Welfare v. Media
Trustees of the Welfare, Pension and Annuity Funds of Local No. One, I.A.T.S.E. v. NBCUniversal Media, LLC
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:19-cv-02748
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Trustees v. NBCUniversal, Judge Caproni granted mediation, stayed discovery, and postponed the pretrial conference.
The Trustees, the employee-benefit funds they represent, and NBCUniversal Media, LLC were affected by the mediation referral, discovery stay, and postponement of the pretrial conference.
What happened
Trustees of the Welfare, Pension and Annuity Funds of Local No. One, I.A.T.S.E. sued NBCUniversal Media, LLC over allegedly unpaid employee-benefit contributions for 2013 through 2016. NBCUniversal said the parties had agreed on the additional contributions owed and that it had paid the contributions and interest, or was checking whether more interest was due.
The remaining disputes concerned possible liquidated damages, attorneys’ fees, other remedies, and whether NBCUniversal could receive a refund or offset for alleged overpayments. NBCUniversal asked the court to send the case to mediation before a magistrate judge and to pause discovery or extend the discovery deadline.
Judge Valerie Caproni granted the mediation request. She ordered discovery stayed until the settlement conference was complete, postponed the scheduled pretrial conference until after that conference, and required the parties to report within one week afterward whether they had reached a resolution.
The detailed version
- Welfare v. Media · No. 1:19-cv-02748
- Valerie Caproni
- Dec. 4, 2019
Background
The Funds brought the action to recover employee-benefit plan contributions that the Funds’ auditor allegedly identified as delinquent for 2013 through 2016. The Funds sought unpaid contributions, interest, additional interest, attorneys’ fees, and auditor’s fees. NBCUniversal asserted counterclaims seeking the return of, or an offset for, alleged overpayments.
According to NBCUniversal’s request, the parties engaged in informal discovery and provided additional information to the Funds’ auditor. They then agreed on the amount of additional contributions owed. NBCUniversal paid those contributions with full interest and was verifying whether additional interest had accrued. The parties continued to dispute liquidated damages, attorneys’ fees, other remedies, and any offset or refund for alleged overpayments.
Request for mediation
NBCUniversal asked the court to refer the action to mediation before a magistrate judge. It also requested that the action be stayed until mediation was completed or that the discovery deadline be extended by two months.
Ruling
The court granted the application and stated that a separate magistrate-referral order would be entered. The court stayed discovery until the settlement conference was complete and postponed the December 20, 2019 pretrial conference until after the settlement conference. The parties were required to notify the court within one week after the conference whether they had reached a resolution. The order did not decide the parties’ underlying disputes about contributions, fees, damages, remedies, or overpayments.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.
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