Trustees Of The New York City District Council Of Carpenters Pension Fund v…

Background

The petitioners sought confirmation of an arbitration award against Triangle Enterprise NYC, Inc. The petitioners included employee-benefit funds, a charitable fund, Carpenter Contractor Alliance of Metropolitan New York, and the New York City District Council of Carpenters. The opinion states that the employee-benefit funds were organized and operated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Union represented certain Triangle employees, and Triangle was a contractor for the New York City School Construction Authority.

Project Labor Agreements and collective bargaining agreements required Triangle to make contributions to the funds for covered employee work. Those agreements also required Triangle to provide books and payroll records for audits and allowed either side to arbitrate disputes about fund payments. The agreements authorized an arbitrator to award interest, liquidated damages, attorney fees, and costs.

The petitioners audited Triangle’s contributions from August 7, 2014, through September 17, 2017. The auditor concluded that Triangle had failed to remit $303,510.83. An arbitrator issued an award on September 28, 2019. The award included $303,510.83 in principal, $56,415.51 in interest, $60,702.17 in liquidated damages, $31,797.69 in non-audit late-payment interest, $522.20 in promotional-fund contributions, $400 in court costs, $1,500 in attorney fees, $500 in arbitrator fees, and $20,651.50 in audit costs, for a total award of $475,999.90, with interest accruing at 7.5% annually.

Triangle had paid $173,319.42 by January 29, 2020, leaving $300,680.48 outstanding. Triangle did not oppose the petition in federal court. The opinion states that Triangle’s principal appeared at the arbitration hearing and did not contest the audit findings.

Legal standard

The court explained that an arbitration award must generally be converted into a court judgment to be enforced. Under the Federal Arbitration Act, the court generally must confirm the award unless it is vacated, modified, or corrected. The court also treated the unanswered petition as an unopposed motion for summary judgment, meaning a request for judgment without a trial when no genuine dispute over a material fact requires a trial. Even without an opposition, the petitioners still had to show that no material factual dispute prevented enforcement.

Court’s analysis

The court found that arbitration was authorized because the dispute concerned Triangle’s alleged failure to make contributions required by the collective bargaining agreements. The court also found that the arbitrator acted within the authority granted by those agreements. The arbitrator received notice of the hearing, Triangle’s principal appeared, and the evidence showed that the arbitrator considered the audit testimony, accounting method, and audit summary. Nothing before the court showed that the amount was incorrect or that the accounting methods were unsound. The court therefore confirmed the arbitration award.

The court granted prejudgment interest at 7.5% annually from the award date through the date of judgment. It also granted postjudgment interest calculated from the date judgment was entered under the statutory rate applicable to civil judgments.

The court determined that Triangle’s failure to comply with the award, combined with its failure to provide a justification for noncompliance, supported an award of attorney fees and costs for the federal confirmation proceeding. The petitioners requested $2,084.50 in attorney fees and $70 in costs. The court found the hours billed reasonable but reduced two hourly rates: it approved $300 per hour rather than $350 per hour for the partner’s 2020 work and $225 per hour rather than $275 per hour for the associate’s work. It approved the $120-per-hour rate for legal assistants.

Disposition

Judge Ronnie Abrams granted the petition to confirm the arbitration award. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment for $300,680.48, plus prejudgment interest at 7.5% annually from September 28, 2019, through the date of judgment and postjudgment interest. The court granted attorney fees and costs in the amounts of $1,764.50 and $70, respectively, and directed the clerk to close the case.