Opinion ID: 76137
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issues

Text: 18 BMWE proffers a provocative, yet unpersuasive, argument that CSXT is collaterally estopped from arguing that it is entitled to recover compensatory damages under RLA § 152, First and § 153 because the Sixth Circuit in Marquar decided broadly that monetary damages are never recoverable under RLA § 152, First and § 153. 7 In Marquar, CSXT brought suit against BMWE for declaratory, injunctive and compensatory relief, claiming that BMWE's nine-state strike over the location where the workers were to eat their lunches was unlawful because it involved a minor dispute. BMWE had threatened strike and CSXT filed suit just days prior to the strike's authorization and institution. CSXT, however, did not obtain a temporary restraining order until hours later on the same day the strike began. The parties submitted to arbitration, at which the arbitration panel deemed the dispute minor and resolved the dispute within the arbitration process. CSXT maintained its action for compensatory relief, claiming that it suffered damages from the, albeit brief, interruption in its train service. The district court granted BMWE's motion to dismiss, finding that damages had never been awarded under the RLA for unlawful strikes over minor disputes, nor had Congress affirmatively provided for such remedy. 19 On appeal, CSXT argued that a damages remedy was appropriate because the Supreme Court found an implied right of action under the RLA. BMWE countered with authority from other circuits which denied damages for unlawful strikes and argued that the availability of damages would upset the balance of power between labor and management. The majority accepted BMWE's arguments and held that damages were not available for violation of RLA § 152, First and § 153, although damages generally were available under the RLA in certain circumstances. The court utilized the framework provided by Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, 503 U.S. 60, 112 S.Ct. 1028, 117 L.Ed.2d 208 (1992), to determine whether a damages remedy was available in an implied right of action for violation of the RLA § 152, First and § 153. The Sixth Circuit held that Marquar was not an appropriate case for damages under the RLA, relying upon the historical reluctance to award damages for strikes over minor disputes and the almost exclusive reliance upon injunctive remedies. Marquar, 980 F.2d at 379-80. That court also found that [i]n the volatile atmosphere of labor-management relations, the threat of a damages action could upset the balance intended by the RLA. Marquar, 980 F.2d at 382. Finally, the majority opinion elected to leave it within the purview of Congress to create a damages remedy at such an advanced stage of the RLA's development. Id. (quoting Burlington N. R.R. Co. v. Bhd. of Maint. of Way Employes, 481 U.S. 429, 435, 107 S.Ct. 1841, 1855, 95 L.Ed.2d 381 (1987)) (italics omitted). 20 Given that the matter before us is a federal question previously decided by a federal court, it naturally follows that federal preclusion principles apply in this case. In Pleming v. Universal-Rundle Corp., 142 F.3d 1354, 1356 n. 1, 1360 n. 6 (11th Cir.1998), we expressed uncertainty whether state or federal preclusion principles should be applied by the deciding court, citing diverging cases that employed federal and state law. Although we invited briefing on the issue, it has not heretofore been forthcoming. We previously held that [w]hen a federal court sitting in diversity examines the collateral estoppel or res judicata effect of a prior federal judgment, based either on diversity or a federal question, it must apply federal common law. Precision Air Parts, Inc. v. Avco Corp., 736 F.2d 1499, 1503 (11th Cir. 1984). We now hold that federal preclusion principles apply to prior federal decisions, whether previously decided in diversity or federal question jurisdiction. See Winters v. Diamond Shamrock Chem. Co., 149 F.3d 387, 393 n. 6 (5th Cir.1998) ([F]ederal law of issue preclusion applied because the prior decision had been issued by a federal court, albeit in a diversity action.); In re Docteroff, 133 F.3d 210, 214 (3d Cir.1997) (Because the prior judgment was rendered by a federal court, we apply federal principles of collateral estoppel.); Trevino v. Gates, 99 F.3d 911, 923 (9th Cir.1996) (Federal law governs the collateral estoppel effect of a case decided by a federal court.). 21 Finding that federal issue preclusion rules apply, we next determine whether the issue in this case is predestined for the same result because it meets the criteria for application of the doctrine. Collateral estoppel or issue preclusion forecloses relitigation of an issue of fact or law that has been litigated and decided in a prior suit. There are several prerequisites to the application of collateral estoppel: (1) the issue at stake must be identical to the one involved in the prior litigation; (2) the issue must have been actually litigated in the prior suit; (3) the determination of the issue in the prior litigation must have been a critical and necessary part of the judgment in that action; and (4) the party against whom the earlier decision is asserted must have had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the earlier proceeding. I.A. Durbin, Inc. v. Jefferson Nat'l Bank, 793 F.2d 1541, 1549 (11th Cir.1986). Collateral estoppel ... has the dual purpose of protecting litigants from the burden of relitigating an identical issue with the same party or his privy and of promoting judicial economy by preventing needless litigation. Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 326, 99 S.Ct. 645, 649, 58 L.Ed.2d 552 (1979). 22 The adversaries in Marquar and in this appeal are the same: BMWE and CSXT. BMWE is attempting to assert issue preclusion against CSXT regarding the issue whether damages are available for an unlawful strike over a minor dispute, claiming that Marquar decided the very same issue against CSXT approximately ten years ago. The first prerequisite is whether the issue in this case is identical to the issue litigated in Marquar. The Marquar court decided generally that damages are not available under RLA § 152, First and § 153, First. We recognize that, depending on the level of abstraction we apply to the Marquar decision, it would be conceivable to find that, because of the Sixth Circuit's broad legal holding, we would be precluded from deciding the same legal question here. 23 The issue preclusion doctrine, however, first directs our attention to the relative similarity of the facts of each case, and rightfully so. If we were bound by broad legal decisions by other courts at a given level of abstraction out of the facts of every similar case by the mere fact of an identical caption, the novel defense of issue preclusion would serve to bind the adjudication of many more cases than would serve the interests of justice and move outside the scope of the purposes of collateral estoppel. 24 That identical parties (or privies) are involved in this case and in Marquar is but a threshold requirement of issue preclusion. CSXT need only point to one material differentiating fact that would alter the legal inquiry here and thereby overcome the preclusive effect of Marquar. Sewell v. Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 94 F.3d 1514, 1519 (11th Cir. 1996). Admittedly, the disputes are substantially similar: both involve a dispute that went unresolved through the arbitration vehicles provided for in the RLA; both involved the interpretation by BMWE of the dispute as major, thus avoiding the mandatory arbitration of the dispute; both involved the institution of a strike prior to CSXT's ability to obtain injunctive relief to avoid the strike; both cases resulted in a determination that the dispute was minor and, therefore, the strike was deemed unlawful after the fact; and, finally, both cases involve the very specific issue whether compensatory damages are available for an unlawful strike by the union over a minor dispute. CSXT raises, however, one important fact in this case that did not exist in Marquar: CSXT had no notice, and there was no attempt by BMWE to give notice, that a strike was impending. This fact, we will demonstrate below, undercuts the preclusive effect of Marquar because it changes the legal inquiry; to what extent and whether it changes the result is of no moment at this juncture. 25 BMWE argues that the lack of notice was not a controlling fact and not essential to the resolution in Marquar. 8 BMWE relies on the broad legal holding of Marquar, that damages are never recoverable for unlawful strikes over minor disputes to subsume the fact whether notice existed or not. If the notice, or lack thereof, did not inform the legal decision of Marquar, then the fact of notice cannot be used to avoid the preclusive effect of the blanket holding. Marquar is a decision of law on a motion to dismiss and is necessarily based upon the facts as alleged in the case before it. It is undisputed that some notice, whether informal or formal, was present in Marquar. Therefore, to the extent that BMWE seeks to extend the holding of Marquar beyond the scope of facts in that case to the level of a blanket preclusive effect, regardless of deviation from the facts upon which the decision was based, gives the dicta of Marquar preclusive effect. Although Marquar is a legal decision and written in broad terms, we decline to give the broad holding preclusive effect because to do so would give dicta preclusive effect. See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 27h (1982). 26 Because we have concluded that the facts in this case are materially different, to give Marquar preclusive effect is inappropriate, and we need not further track the issue preclusion requirements. A material difference in fact necessarily leads us to conclude here that the issue was not actually litigated and could not possibly have been critical and necessary to the judgment. Although we cannot point to explicit contrary precedent, nor do we need to because of the factual differences, we will note that emergent case law, infra, steers the legal inquiry sufficiently to persuade us that it is appropriate to adjudicate the issue before us in light of that law. 27 Clearing the potential hurdle of issue preclusion, we now address the merits of the cross-appeal and appeal before us. We first address BMWE's cross-appeal, which argues that the seniority dispute is a major dispute, that the issue was not actually decided by the district court and, furthermore, that summary judgment was not appropriate because a material fact remained in dispute. 28