So. Cal. Painters v. Rodin and Co.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts

Rodin is a commercial painting contractor in Los Angeles. It has been in business for over eighteen years, employs more than seventy people, and completes more than one thousand commercial painting jobs each year. Fred Rodin1 is the sole shareholder of Rodin and is responsible for its daily opera- tions. Rodin is not a party to any union collective bargaining agreements. Ron Benveniste and Fred Rodin have been friends since the mid-1980s. Benveniste established a residen- tial painting business in 1979. In 2001, he wanted to expand his business to include commercial painting services, so he 1 Because Fred Rodin named his company after himself, we will refer to him as “Fred Rodin” or “Fred” and the company simply as “Rodin.” SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PAINTERS v. RODIN 3085 consulted with Fred, who already had experience in the com- mercial painting market. He told Benveniste that there were painting jobs Rodin could not perform as a non-union con- tractor, and recommended that Benveniste create a union company. Fred also advised that starting a union company would allow Benveniste to call the union when he needed painters rather than maintain a…