Chicago Area I.B. of T. Health and Welfare Trust Fund v. Lurie Brothers LLC

          Jeremy M. Barr Jeremy M. Barr Attorney for the Plaintiffs.

          PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR ENTRY OF JUDGMENT

          Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, Judge.

         Plaintiffs the Chicago Area I.B. of T. Health and Welfare Trust Fund, the Chicago Area I.B. of T. Pension Trust Fund (“Pension Fund”), and the Chicago Area I.B. of T. Severance and Retirement Fund (collectively, “Funds”), by and through their Trustees Howard C. Murdoch, Ronald Sandack, Patrick Bruno, and Michael G. Philipp, and through their attorneys, Dowd, Bloch, Bennett, Cervone, Auerbach & Yokich, respectfully move this Court for entry of a judgment against Defendants Lurie Brothers LLC (“Lurie Brothers”), John Dernis, Alex Dernis, and Frank Cione. In support of this motion, the Funds state as follows:

1. This is a two-count action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Count I seeks liability against Defendants Lurie Brothers, John Dernis, Alex Dernis, and Frank Cione^[1] for unpaid welfare, pension, and severance contributions plus related interest, liquidated damages, and attorneys' fees and costs. Count II seeks withdrawal liability plus related interest, liquidated damages, and attorneys' fees and costs from Lurie Brothers.

2. On September 16, 2019, the Court entered default against Defendants Lurie Brothers, John Dernis, Alex Dernis, and Frank Cione under Count I and against Lurie Brothers under Count II. Notifications of Dkt. Entry [Doc. Nos. 31-32]. The Court set the next hearing for October 31, 2019 and stated that it will enter judgment on that date unless the parties reach a settlement.

3. Counsel for the Funds instructed John Dernis that the Defendants would need to submit a settlement proposal by September 30, 2019 to ensure that the Funds' Trustees would have sufficient time to consider and respond to the settlement offer prior to the October 31, 2019 hearing. As of the date this motion is filed, the Defendants have not submitted any settlement offers following the September 16, 2019 hearing.

4. The amended complaint, the exhibits thereto, and the declarations attached to this motion as Exhibits A and B establish that the Funds are entitled to a judgement for the following amounts:

         Count I

	Severance	Welfare	Pension
Contributions (10/17, 5/18-3/19)	$3, 398.40	$23, 846.68	$33, 412.99
Credits (9/17-10/17)	($20.12)	($253.55)	($0)
Interest (9/17-3/19)	$365.04	$2, 573.56	$3, 638.60
Liquidated Damages (9/17-3/19)	$368.14	$2, 573.56	$3, 625.92
Attorneys' Fees	$8, 967.77	$8, 967.77	$8, 967.78
Total	$13, 079.23	$37, 708.02	$49, 645.29

         Count II

Withdrawal Liability	$175, 679.00
Liquidated Damages	$ 35, 135.80
Interest	$ 2, 424.60
Attorneys' Fees and Costs	$ 7, 431.46
Total	$220, 670.86

         WHEREFORE, for the reasons stated above, Plaintiffs respectfully move this Court to enter judgment against Defendants Lurie Brothers, Alex Dernis, John Dernis, and Frank Cione under Count I and against Defendant Lurie Brothers under Count II in the form of the proposed judgment order submitted to the Court.

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