Opinion ID: 545173
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The UAW as an Adequate Representative

Text: 39 As we noted earlier in this discussion, a precise definition of privity or party identity has eluded the courts. This case illustrates the difficulty of determining when a party's and a nonparty's interests are close enough for res judicata to apply. The case is further complicated by the fact that it implicates the scope and nature of labor-management relations with respect to former employees. Management is obviously interested in resolving disputes over the contractual rights of former employees in a single litigation or in negotiations with the union. In addition, the interests of a union may closely parallel the interests of its former members in enforcing the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. We recognize that while a union may not have any contractual or statutory obligation to represent its former members, it does not naturally follow ... that the union loses all interest in the fate of its [former] members. Canron, supra, 580 F.2d 77, 81 (quoting Rosen v. Public Svc. Elec. & Gas Co., 477 F.2d 90, 94 n. 8 (3d Cir.1973)). However, we are not called upon to resolve all of the complications that could arise when unions attempt to act on behalf of their former members. Our task is simply to determine whether, in this case, the UAW adequately represented Meza. We conclude that it did not. We do not go so far as to say that class certification under Rule 23 is the only way in which a union can represent or bind its former members, although we agree that it is one way to ensure that the interests of former union members are adequately represented. Lacking the mechanism of class certification in this case, we must look to the other possible sources of party identity to decide the question of adequate representation. Because Meza did not authorize the union to represent him, and because the UAW did not represent his interests in any legal sense, we hold Meza is not in privity with the UAW, and that the UAW was not an adequate representative of Meza's interests. Accordingly, Meza can not be bound by the judgment in the prior suit.