Carpenters Pension Trust Fund for Northern California v. Underground Construction Company, Inc.

Appellant Carpenters Pension Trust Fund for Northern California (“the Fund”) is a multiemployer pension plan for the carpenters who are .represented by Carpenters 46 Northern California Counties Conference Board of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (AFL-CIO). The trustees of the Fund administer the plan pursuant to a Trust Agreement. Appellee Underground Construction Co., Inc. (“Underground”) was for many years a signatory to the Trust Agreement and the relevant collective bargaining agreement, the Carpenters Master Agreement (“the CBA”).

During that period, Underground participated in two joint ventures (“JV”s), each formed to build a specific project. In each case, Underground had one JV partner; Underground owned 60 percent of the first JV and 55 percent of the second. The business operations of the JVs were entirely separate from those of Underground and its JV partners. Moreover, each JV was itself a signatory to the CBA, and each contributed to the Fund under its own account number and kept its own financial records.

In June 1986, Underground withdrew from the CBA and thereby terminated its obligation to make continued contributions to the Fund,…