Board of Trustees of the Construction Laborers' Pension Trust for Southern California v. M.M. Sundt Construction Co.

Plaintiff, Board of Trustees of the Construction Laborers’ Pension Trust for Southern California, and defendants, M.M. Sundt Construction and its subsidiary companies, are in arbitration over the amount of defendants’ withdrawal liability to the trust, pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERSIA”). 29 U.S.C. § 1399 . Plaintiff sought discovery of information relating to the issue of whether defendants had in fact withdrawn from the trust. When the arbitrator denied the discovery request, plaintiff sued in federal court to compel defendants to provide the information. 29 U.S.C. § 1399 (a). The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). We review a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Orion Pictures Corp. v. Writers’ Guild of America West, Inc., 946 F.2d 722, 724 (9th Cir.1991). We disagree with the district court that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case, but affirm the dismissal of the complaint on other grounds. Gemtel Corp. v. Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, 23 F.3d 1542, 1546 (9th Cir.1994) (appeals court may affirm district court’s…