Chicago District Council of Carpenters Pension Fund, et al. v. K & I Construction, Inc.

The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

Diane P. Wood, Circuit Judge. This case arises out of a dispute between the Chicago District Council of Carpenters Pension, Welfare, and Apprentice and Trainees Program Trust Funds (the Funds) and K&I Construction, Inc. (K&I) over the fringe benefits K&I was required to pay to the Funds on behalf of its employees, who are members of the Chicago Northeast Illinois District Council of Carpenters and its local unions (the Union). The Funds sued K&I to recover contributions that were due; when the Union responded with a strike in support of the Funds, K&I filed a third-party complaint against the Union in which it asked for an anti- strike injunction under the Supreme Court’s decision in Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks Union, Local 770, 398 U.S. 235 (1970). The district court refused to grant the injunction, and K&I appealed. After hearing oral argument, we issued an order affirming the district court’s decision. The present opinion explains how and why we reached that conclusion.

I

K&I is a subcontractor for homebuilders in the Chicago area; it and the Union are parties to a collective bargaining agreement that requires K&I to pay certain contributions to the Funds. On October 17, 2000, the Funds submitted to K&I an audit report claiming that between January of 1997 and December of 1999, K&I failed to forward almost $800,000 in required fringe benefit contributions. K&I disputed that it owed the contributions, and so the Funds filed suit. On October 31, 2000, the Union went on strike in support of the Funds’ fringe benefit claim.