Mora v. Shin Honda, Inc.
Mora v. Shin Honda, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Balbino Mora appeals an order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of defendants, Shin Honda and Shin Honda, Inc. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
I.
Mora’s suit was brought pursuant to § 502 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”),
Mora is an ERISA participant, and he may be entitled to benefits under an ERISA plan. However, “ ‘ERISA permits suits [under § 1132(a)(1)(B)] to recover benefits only against the Plan as an entity.’ ” Everhart v. Allmerica Fin. Life Ins. Co., 275 F.Bd 751, 754 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting Gelardi v. Pertec Computer Corp., 761 F.2d 1323, 1324 (9th Cir. 1985)) (alteration in original). The parties against whom Mora filed suit are his employer, Shin Honda, Inc., and the individual owner of the company. Mora did not name in his complaint either the trust fund or the plan administrator. We therefore affirm the district court’s dismissal of the case. See id. at 756-57 (concluding that the district court properly rejected the plaintiffs § 1132(a)(1)(B) suit because she sued neither the plan nor the plan administrator).
II.
The district court also did not err in concluding that Mora was required to
Despite the exemption from arbitration in the CBA for a claim for “alleged failure to pay compensation,” Mora’s dispute with Shin Honda involves his classification and rate of pay, not merely a failure to be paid compensation. It therefore cannot be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause does not cover the dispute. Moreover, resolution of the claim would require interpretation of the CBA, and “ ‘[a] case is most clearly arbitrable ... when the union alleges a concrete violation of the agreement and interpretation or application of the agreement is required to resolve the dispute,’ ” Christensen, 952 F.2d at 1077 (quoting Aluminum Co. of Am. v. Int’l Union, 630 F.2d 1340, 1343 (9th Cir. 1980)).
III.
Finally, the district court correctly concluded that Mora’s state law claims are preempted by § 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185. See Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 220, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985) (holding that a state law claim is preempted by the LMRA if it is “substantially dependent upon analysis of the terms of an agreement made between the parties in a labor contract”); Cramer v. Consol. Freightways, Inc., 255 F.3d 683, 691 (9th Cir. 2001) (en banc) (noting that a claim is preempted if it “cannot be resolved without interpreting the applicable CBA”), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 122 S.Ct. 806, 151 L.Ed.2d 692 (2002).
For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants-is AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Cir. R. 36-3.
. Because the parties are familiar with the facts of the case, we do not recite them here.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Balbino MORA, Plaintiff—Appellant v. SHIN HONDA, INC., a California Corporation Shin Honda, an individual, Defendants—Appellees
- Status
- Published