Opinion ID: 458754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The district court's refusal to confirm the arbitration award.

Text: 38 In granting the NLRB's motion to dismiss in No. 84-4173, the district court considered evidentiary matters beyond Local 32's complaint, including affidavits and exhibits. Accordingly, we view the district court's judgment as one of summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56, see Retail Clerks Union Local 648 v. Hub Pharmacy, Inc., 707 F.2d 1030, 1032 n. 1 (9th Cir.1983), and examine de novo whether no genuine issue of material fact remains and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 1033; Garrett v. Lehman, 751 F.2d 997, 999 n. 1 (9th Cir.1985). 39 In light of our preceding discussion of the supremacy doctrine, see supra, section I-C, we must uphold the district court's refusal to confirm an arbitration award which conflicts with an NLRB section 10(k) work assignment. Local 32 argues, however, that the applicable state statute of limitations precludes Crescent City and the NLRB from even raising the supremacy doctrine as a defense. 40 Several decisions in this and other circuits have held that a party's failure to petition to vacate an arbitration award within the relevant statutory limitations period will preclude the assertion of affirmative defenses in a subsequent action to confirm the award. See, e.g., Florasynth, Inc. v. Pickholz, 750 F.2d 171, 175 (2d Cir.1984); Brotherhood of Teamsters & Auto Truck Drivers Local No. 70 v. Celotex Corp., 708 F.2d 488, 490 (9th Cir.1983); Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, Local No. 252 v. Standard Sheet Metal, Inc., 699 F.2d 481, 483 (9th Cir.1983); Service Employees International Union, Local No. 36 v. Office Center Services, Inc., 670 F.2d 404, 412 (3d Cir.1982); Chauffeurs, Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local Union No. 135 v. Jefferson Trucking Co., 628 F.2d 1023, 1025-27 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1125, 101 S.Ct. 942, 67 L.Ed.2d 111 (1981). The relevant limitations period for any attempt by Crescent City to vacate the arbitrator's award is the three-month period prescribed by Washington state law. See Sheet Metal Workers, 699 F.2d at 483 n. 2; San Diego County District Council of Carpenters v. Cory, 685 F.2d 1137, 1140-42 (9th Cir.1982); Wash.Rev.Code Ann. Sec. 7.04.180 (West 1961). Because the arbitrator issued his award on September 16, 1981, the applicable limitations period for vacating the award expired on December 16, 1981--two days before Local 32's complaint was filed in the district court. Local 32 therefore concludes that neither Crescent City nor the NLRB--which was alerted to Local 32's intent to enforce the arbitration award by early October, 1981 and did not intervene until March, 1982--may now raise the supremacy doctrine as a defense in this action. 41 Although we have held that [o]rdinarily, a party opposing an arbitration award must move to vacate the award or be barred from further legal action, Sheet Metal Workers, 699 F.2d at 482, neither we nor the other circuits have applied this rule when the award, if enforced, would undermine a contrary section 10(k) NLRB work assignment. We decline to apply this rule to either the NLRB or Crescent City. 42 At the outset, we note that the rule by its own terms is limited to a party to the arbitration. See id. The NLRB was not a party to the arbitration. Nor has the rule been applied in the past against the NLRB, which acts not merely as a private party but as the primary determiner and enforcer of federal labor policy. 43 More importantly, Congress intended to make the section 10(k) proceeding the peaceful and binding final determination of a disputed work assignment, see NLRB v. Radio and Television Broadcast Engineers Union, Local 1212, 364 U.S. 573, 580, 81 S.Ct. 330, 335, 5 L.Ed.2d 302 (1961) (quoting 93 Cong.Rec. 136 (1947)); see also Carey, 375 U.S. at 272, 84 S.Ct. at 409. This intention would be undermined if the section 10(k) decision stood or fell by a private party's failure to move to vacate a contrary arbitration award within the state limitations period. If this newly granted Board power to hear and determine jurisdictional disputes had meant no more than that, Congress certainly would have achieved very little to solve the knotty problem of wasteful work stoppages due to such disputes. 364 U.S. at 580, 81 S.Ct. at 335. Similarly, if the NLRB were barred from enforcing its section 10(k) decision simply because it failed to intervene after a contrary arbitration award had been issued, the Board would be required to monitor or intervene in every private arbitration suit that falls within the scope of a section 10(k) award. There is no evidence that Congress contemplated this burden when it enacted section 10(k) and made it preeminent over any arbitrator's decision. 44 Finally, in Carey the Supreme Court stated in dicta that the NLRB's superior section 10(k) authority could be invoked at any time. Carey, 375 U.S. at 272, 84 S.Ct. at 409. Following Carey, the Fifth and Sixth Circuits have held that a section 10(k) determination made subsequent to an arbitration award will effectively void the preceding award. See Rockwell International, 619 F.2d at 583 (section 10(k) takes precedence over arbitration award regardless of which action was initiated first); New Orleans Typographical Union, 368 F.2d at 767; Dock Loaders and Unloaders, 280 F.Supp. at 404; see also International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 714 v. Sullivan Transfer, Inc., 650 F.2d 669, 677 (5th Cir.1981). If we were now to enforce the three-month bar against the NLRB and Crescent City, an anomalous situation would result; a prior section 10(k) determination would become ineffective simply because the Board or a party failed to timely move to vacate a subsequent arbitration award, whereas a subsequent section 10(k) proceeding would automatically vacate a previous arbitration award, without any action by the loser of the arbitration. Such a situation would encourage the NLRB to delay its section 10(k) proceeding until after an arbitration award has been issued, so as to ensure that the section 10(k) proceeding is ultimately given precedence. Apart from its duplicative effect, this delay would thwart Congress' intent in enacting section 10(k) to expeditiously try to get jurisdictional disputes settled, Radio Engineers, 364 U.S. at 579, 81 S.Ct. at 334. See also Service Employees, 670 F.2d at 412 (recognizing that federal policy favoring expedient resolution of labor disputes underlies the arbitration mechanism and statute of limitations scheme); Jefferson Trucking, 628 F.2d at 1027 (same). 45 We therefore hold that the failure to move to vacate an arbitration award within the applicable limitations period does not preclude a prior or subsequent section 10(k) decision from invalidating a contrary arbitration award. The power of the federal courts to enforce the terms of private agreements is at all times exercised subject to the restrictions and limitations of the public policy of the United States as manifested in ... federal statutes.... Where the enforcement of private agreements would be violative of that policy, it is the obligation of courts to refrain from such exertions of judicial power. Kaiser Steel Corp. v. Mullins, 455 U.S. 72, 83-84, 102 S.Ct. 851, 859, 70 L.Ed.2d 833 (1982) (quoting Hurd v. Hodge, 334 U.S. 24, 34-35, 68 S.Ct. 847, 852-853, 92 L.Ed. 1187 (1948) (footnotes omitted)). See also I.U.B.A.C. Local Union No. 31 v. Anastasi Brothers Corp., 600 F.Supp. 92, 94 (S.D.Fla.1984) (employers did not waive their claim that contract upon which arbitration award was based was illegal when they failed to move timely to vacate award). 46 Because the Washington statute of limitations does not bar Crescent City or the NLRB from raising the supremacy doctrine, the district court's refusal to confirm the arbitration award is affirmed. 47