Operating Engineers Health And Welfare Trust Fund For Northern California v…

Background

TDW Construction, Inc. entered into two collective bargaining agreements requiring it to make health, pension, and other benefit contributions for its employees’ work. Contributions were due on the fifteenth day of the following month and became delinquent on the twenty-fifth day. The agreements provided for interest and liquidated damages—set amounts intended to compensate for late payment—along with attorney’s fees and costs.

TDW made delinquent payments from April 2018 through February 2019 and later made additional delinquent payments through November 2019. By the time of the motion, TDW had paid all outstanding contribution amounts and costs, along with portions of the liquidated damages, interest, and attorney’s fees. The plans sought the remaining amounts. The plans initially also sought additional contributions based on an audit, but withdrew that request after TDW objected to the supporting evidence.

Evidentiary objection

TDW asked the court to exclude declarations supporting the motion because the plans had not identified the declarants in their initial disclosures. The court denied that request. It found that the replacement declarations provided the same relevant facts as the original declaration and that any new facts merely responded to TDW’s opposition. The court therefore considered the replacement declarations.

Merits

The court held that the plans established liability under Section 515 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1145. The parties did not dispute that the plans were multiemployer plans, that the agreements required TDW to make contributions, or that TDW failed to make timely payments.

For contributions paid late before the lawsuit—covering April through August 2018, October through December 2018, and February 2019—the court applied the agreements’ 10% liquidated-damages rate and granted summary judgment. The award totaled $15,617.14.

For September 2018, the court denied the request for 20% liquidated damages on the entire contribution amount. It found that $2,483 remained unpaid when the complaint was filed, while TDW had paid $17,970 before the lawsuit. The court awarded 20% damages on the unpaid $2,483 and 10% damages on the pre-suit payment, for a total September award of $2,293.60.

For March through November 2019, the court held that contributions that became due after the complaint could support mandatory liquidated damages under ERISA. It also held that the agreements provided for a 20% rate after litigation began. The court granted summary judgment for $35,702.82 in liquidated damages for those months.

The court granted summary judgment for $20.95 in interest on late-paid November 2019 contributions. It also granted the request for the plans’ remaining attorney’s fees of $3,864.50. The complaint had sought injunctive relief, but the plans abandoned that request.

Disposition

The court’s order states that the plans’ motion for summary judgment was GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. It granted the specified awards for pre-suit liquidated damages, post-complaint liquidated damages, interest, and attorney’s fees; denied the request for 20% liquidated damages on the entire September 2018 contribution amount; and awarded the September amount using the separate 10% and 20% rates described above.