SAN FRANCISCO – Two individuals and a pension plan are suing another individual and two companies that deal with construction and installation for a complaint under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
Richard Piombo, Russell E. Burns and the Pension Plan for Pension Trust Fund for Operating Engineers filed a lawsuit Jan. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Valley Isle Equipment Rental Inc., Charlie’s Underground and Installation and Construction Inc. and Charles R. Rodrigues, alleging that the defendants have defaulted on an outstanding withdrawal liability.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff pension plan had a fiscal year running from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 and Valley Isle Equipment Rental made a complete withdrawal of more than $1 million in August 2010. The defendants failed to make any of the required quarterly withdrawal installment payments and did not provide sufficient information regarding the controlled group members, the complaint states. Rodrigues and Charlie's Underground and Installation and Construction are in the same control group as Valley Isle Equipment Rental, the suit states, and are liable for the payments as well.
The plaintiffs are seeking the unpaid withdrawal liability of $1,065,324, interest at the rate of 10 percent simple interest per annum, and attorney and court fees. Anjuli M. Cargain, Anne M. Bevington and Shaamini A. Babu of Saltzman & Johnson Law Corp. in San Francisco are representing the plaintiffs.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-00238-JSC