Audit Services, Inc. v. Marselius Rolfson D/B/A Rolfson Company and Marcus Rolfson D/B/A Rolfson Company

The defendants appeal the judgment of the district court awarding plaintiff Audit Services, Inc., sums allegedly due to its assignors, certain union trust funds, as contributions for time worked by the defendants’ nonunion employees. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Marselius and Marcus Rolfson, father and son, respectively, are now engaged in separate business ventures in Poison, Montana. For many years, Marselius operated a construction and lumber business as a sole proprietorship known as Rolfson Company. Marcus joined Rolfson Company sometime around 1970 and quickly assumed an ever-widening range of supervisory authority over the company’s operations. Late in 1975, Marselius decided to retire from the construction business. Marcus, in effect, took the business over and formed a new entity, Rolfson Construction, a Montana corporation. Rolfson Construction has remained physically close to Rolfson Company. Rolfson Construction maintains its office at the Rolfson Company lumber yard, and uses Rolfson Company’s bookkeeper. Rolfson Construction’s shop is located across the street from the lumber yard in a building owned by Marcus. Rolfson Construction uses much…