Opinion ID: 695223
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Trust Funds Case

Text: 2 The Trust Funds brought an action in state court seeking money damages for allegedly delinquent fringe benefit contributions based upon a pre-hire CBA executed by employer Westlake. 1 Westlake removed the action to federal court. The parties entered into a stipulation of settlement which provided for an audit of Westlake's records. After the audit the parties were unable to reach a settlement, and the Trust Funds filed an amended complaint seeking to enforce the CBA by requiring Westlake to pay contributions in the amount of $22,325.46, plus interest, liquidated damages, attorneys' fees and costs. 3 It is undisputed that on October 12, 1977, Westlake and the Union entered into the CBA which bound it to the Laborers' Master Agreement. The master agreement establishes, inter alia, wages, hours and working conditions, and requires Westlake to make fringe benefit contributions to the Trust Funds on behalf of employees covered by the agreement, and further binds Westlake to the provisions of the Trust Agreements establishing the Trust Funds. Westlake paid contributions for fringe benefits to the Trust Funds from February 1967 until July 1990. 4 By letter dated September 24, 1990, Westlake notified the Union that it considered the CBA unenforceable and would no longer abide by the agreement because for the past three years it had never employed more than one individual performing laborer's work, and had no plans to hire employees in this classification in the future. Westlake's cancellation and repudiation of the CBA was thus based on the one-employee unit rule, which provides that employers need not participate in collective bargaining if they have only a single employee who falls within the collective bargaining unit. 2 5 The district court granted Westlake's motion for summary judgment and denied the Trust Funds' motion for summary judgment. The court determined that Westlake had lawfully repudiated the CBA and therefore was not obligated to pay the fringe benefit contributions claimed by the Trust Funds. The Trust Funds timely appeal.