Tony Messer v. Garrison Investment Group, LP

── Tony Messer v. Garrison Investment Group, LP ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Date: May 26, 2026 Category: General USCA4 Appeal: 25-1657 Doc: 63 Filed: 05/26/2026 Pg: 1 of 21 PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 25-1657 TONY A. MESSER; KEVIN N. MUMPOWER; JANICE L. BOOHER; PATRICIA C. EADS; PHILIP E. BARBROW; BENJIE G. HICKS; KENDALL W. LUTTRELL; DARRELL G. MURRAY; DAVID A. STOVALL; DENNIS J. STILTNER; TIMOTHY M. WAMPLER; MICHAEL L. PARKER; CHARLES E. VESTAL; JIMMY AMBERGEY; DAVE S. BOOHER; LARRY RICHARDS, on behalf of themselves and on behalf of others similarly situated, Plaintiffs - Appellants, v. GARRISON INVESTMENT GROUP, LP; JOSEPH B. TANSEY; STEVEN SCOTT STUART; GIG GP LLC; JTSS BORROWER LLC; JOSHUA BRANDT; JULIAN WELDON; BRIAN STEVEN CHASE; GARRISON SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES GP LLC; GARRISON COMMERCIAL FUNDING VIII LLC; GARRISON FINANCIAL ASSETS MM LLC; GARRISON SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES HOLDINGS GP LLC; BCPI ACQUISITIONS, INC; GARRISON BRISTOL LLC; GARRISON BRISTOL HOLDINGS LLC, Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Abingdon. James P. Jones, Senior District Judge. (1:24-cv-00037-JPJ-PMS) Argued: March 17, 2026 Decided: May 26, 2026 Before KING, GREGORY, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. USCA4 Appeal: 25-1657 Doc: 63 Filed: 05/26/2026 Pg: 2 of 21 Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Thacker wrote the opinion in which Judge King and Judge Gregory joined. Mary Lynn Tate, TATE LAW P.C., Abingdon, Virginia, for Appellants. Mark Hunter Churchill, HOLLAND & KNIGHT LLP, Tysons, Virginia, for Appellees. 2 USCA4 Appeal: 25-1657 Doc: 63 Filed: 05/26/2026 Pg: 3 of 21 THACKER, Circuit Judge: Following a bench trial, Appellants, former employees of Bristol Compressors International, LLC (“BCI”), obtained a class action money judgment against BCI for violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (“the Warn Act”) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”). When efforts to collect the judgment from BCI failed, the former employees pivoted and filed this action seeking to enforce the BCI judgment against Garrison Investment Group, LP (“Garrison”) -- a party they voluntarily dismissed from the suit against BCI. The district court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the complaint sought to enforce the previous judgment against a party that was never found liable for the WARN Act and ERISA violations, and the complaint lacked an independent jurisdictional basis. Therefore, the district court dismissed the lawsuit. The district court was correct to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, we affirm. I. A. The Underlying Class Action Lawsuit -- Messer I Appellants worked at a BCI manufacturing facility in Bristol, Virgina. On July 1, 2018, BCI announced that it was going to cease operations and close “by or about August 31, 2018,” and that employment terminations would commence immediately. J.A. 25. 1 1 Citations to the “J.A.” refer to the Joint Appendix filed by the parties in this appeal. 3 USCA4 Appeal: 25-1657