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

Background

The petitioners were the Trustees of several New York City District Council of Carpenters funds, the New York City Carpenters Relief and Charity Fund, the Carpenter Contractor Alliance of Metropolitan New York, and the New York City District Council of Carpenters. M.A.B. Renovation Group Corp. was bound by collective bargaining agreements with the Union and by project labor agreements. Those agreements required M.A.B. to make contributions to the Funds and to provide its books and payroll records for audits.

The Funds requested an audit covering November 17, 2016 through the present to determine whether M.A.B. had made the required contributions. M.A.B. did not provide its books and records. Under the Funds’ collection policy, the Funds conducted an estimated audit, which calculated a principal contribution deficiency of $227,021.22.

The agreements allowed disputes about fund payments to be submitted to arbitration. After a hearing, arbitrator Roger E. Maher issued a written award dated August 6, 2021. The award found that M.A.B. violated the agreements by failing to permit the audit and ordered M.A.B. to pay $310,114.79: $227,021.22 in estimated unpaid contributions, $34,789.33 in interest, $45,404.24 in liquidated damages, $400 in court costs, $1,500 in attorneys’ fees, and $1,000 in arbitrator fees. The award also provided for interest at 5.25% on the total amount from the date of the award. The opinion states that the award had not been vacated or modified and that M.A.B. had not paid it.

Court’s analysis

The petitioners brought the case under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act and asked the court to confirm the arbitration award. Confirmation converts an arbitration award into a court judgment. The court explained that review of an arbitration award is highly limited and that an award generally must be confirmed unless it has been vacated, modified, or corrected. Because M.A.B. did not appear, the court evaluated the request under the standards for summary judgment, which asks whether there is any genuine dispute over an important fact and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment under the law.

The court determined that the petitioners had shown that no material fact was genuinely disputed. It found that the arbitrator acted within the authority granted by the agreements and that the award had at least a minimally plausible justification supported by the evidence presented at the arbitration. The court therefore confirmed the award for $310,114.79.

The petitioners also sought attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in bringing the federal petition. The court held that Section 301 did not provide authority for that additional award and found no evidence that M.A.B. had acted in bad faith. The court therefore did not award fees or costs associated with the petition.

Ruling and judgment

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer confirmed the arbitration award in favor of the petitioners and entered judgment for $310,114.79. The judgment included pre-judgment interest from the date of the arbitration award through the date of judgment at an annual rate of 5.25%. The court also awarded post-judgment interest from the date judgment was entered until payment, at the rate required by 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a). The court requested that the Clerk of Court close the case.