Opinion ID: 1198955
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Claims against McMullen and Venusti

Text: McMullen and Venusti argue that the superior court should have dismissed the claims against them as individual defendants because Beard did not exhaust his administrative remedies. They assert that the conduct Beard complains of was subject to the CBA grievance process. Beard's appellate briefs filed in this appeal and in Beard I and Beard II did not argue that the intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) claims were not subject to the CBA grievance requirements. Nor did Beard's briefs in the three appeals assert that an unexcused failure to exhaust that would bar his claims against the State would not also bar his IIED and constructive discharge claims against Venusti and McMullen. [5] Beard's petition for rehearing, filed after we issued our original opinion in Beard III, raises an argument he did not previously raise in Beard I, Beard II, or Beard III: that his claims against Venusti and McMullen are based at least in part on 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and to that extent are not subject to the exhaustion doctrine. He claims that his IIED claims were based on § 1983. In support, Beard cites Patsy v. Board of Regents, 457 U.S. 496, 102 S.Ct. 2557, 73 L.Ed.2d 172 (1982), and Diedrich v. City of Ketchikan, 805 P.2d 362 (Alaska 1991). Beard failed to assert a timely argument distinguishing between § 1983 claims and non-§ 1983 claims in opposing Venusti's and McMullen's fundamental defense, failure to exhaust, which has been the subject of three appeals and three appellate opinions. He also failed to raise a timely distinction between claims against the State and claims against Venusti and McMullen. Beard has consequently waived the argument that the exhaustion doctrine cannot bar his claims against Venusti and McMullen. Although the dissent, in resolving the exhaustion issue, would distinguish between Beard's IIED claims against Venusti and McMullen and his constructive discharge claims, Dissent at 13-14, Beard does not ask us to draw that distinction. The dissent also suggests that the union's refusal to grieve a pattern of harassment excuses Beard's failure to exhaust his remedies with respect to the IIED claims. Dissent at 14. Several circumstances convince us otherwise. The union did agree to represent Beard on some grievances, and two grievances were still being processed when Beard resigned in August. After he resigned, the union complied with Beard's request to grieve the final evaluation issue. Nonetheless, after mid-May 1986 Beard never asked the union to grieve his work conditions, including the resignation itself or the post-May conduct that allegedly precipitated his resignation. Because he did not timely ask the union to pursue the work conditions that were central to his IIED claims, he is not excused from failing to exhaust his remedies. We consequently hold that the unexcused failure to exhaust that bars Beard's claims against the State also bars his claims against McMullen and Venusti. The well-recognized principles favoring exhaustion apply equally to claims against supervisors who engaged in the tortious conduct that formed the basis for Beard's State IIED and constructive discharge claims. The judgment against Venusti and McMullen must therefore be set aside. [6]