Defendants, two general contractors, appealed the grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs, four employee benefit funds and two labor unions. Defendants signed onto a CBA that required them to submit monthly contributions to the funds. Plaintiffs audited defendants for January 2017 through March 2020 and discovered that they had failed to report and pay necessary contributions for covered laborers. The district court granted summary judgment for plaintiffs, rejecting defendants’ assertions that they were not bound by ERISA or the CBA or that the NLRA required plaintiffs to exhaust administrative remedies.

Where there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether defendants received authorization cards necessary to trigger their contribution obligations under the CBA, the district court erred in granting plaintiffs summary judgment.

Judgment is reversed.

Greater St. Louis Construction Laborers Welfare Fund v. B.F.W. Contracting, LLC (MLW No. 80319/Case No. 22-2138 – 7 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Smith, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Sippel, J. (Philip H. Dennis, II, of Clayton, MO for appellant) (Janine Marie Martin, of St.

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