Knight

We must decide whether a district court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction precludes it from awarding costs and attorneys’ fees against a plaintiff alleging a cause of action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

I

Homer and Donzelle Knight (collectively “the Knights”) are construction contractors and the sole shareholders of the H.K. Concrete Company (“H.K. Concrete”). H.K. Concrete was bound by a master labor agreement (“MLA”) executed between the United General Contractors, Inc., and the Southern California District Conference of Carpenters. H.K. Concrete defaulted in its obligation under the MLA to make fringe benefit contributions to ERISA plans administered by the Carpenters Southern California Administrative Corporation (“CSCAC”) pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq. CSCAC thus sued and obtained a judgment against H.K. Concrete for its delinquent contributions. The Knights thereafter filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.

CSCAC filed an adversary complaint in the Knights’s bankruptcy proceeding, seeking satisfaction of the judgment that it had won in its earlier suit. In its…