Opinion ID: 678863
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Motion Practice

Text: 39 Both the Supreme Court and this Circuit have considered and addressed what constitutes a request for arbitration made in the course of litigation. In Drake Bakeries, just as in the case at bar, the employer sued its union to recover damages arising out of an alleged breach of a no-strike clause contained in a collective bargaining agreement. The union thereupon moved the district court for a stay of proceedings pending arbitration pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement between the parties. 370 U.S. at 255-56, 82 S.Ct. at 1347-48. The Court explicitly rejected the employer's contention that the union was not entitled to a stay because it [had] not proceeded with dispatch in seeking arbitration. Id. at 266, 82 S.Ct. at 1353. The Court held that the first occasion for the union to insist upon its right to arbitrate the employer's claim for damages was after the employer filed its suit in the district court. Id. at 267, 82 S.Ct. at 1354. This it promptly did by moving for a stay in the District Court. Id. 40 In the case at bar, as in Drake Bakeries, the first occasion for the Union to insist upon its right to arbitrate the Company's claim for damages was after the Company made clear, by filing suit, that it had such a claim. In the case at bar, as in Drake Bakeries, the Union signalled its desire to arbitrate by promptly moving the district court for a stay. In Drake Bakeries, making such a motion was considered a sufficient indication of the union's desire to arbitrate. In the case at bar, however, the majority finds the union's motion for a stay to be insufficient evidence of its desire to arbitrate. 41 The majority believes that the Union in this case really wants the case dismissed, rather than stayed pending arbitration. It draws this conclusion from the Union's having combined its motion for a stay with a motion to dismiss. This inference is effectively foreclosed by our recent holding in Mautz & Oren, 882 F.2d at 1126, 1127. In that case the defendant union, faced with a damages suit premised on breach of a no-strike clause contained in a collective bargaining agreement, raised failure to arbitrate as an affirmative defense in its answer. It did not, however, move the district court for a stay pending arbitration. Nonetheless, this Court held that on remand the employer's contract claim should be stayed pending exhaustion of available grievance procedures. Id. at 1127. It noted, however, that the better practice would have been for the defendant both to raise failure to exhaust as an affirmative defense and to move the district court for a stay. Id. at 1126. 42 In the case at bar, as in Mautz & Oren, the Union raised failure to exhaust arbitral remedies as an affirmative defense in its answer; it also moved the district court to dismiss on that ground. Moreover, it additionally moved the district court for a stay pending arbitration. In Mautz & Oren such a procedure was explicitly approved. In the case at bar, however, the majority considers the Union's actions to have been fatally equivocal, inferring that the Union is now improperly appealing the denial of its motion to dismiss and not the denial of its motion for a stay. 43 The majority provides no principled reason for departing from Supreme Court and Circuit precedent on the issue of what constitutes a proper request for arbitration made in the course of litigation. The clear implication of the Union's motion practice is that it adequately made such a request. The majority, however, avoids this result by asserting that counsel's performance at oral argument somehow demonstrates the Union's disinterest in arbitration. To the contrary, counsel's oral argument was in every way consistent with the Union's previous litigation posture.