Opinion
Case No. 12 C 429
06-12-2012
MIDWEST OPERATING ENGINEERS WELFARE FUND; MIDWEST OPERATING ENGINEERS PENSION TRUST FUND; OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 150 APPRENTICESHIP FUND; LOCAL 150 I.U.O.E. VACATION SAVINGS PLAN; MIDWEST OPERATING ENGINEERS RETIREMENT ENHANCEMENT FUND, and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL 150, AFL-CIO, Plaintiffs, v. J&S CONSTRUCTION SEWER & WATER, INC., Defendant.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
This Court has received a copy of the Answer filed by J&S Construction Sewer & Water, Inc. ("J&S") to the First Amended Complaint ("FAC") brought against it by several employee benefit funds. This memorandum order is issued sua sponte because of some troublesome aspects of portions of that Answer.
In particular, J&S has flat-out denied the allegations in FAC Count I ¶ 5 that it is a party to collective bargaining agreements identified in the FAC by the plaintiff Funds. That denial appears to be directly contradicted by three Memoranda of Agreement that are attached to the FAC as its Exs. C, F and I, each of which is a photocopy of such a Memorandum executed by both J&S and the labor union referred to in the case caption. That same problem is posed by the Answer's outright denial of FAC Count II ¶ 5. And finally, J&S's counsel wrongfully "denies the Plaintiffs have stated a viable cause of action" at the conclusion of the response to each of the FAC's two counts.
Under the circumstances this Court orders J&S and its counsel to show cause on or before June 25, 2012 as to why the present Answer should not be stricken. Because the next scheduled status hearing is not until mid-August, this Court will very likely schedule an earlier session to address that subject.
This memorandum order has spoken only of a single paragraph in each of the FAC's two counts. But the apparent falsity of the responses to those two paragraphs may perhaps bear upon other related denials in the Answer, a subject that will be addressed once this order to show cause is responded to.
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Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge