Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/382/257/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 21:53:58+00:00

Document:
Gunther v. San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Co.
Petitioner, after long employment as an engineer was removed from service following an adverse physical report by respondent railroad's physicians. His own doctor thereafter examined petitioner and pronounced him fit to work. When the railroad rejected petitioner's request for reexamination or restoration to service, he filed with the Railroad Adjustment Board a claim for reinstatement and back pay. The Board appointed a three-doctor committee, which found petitioner fit to act as an engineer. The Board, having interpreted seniority and other provisions of the collective bargaining agreement as guaranteeing petitioner's continued service while physically qualified, ordered his reinstatement with back pay for time lost. Upon the railroad's refusal to comply, petitioner brought this enforcement action in District Court. That court refused to uphold the Board's order, finding nothing in the collective bargaining agreement to limit the railroad's right to remove petitioner upon a medical disability finding by its physicians. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
1. The Adjustment Board, an experienced representative body created by § 3 of the Railway Labor Act for settling disputes in the railroad industry, including interpretation of agreements, did not abuse its discretion by its interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement or its appointment of the medical board and reliance on its findings. Pp. 382 U. S. 261-262.
2. A federal district court, under § 3 First(m) of the Railway Labor Act, which provides for finality of Adjustment Board awards "except insofar as they shall contain a money award," cannot open up the Board's finding on the merits merely because its determination on the central issue of wrongful discharge included a money award. Pp. 382 U. S. 263-264.
petitioner's health in the seven years since the Board heard and decided the case. Pp. 382 U. S. 264-265.
336 F.2d 543, reversed and remanded.
The petitioner, Gunther, worked as a fireman for respondent railroad for eight years, from 1916 to 1924, and as an engineer for 30 years, from 1924 until December 30, 1954. On that date, shortly after his seventy-first birthday, he was removed from active service because of an alleged physical disability. The railroad's action was taken on the basis of reports made by its physicians, after physical examinations of petitioner, that, in their opinion, he was no longer physically qualified to work as a locomotive engineer because his "heart was in such condition that he would be likely to suffer an acute coronary episode." Dissatisfied with the railroad doctors' findings, Mr. Gunther went to a recognized specialist who, after examination, concluded that petitioner was qualified physically to continue work as an engineer. On the basis of this report, petitioner requested the railroad to join him in the selection a three-doctor board to reexamine his physical qualifications for return to service. The railroad refused. This disagreement led to prolonged litigation which has reached us 11 years after the controversy arose.
"one chosen by carrier and one by the employee, and the third by the two so selected, for the purpose of determining the facts as to claimant's disability and the propriety of his removal from service. . . ."
filed this action in a district court of the United States for an appropriate court order to enforce the Adjustment Board's award. After hearings, the District Court, in its third opinion in the case, held the award erroneous and refused to enforce it. [Footnote 4] The District Court's refusal was based on its conclusion that there were no express or implied provisions in the collective bargaining contract which, in the court's judgment, limited in any way what it found to be the absolute right of the railroad, in absence of such provisions, to remove petitioner from active service whenever its physicians found in good faith "that plaintiff was physically disqualified from such service." The Court of Appeals affirmed, agreeing with the interpretation put upon the contract by the District Court, and thereby rejected the Board's interpretation of the contract and its decision on the merits of the dispute. 336 F.2d 543. We granted certiorari because the holding of the two courts below seemed, in several respects, to run counter to the requirements of the Railway Labor Act as we have construed it. 380 U.S. 905.
employees and a carrier or carriers growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements"
with the broad power to arbitrate grievances and plainly intended that interpretation of these controversial provisions should be submitted for the decision of railroad men, both workers and management, serving on the Adjustment Board with their long experience and accepted expertise in this field.
Board in some way breached its duty or went beyond its power in relying as it did upon the finding of this board of doctors.
"statutory scheme cannot realistically be squared with the contention that Congress did not purpose to foreclose litigation in the courts over grievances submitted to and disposed of by the Board. . . ."
field," p. 373 U. S. 40, "the complete and final means for settling minor disputes," p. 373 U. S. 39, and "a mandatory, exclusive, and comprehensive system for resolving grievance disputes." P. 373 U. S. 38.
The Railway Labor Act, as construed in the foregoing and other opinions of this Court, does not allow a federal district court to review an Adjustment Board's determination of the merits of a grievance merely because a part of the Board's award, growing from its determination on the merits, is a money award. The basic grievance here -- that is, the complaint that petitioner has been wrongfully removed from active service as an engineer because of health -- has been finally, completely, and irrevocably settled by the Adjustment Board's decision. Consequently, the merits of the wrongful removal issue as decided by the Adjustment Board must be accepted by the District Court.
any proper issues that can be raised with reference to the amount of money necessary to compensate for the time lost. In deciding this issue as to how much money petitioner will be entitled to receive because of lost time, the District Court will bear in mind the fact that the decision on the merits of the wrongful removal issue related to the time when the Board heard and decided the case. Eleven years have elapsed since that time, long enough for many changes to have occurred in connection with petitioner's health. This would, of course, be relevant in determining the amount of money to be paid him in a lawsuit which can, as the statute provides, proceed on this separable issue "in all respects as other civil suits" where damages must be determined.
The judgments of the courts below are reversed, and the cause is remanded to the District Court for consideration not inconsistent with this opinion.
48 Stat. 1185, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (1964 ed.).
"failing to reach an adjustment . . . may be referred by petition of the parties or by either party to the appropriate division of the Adjustment Board with a full statement of the facts and all supporting data bearing upon the disputes."
"If a carrier does not comply with an order of a division of the Adjustment Board within the time limit in such order, the petitioner . . . may file in the District Court of the United States for the district in which he resides or in which is located the principal operating office of the carrier . . . a petition setting forth briefly . . . the order of the division of the Adjustment Board in the premises. Such suit in the District Court of the United States shall proceed in all respects as other civil suits, except that on the trial of such suit the findings and order of the division of the Adjustment Board shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated. . . . The district courts are empowered, under the rules of the court governing actions at law, to make such order and enter such judgment, by writ of mandamus or otherwise, as may be appropriate to enforce or set aside the order of the division of the Adjustment Board."
192 F.Supp. 882, 198 F.Supp. 402. The third opinion written by the court is not reported.
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Chicago River & Indiana R. Co., 353 U. S. 30, 353 U. S. 39.
48 Stat. 1191, 45 U.S.C. § 153, First(m) (1964 ed.).

References: v. 
 § 3
 § 3
 § 151
 v. 
 § 153