Manny Pastreich v. Coastal Cleaning LLC

Background

The petitioners are jointly administered multi-employer labor-management trust funds established and maintained under collective bargaining agreements between Service Employees’ International Union, Local 32BJ, and Coastal Cleaning LLC. The agreements required Coastal Cleaning to make monthly benefit contributions for eligible employees and submit reports of employees’ hours.

The Funds alleged that Coastal Cleaning failed to make required contributions from August 2019 through January 2025 and failed to submit required hours reports. They initiated arbitration before Arbitrator Gary T. Kendellen. At the arbitration hearing, Coastal Cleaning’s chief executive officer conceded that the company had failed to make the contributions and submit the reports. Coastal Cleaning sought a payment schedule and reduced interest and liquidated damages, but the arbitrator rejected those requests.

The arbitrator awarded the Funds $2,033,090.87, consisting of $2,012,549.62 in past-due contributions, interest, and liquidated damages, plus $20,541.25 in attorneys’ fees. The arbitrator also directed Coastal Cleaning to provide the missing hours reports within two weeks. The award prospectively provided for attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in an action to confirm the award, but it did not address additional contributions that might be calculated after receiving the missing reports.

Court’s Analysis

The Funds moved for summary judgment, asking the court to confirm the arbitration award. Coastal Cleaning did not appear in the case or oppose the motion. The court nevertheless reviewed the Funds’ evidence, including the collective bargaining agreements and the arbitration award, rather than treating the motion as automatically established by Coastal Cleaning’s failure to respond.

The court found no genuine dispute about the award’s validity. It concluded that the arbitrator had at least arguably interpreted and applied the collective bargaining agreements and had acted within the scope of the arbitrator’s authority. The court also found no basis to set aside the award for corruption, fraud, undue means, bias, misconduct, exceeding the arbitrator’s powers, or manifest disregard of the law.

The court confirmed the award and awarded the damages and arbitration-related attorneys’ fees and costs included in it, totaling $2,033,090.87. It also awarded prejudgment interest at 9% from March 10, 2025, the date of the award, through the date of judgment, and post-judgment interest at the statutory rate.

The court did not order Coastal Cleaning to pay additional contributions that might be calculated from the missing hours reports. It treated that request as seeking modification of the award and found no statutory basis for modifying or correcting it. The court also denied the Funds’ request for attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in this court action because the Funds had not submitted an accounting or contemporaneous time records. The denial was without prejudice to renewal on a more complete record.

Disposition

Judge Katherine Polk Failla ordered that the motion for summary judgment was GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. The court confirmed the arbitration award as described, but did not direct the clerk to enter judgment at that time because the request for case-related attorneys’ fees and costs remained unresolved. The Funds were ordered to submit a supplemental brief supporting that request within one week if they wished to renew it. The clerk was directed to terminate the motion at docket entry 11.