PENSION AND
WELFARE FUNDS,
Plaintiff,
-against-

MEMORANDUM & ORDER
14-CV-3132(JS)(GRB)
14-CV-3498(JS)(ARL)

NORTH STAR CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION CORP.,
Defendant.
---------------------------------------X
NORTH STAR CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION CORP.,
Petitioner,
-againstEMPIRE STATE CARPENTERS ANNUITY,
APPRENTICESHIP, PENSION, WELFARE,
and LABOR MANAGEMENT COOPERATION FUNDS,
Respondent.
--------------------------------------X
APPEARANCES
For Plaintiff/Respondent:
Charles R. Virginia, Esq.
Nicole Marimon, Esq.
Michael Howard Isaac, Esq.
Richard B. Epstein, Esq.
Virginia & Ambinder LLP
40 Broad Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10004
For Defendant/Petitioner:

Richard B. Ziskin, Esq.
The Ziskin Law Firm, LLP
6828 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 12A
Commack, NY 11725
Robert James LaReddola, Esq.
Michael Feinstein, Esq.
La Reddola, Lester & Associates LLP
600 Old Country Road, Suite 224
Garden City, NY 11530

SEYBERT, District Judge:
On May 19, 2014, Plaintiff-Respondent Trustees of Empire
State

Carpenters

Annuity,

Apprenticeship,

Labor-Management

Cooperation, Pension and Welfare Funds (the “Funds”)1 commenced an
action

against

Defendant-Petitioner

North

Star

Concrete

Construction Corporation (“North Star”) under Docket Number 14CV-3132 (the “Funds Action”) asserting claims under the Employee
Retirement

Income

Security

Management

Relations

Act

Act
of

of

1947

1974

(“ERISA”),

(“LMRA”),

and

the

the

Labor

Federal

Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to confirm and enforce an arbitration award
rendered in connection with a collective bargaining agreement (the
“CBA”) between the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters and
North Star (the “Arbitration Award”).

(See Compl., Funds Action,

¶¶ 1, 4-15.)
On May 8, 2014, North Star commenced an action against
the Funds in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of
Suffolk, seeking to vacate or modify the Arbitration Award (the

The Court notes that the earlier-filed action was commenced by
“Trustees of Empire State Carpenters Annuity, Apprenticeship,
Labor-Management Cooperation, Pension and Welfare Funds,” while
the later-filed action was commenced against “Empire State
Carpenters Annuity, Apprenticeship, Pension, Welfare, and Labor
Management Cooperation Funds.” The Court’s review of the
dockets indicates that Plaintiff in the earlier-filed action and
Respondent in the later-filed action are the same multiemployer
labor management trust funds and labor management cooperation
committee. (Compare Compl., Funds Action, ¶¶ 4-5 with Ans.,
North Star Action, Docket Entry 4, ¶ 3.)
1

2

“North Star Action”).

(Not. Removal, Ex. A, Docket No. 14-CV-

3498, Docket Entry 1-1, at 1-4.)

The Funds removed the North Star

Action to this Court and it was assigned Docket Number 14-CV-3498.
(Not.

Removal,

North

Star

Action,

Docket

Entry

1.)

On

September 17, 2014, North Star filed a motion to remand to state
court.

(North Star Mot., North Star Action, Docket Entry 11.)

On

March 22, 2016, this Court denied North Star’s motion, holding
that the application of state law was preempted by the LMRA.
(Order, North Star Action, Docket Entry 12, at 9-13.)
Presently

pending

before

the

Court

is

the

Funds’

unopposed motion to consolidate the Funds Action and the North
Star Action (the “Funds’ Motion”).

(Funds’ Mot., Funds Action,

Docket Entry 15; North Star Action, Docket Entry 15.)
The Court has reviewed the dockets in the Funds Action
and the North Star Action and finds that these actions “involve
[ ] common question[s] of law or fact.”
Particularly,
Arbitration

both

Award

consolidation

is

actions
and

the

contain
CBA.

warranted

to

FED. R. CIV. P. 42(a).

claims

Thus,

the

avoid

the

related

to

the

finds

that

duplicative

and

Court

unnecessary use of judicial resources. See FED. R. CIV. P. 42(a)(3);
Johnson v. Celotex Corp., 899 F.2d 1281, 1284-85 (2d Cir. 1990)
(“[t]he trial court has broad discretion to determine whether
consolidation is appropriate . . . [and] courts have taken the

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view

that

considerations

of

judicial

economy

favor

consolidation”).
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Funds’ Motion (Funds
Action, Docket Entry 15; North Star Action, Docket Entry 15) is
GRANTED and the Clerk of the Court is directed to CONSOLIDATE
Trustees

of

Empire

State

Carpenters

Annuity,

Apprenticeship,

Labor-Management Cooperation, Pension and Welfare Funds v. North
Star Concrete Construction Corp., No. 14-CV-3132, and North Star
Concrete Construction Corp. v. Empire State Carpenters Annuity,
Apprenticeship, Pension, Welfare, and Labor Management Cooperation
Funds, No. 14-CV-3498.

All future filings are to be docketed in

the earlier case number, 14-CV-3132, and the Clerk of the Court is
directed

to

mark

case

number

14-CV-3498

CLOSED.

Upon

consolidation, the Clerk of the Court is directed to add the
Complaint and Answer in Case No. 14-CV-3498, (Docket Entries 1 and
4), on the docket in Case No. 14-CV-3132.

SO ORDERED.

/s/ JOANNA SEYBERT______
Joanna Seybert, U.S.D.J.
Dated:

December
8 , 2016
Central Islip, New York

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