Kinsinger et al v. Smartcore, LLC et al
Filing
86
ORDER granting in part and denying in part 70 Motion for Summary Judgment ; denying 72 Motion for Summary Judgment. This case will proceed to a bench trial, scheduled for April 3, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 1-1 of the Charles R. Jonas Federal Building, 401 W. Trade Street, Charlotte. Signed by Chief Judge Frank D. Whitney on 2/11/19. (clc)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE DIVISION
CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:17-CV-00643-FDW-DCK
DENISE KINSINGER
ERIC KINSINGER,
Plaintiffs,
v.
STEVEN MATTHEW GOOD
WILLIAM H WINN JR
SMARTCORE, LLC GROUP HEALTH
BENEFIT PLAN
SMARTCORE ELECTRICAL
SERVICES, LLC
SMARTCORE ELECTRIC, LLC
SMARTCORE, LLC
JARED CRAFTON CROOK,
Defendants.
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ORDER
This written order is intended to memorialize the Court’s oral rulings stated in court on
February 4, 2019. For the reasons stated in open court, Plaintiffs’ “Motion for Summary Judgment
Against Defendants Smartcore, Winn and Good”, (Doc. No. 70), is GRANTED IN PART and
DENIED IN PART. Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED. Plaintiffs’ Motion
is granted with regards to liability for Plaintiff’s Breach of Contract and NC Wage and Hour Act
Claims. The Court finds that there is no genuine dispute that Defendant violated the North Carolina
Wage and Hour Act, and that Plaintiff is owed wages in the amount of $6,250 plus additional
statutory interest. In addition, the Court finds that double damages are appropriate under North
Carolina law.1 See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.22. The Court will order briefing at a later date to
determine the exact amount of the judgment on this claim.
1
Defendants conceded at oral arguments that the doubling of damages was warranted.
For Plaintiffs’ wrongful denial of benefits and breach of ERISA fiduciary duty claims, the
Court finds that there are genuine disputes of material fact. Since there is no right to a jury trial for
ERISA claims, this case will proceed to a bench trial, scheduled for April 3, 2019 at 9:00 a.m.
in Courtroom 1-1 of the Charles R. Jonas Federal Building, 401 W. Trade Street, Charlotte,
NC 28202. See Phelps v. C.T. Enters., Inc., 394 F.3d 213, 222 (4th Cir. 2005) (“[P]roceedings to
determine rights under employee benefit plans are equitable in character and thus a matter for a
judge, not a jury.”) (citation and internal quotations omitted). As stated in court, the Court will
hear testimony from all individuals who have submitted an affidavit in this case. Parties may
present additional witnesses for their respective cases.
The remainder of this Order is intended to revise and supplement this Court’s earlier
pretrial order. (Doc. No. 35). Except as stated in this Order, the Court’s original pretrial order
remains in effect.
PRETRIAL AND TRIAL PROCEDURES
a.
Trial. This case shall be tried without a jury. Counsel should be prepared to
proceed to trial on April 3, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. The Court anticipates trial to last
for one (1) day.
b.
Final Pretrial Conference. The Court will not hold a final pretrial conference.
c.
Pretrial Submissions. The Court requires the following pretrial submissions to be
jointly drafted and submitted to Chambers by March 20, 2019:
i.
Proposed Pretrial Order. This document shall contain:
(1)
A joint statement of the case.
(2)
Stipulations as to all issues of law or fact to which the parties can
agree for purposes of streamlining trial. If a party fails to stipulate
to a fact (e.g., the authenticity of a document) without articulating
a good faith basis for disputing it, the Court shall assess against that
party the opposing party’s costs (including the cost of subpoena
service, witness travel costs and fees, and reasonable attorney’s
fees) incurred in proving the fact at trial. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
37(c)(2).
(3)
A brief synopsis (no argument) of the legal or factual contentions
about which the parties have been unable to stipulate. Any advocacy
should be reserved for a trial brief which may be submitted as
provided in Paragraph 4(d) below.
(4)
A list of exhibits that each party may offer at trial (except those
offered solely for impeachment or cross-examination), numbered
sequentially; a brief description of the exhibit; any stipulations as to
authenticity or admissibility; and the basis for any objections. This
information shall be entered into a table in substantially the
following format (the last two columns should be left blank to be
completed by the courtroom clerk at trial):
Exh.
No.
Description
Stipulation –
Authenticity
Stipulation –
Admissibility
Objections
1
Police Report
Yes
No
Hearsay
2
Draft of Contract
No
No
Foundation,
Relevance,
Parol Evidence
Identified
By
Admitted
(5)
Designations by volume, page and line of all portions of pleadings
and discovery materials, including depositions, interrogatories, and
requests for admission, that each party may offer at trial (except
those offered solely for impeachment or cross-examination); crossdesignations; a brief description of the substance of the
designation; and the basis for any objections. This information
should be entered into a similar table format as the exhibit list.
(6)
A list of the names and addresses of all witnesses each party may
offer at trial, together with a brief statement of what counsel
proposes to establish by their testimony.
(7)
A statement of the qualifications of any expert witness a party may
offer at trial, unless the parties have stipulated to the qualifications
of the expert witness as provided above.
ii.
Exhibit Notebooks. Copies of all proffered documentary exhibits
(including designated portions of discovery materials), properly bound,
indexed, and tabbed.2 In addition, in order to facilitate publishing exhibits
electronically through the multimedia technology available in the
courtroom, counsel shall submit to Chambers a CD-ROM containing the
pertinent files (in JPEG or PDF format for documents and images and
MPEG format for audio/video), named according to the corresponding
exhibit number assigned to the exhibit in the proposed pretrial order.
These exhibit notebooks and CD-ROMs are to be courtesy copies for the
2
The Court requests only one complete exhibit notebook.
Court’s personal use at trial. Counsel should be aware that each party will
bear sole responsibility for maintaining the actual exhibits offered by that
party and admitted at trial. All working drafts of documents (e.g., the
proposed pretrial order) shall be submitted to Chambers electronically, in
either WordPerfect (WPD) or Rich Text (RTF) format, utilizing the
CyberClerk feature of CM/ECF. Submissions required to be made in a
tangible medium (e.g., hard copies of papers and exhibits) must be sent so
as ensure their receipt in Chambers by the deadlines set forth herein.
d.
Trial Briefs and Motions in limine. To the extent that contested issues of law
can be anticipated in advance of trial, trial briefs and/or motions in limine,3 if
appropriate, shall be filed by March 25, 2019. Written responses shall be due
on March 28, 2019. Word limits for motions in limine shall be governed by
Paragraph 3(c)(i) and word limits for trial briefs shall be governed by Paragraph
3(c)(ii) of the original case management order.
e.
Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Proposed findings of fact
and conclusions of law shall be due on March 20, 2019.
f.
De Bene Esse Depositions. De bene esse trial depositions may not be taken
outside of the discovery period without consent of all parties or leave of court
upon a showing: (i) that the deponent will be unavailable at trial for one of the
reasons set forth in Rule 32(a)(3) and, if the reason for unavailability is that the
witness resides outside of the Court’s subpoena power, that the party desiring the
testimony has first made a good faith effort to obtain the voluntary attendance of
3
Due to the more informal nature of a bench trial, a motion in limine should not be filed if the objection is
susceptible to resolution in the course of trial.
the witness at trial; (ii) that the witness had not previously been deposed in a
discovery deposition, or that exigent facts exist which would justify reopening the
deposition; (iii) that the deposition can be scheduled at least fourteen (14)
calendar days before the first day of the trial term during which the case has been
calendared; and (iv) that no substantial and irremediable prejudice will result to an
adverse party on account of the taking of the deposition.
g.
Trial Subpoenas. Counsel must subpoena all witnesses by March 20, 2019.
The Court may elect not to enforce subpoenas that have not been issued in
compliance with this deadline or, if requested, may quash subpoenas that have not
been issued in compliance with this deadline.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Signed: February 11, 2019
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