Opinion ID: 1374490
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the preemption issue

Text: In Dunbar v. United Steelworkers of America, 100 Idaho 523, 602 P.2d 21 (1979), which case arose out of the same facts as the instant appeal, this Court held on remand that material issues remained regarding whether the Union had a duty to inspect and whether it breached that duty. In Dunbar, the question of the existence of a duty was never reached since the trial court held that the cause of action was preempted by the federal duty of fair representation. Justice Bakes, specially concurring in Part I of Dunbar, wrote: I concur with the majority's ruling that the trial court erred in dismissing the appellants' wrongful death action against respondent United Steelworkers because of the preemption doctrine. An action for wrongful death is a creature of our state statutes, is of substantial local interest, and traditionally has been committed to the jurisdiction of the courts of the state. Moreover, this action for wrongful death is unlikely to present the identical legal issues as a proceeding under the federal labor laws arising from this same factual setting. Assertion of jurisdiction by the courts of this state over the appellants' action would appear to present no significant risk of undue interference with national labor policy. 100 Idaho at 546-547; 602 P.2d at 44-45. No provision of the National Labor Relations Act provides that it is federal policy to immunize labor unions from responding in tort for their negligent acts. In Brown v. Hotel & Restaurant Employees & Bartenders, 468 U.S. 491, 104 S.Ct. 3179, 82 L.Ed.2d 373 (1984) the court noted: The National Labor Relations Act ... leaves much to the state, though congress has refrained from telling us how much. The Union argues that all relationships between a union and its members flowing from a collective bargaining agreement are preempted, with the union's duty being only that of fair representation. This leads to some rather fuzzy analysis. Preempt is defined as to seize upon to the exclusion of others, Webster 3d Int'l Dictionary. Although the NLRB has been given exclusive jurisdiction to regulate and interpret collective bargaining agreements as to ongoing performance and modification, the NLRB has not been given (nor has it seized) the function of considering tort damages for wrongful death for past union misfeasance. We remain of the view expressed by the majority of this Court in Dunbar, 100 Idaho at 527, 602 P.2d 21. We are cited to no authority, for example, which insulates a union for its negligent and tortious conduct toward one of its members, i.e., if a member of a union was struck by a motor vehicle owned by the union and operated by one of its officials during the course of his employment for the union, we cannot believe the union would be insulated from liability on the basis that the only duty it owed toward its members was that of fair representation. If a union's unreasonable conduct results in the death of one of its members, it should not be excused from liability because of the legal fortuity of its organizational status anymore than if its conduct brought death to a nonunion member. Recently in Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985) the United States Supreme Court held that when resolution of a state-law claim is substantially dependent upon analysis of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement, that claim must either be treated as a § 301 claim or dismissed as preempted by federal labor-contract law. In Allis-Chalmers, the United States Supreme Court reversed a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision which had held that a claim that a Union had handled an insurance claim in bad faith was not preempted because under Wisconsin law the tort of bad faith is distinguishable from a bad-faith breach-of-contract claim, and that although a breach of duty is imposed as a consequence of the relationship established by contract, it is independent from that contract. In reversing the Wisconsin decision, the United States Supreme Court concluded that the right asserted by the Union member was rooted in contract, and the bad-faith claim could have been pleaded as a contract claim under § 301. The Court concluded that unless federal law governed that claim, the meaning of the disability-benefit provisions of the collective bargaining agreement would be subject to varying interpretations, and the congressional goal of a unified body of labor-contract law would be subverted. The Allis-Chalmers Court stated, Because the right asserted not only derives from the contract, but is defined by the contractual obligation of good faith, any attempt to assess liability here inevitably will involve contract interpretation.... These questions of contract interpretation, therefore, underlie any finding of tort liability, regardless of the fact that the state court may chose to define the tort as `independent' of any contract question. Congress has mandated that federal law govern the meaning given contract terms. Since the state tort purports to give life to these terms in a different environment, it is preempted. 105 S.Ct. at 1914. In the instant case, however, we need not interpret a contract. The appellants are suing for breach of a duty to inspect and report under the reasonable and prudent person standard. Both the Union, on appeal, and the trial court, in its memorandum decision, urge this Court to reconsider its holding in Dunbar. The trial court stated: This case does not involve a collective bargaining agreement whereby the Union assumed management safety responsibilities and therefore management's common law duties. In Helton v. Hake, 564 S.W.2d 313 (Mo.1978), the collective bargaining agreement provided the Union steward would ensure no work was done in the immediate area of high tension lines. The agreement distinctly said the employer was in no way responsible for the performance of these safety functions by the steward. . . . . . ... When the Union takes actual authority for enforcing safety conditions on the work site away from management, it should be held responsible for breaches in a duty of care just as management would have been at common law. The defendant Union's collective bargaining agreement with Sunshine did not allow the Union to enforce safety measures. The Sunshine/Steelworkers' contract did say the Union shall inspect, but the Union could do nothing but advise once it had been reported. While the trial court concluded that Helton supported the Union's position, in fact it supports that of the Miners. In Helton, the Missouri court stated: The complaint alleges that the union, through its agent, the steward, negligently and carelessly failed to enforce the safety rule relating to work in the area of high tension power lines. The suit is clearly brought as an action in tort seeking recovery for wrongful death due to the alleged negligence of the defendants. The only relevance of the collective bargaining agreement appears to be that it would determine, to some extent at least, the nature and scope of defendants' duty. 564 S.W.2d at 318. Likewise, in the instant case, the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement do not require interpretation, as was the case in Allis-Chalmers, supra, but rather the provisions determine only the nature and scope of the Union's duty. The trial court acknowledges that the Union had a duty to advise; and it is that duty which appellants contend was breached. Whether the Union breached the duty, and whether such breach, if established, was the actual or proximate cause of the appellants' decedents' deaths, are not issues addressed by this appeal. Our narrow holding today is that the Union, having inspected, assumed a duty to use due care in inspecting and, from the duty to use due care in inspecting arose the further duty to advise the committee of any safety problems the inspection revealed. Moreover, since an action for wrongful death is a creature of our Idaho statute, is of substantial local interest, and traditionally has been committed to the jurisdiction of the courts of the state, and because the instant action does not require an interpretation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, we do not consider it to be preempted by federal law. In Hechler v. Intern. Broth. of Elec. Workers, AFL-CIO, 772 F.2d 788 (11th Cir.1985) the court correctly analyzed the non-applicability of the preemption doctrine to cases of this nature. [1] In Hechler, the court held the employee's state law action does not run afoul of the recent pronouncement in Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, in which the Court found preempted a state action for bad-faith handling of an insurance claim arising out of a disability insurance plan included in a collective bargaining agreement. The tort in that case was essentially a product of the labor contract itselfwithout the contract, no tort claim could have existed. In this case, the claim is essentially one of common law negligence for breach of a duty of care. Liability will turn on basic negligence principles as developed by state law. A union breaches its duty of fair representation only when it treats an individual in an arbitrary, discriminatory, or bad faith manner. Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967). Two key issues must be addressed to determine whether a common law negligence action is preempted by the federal remedy for breach of such a duty. First, a court must determine whether the duty the union allegedly breached is so inextricably intertwined with the collective bargaining agreement that only a duty of fair representation claim is available. Second, in making this determination, the court must be aware of federal labor law policy and whether a negligence action against a union impermissibly impedes upon the federal labor-management regulatory scheme. With regard to the later concern, the primary inquiry is whether the duty sought to be enforced against the union ... is so tangential ... to the federal scheme that the [action] is properly exempted from the [general] preemption rule. [B]alancing of the relevant factors leads [to a conclusion] that [the employee's] negligence claim is not preempted. Hechler, 772 F.2d at 796. The union's duty of fair representation does not displace those duties created by state law that prohibit a person or corporation from engaging in tortious conduct resulting in death or injury. [N]othing in the [federal] statutory scheme expressly addresses such conduct or provides a mechanism for its redress. Likewise, it cannot be said that by failing expressly to [address] acts of negligence by unions, Congress intended to permit unions to engage in such acts free of the scrutiny of state courts. Hechler, 772 F.2d at 796-97. Nor is the union's contractual duty to assure worker training ... inextricably intertwined with its federal duty of providing fair representation.... [T]he fact that ... reference to a collective bargaining agreement must be made in order to define the scope of the ... duty does not [mean that a negligence action is] no more than a [preempted] § 301 action. [E]ven if the state action threatens adjudication of matter cognizable by the [National Labor Relations] [B]oard or by a court adjudicating federal labor law, the extent of that threat [must be balanced] against the importance of the action to the state. [N]o impermissible conflict ... [e]xists in this case. Hechler, 772 F.2d at 797. We agree with the Hechler analysis. Counsel for the union advises that the Supreme Court of the United States entered an order on May 19, 1986, granting review of Hechler and urged that if we reverse and remand, we should, in the interest of judicial economy, direct stay of proceedings until the Supreme Court acts. Since this cause of action arose fourteen years ago, and since the parties have not had a hearing on the merits of such a proposal, we decline to direct a stay without prejudice to the right of either party to assert the request before the trial court. Affirmed as to the fraud claim, reversed as to the negligence claim and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Costs to appellants. No attorney fees. BISTLINE, J. concurs. DONALDSON, C.J., concurs in the result.