Northwest Administrators Inc v. Fred Hill Materials Inc

Filing 13

ORDER granting 6 Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment by Hon. Mary Alice Theiler.(MD)

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE CASE NO. C09-0197-MAT

09 NORTHWEST ADMINISTRATORS, INC., ) ) Plaintiff, 10 ) ) v. 11 ) ) 12 FRED HILL MATERIALS, INC., ) ) Defendant. 13 ) ____________________________________ ) 14 15

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Plaintiff Northwest Administrators, Inc. moves the Court for summary judgment

16 against defendant Fred Hill Materials, Inc. (Dkts. 6 & 7.) This matter was brought pursuant 17 to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq. ("ERISA"). 18 Defendant is bound by a collective bargaining agreement with Local 589 of the International 19 Brotherhood of Teamsters, which requires defendant to pay monthly contributions to the 20 Washington Teamsters Welfare Trust Fund (hereinafter "Trust") for eligible employees. (See 21 Dkt. 8, Ex. A.) Defendant also signed an Agreement and Declaration of Trust containing 22 terms as to damages owed as a result of any delinquent contributions, as well as attorneys' fees

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT PAGE -1

01 and costs. (Id., Ex. B.) Plaintiff is the authorized administrative agent for and assignee of the 02 Trust and seeks delinquent contributions to the Trust, as well as associated damages, attorneys' 03 fees, and costs for the period from December 2008 through February 2009. Plaintiff attaches 04 remittance reports from defendant for the month of December 2008 and a spreadsheet showing 05 the amounts of contributions owed, their due dates, and calculations of liquidated damages and 06 interest. (Id., Exs. C & D.) 07 In its answer to plaintiff's complaint, defendant acknowledged that it was a party to the

08 above-described agreements, admitted that it failed to report for and pay some, but not all, of 09 the relief requested, admitted that its records contained detailed information necessary to 10 determine the extent of its unpaid allegations to plaintiff, but otherwise denied plaintiff's 11 allegations. Defendant did not oppose plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. The Court 12 deems defendant's failure to oppose to be an admission that plaintiff's motion has merit. See 13 Local Civil Rule 7(b)(2). The Court also, for the reasons described below, finds plaintiff 14 entitled to summary judgment. 15 Summary judgment is appropriate when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to

16 interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no 17 genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a 18 matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986). 19 The moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law when the nonmoving party fails to 20 make a sufficient showing on an essential element of his case with respect to which he has the 21 burden of proof. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322-23. 22 ERISA obligates participating employers to make contributions to a multi-employer

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01 trust fund in accordance with the contract and trust agreement. See ERISA Section 515, 29 02 U.S.C. § 1145. ERISA also provides specific mandatory remedies for delinquent

03 contributions, including, in addition to the unpaid contributions, liquidated damages, interest, 04 attorney's fees, and costs. See 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2). As noted, defendant also signed an 05 Agreement and Declaration of Trust containing terms as to damages owed as a result of 06 delinquent contributions. 07 In this case, using the remittance reports for the month of December 2008, plaintiff

08 calculates total contributions owed in the estimated amount of $186,998.82 for the period of 09 December 2008 through February 2009. (See Dkt. 8, ¶ 11 and Exs. C & D.) Plaintiff further 10 calculates that defendant is obligated to pay liquidated damages in the amount of $37,399.76, 11 pre-judgment interest, as of March 19, 2009, in the amount of $2,336.20, $578.75 in attorneys' 12 fees, and $455.10 in costs. (Id., ¶ 13 and Exs. C & D; Dkt. 9, ¶¶ 2, 5 and Ex. A.) 13 The Court finds no issues of fact regarding either the enforceability of the collective

14 bargaining and trust agreements at issue in this case or plaintiff's entitlement to the total amount 15 of delinquent contributions, liquidated damages, interest, attorneys' fees, and costs sought. 16 Accordingly, the Court finds summary judgment appropriate. 17 For the reasons described above, plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is hereby

18 GRANTED and plaintiff awarded a total of $186,998.82 in delinquent contributions for the 19 period from December 2008 through February 2009. Plaintiff is also entitled to liquidated 20 damages, interest, attorneys' fees, and costs, as outlined above. However, because plaintiff 21 calculated the amounts described above as of March 19, 2009, a revised accounting may now be 22 in order. Accordingly, plaintiff shall submit such information within ten (10) days of the date

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT PAGE -3

01 of this Order. 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 s/ Mary Alice Theiler United States Magistrate Judge DATED this 5th day of June, 2009.

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