Russ v. Smith Water Market Inc.

Dist. Ct. erred in finding in favor of defendants in ERISA action seeking delinquent pension and welfare payments to plaintiffs based upon terms of collective bargaining agreement calling for defendants' hiring of second driver position. While Dist. Ct. found that no actual agreement had been entered into by parties so as to support said payments, record suggested that parties had agreed to terms of collective bargaining agreement where defendant had made payments to pension funds according to other terms of disputed collective bargaining agreement. Moreover, under Labor Relations Management Act, written agreement was required for defendants’ participation in pension or welfare plan, such that defendants could not deny validity of disputed collective bargaining agreement, where there was no other agreement in existence at time of defendants’ payments to funds.