Opinion ID: 568502
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The IBEW Appeal

Text: 59 The IBEW appeal presents special problems. Quite simply, the district court may not sua sponte raise a motion to vacate when a party has failed to file a timely petition. The failure to raise objections within the limitations period which could have been raised in a motion to vacate, modify, or correct the award bars raising them in confirmation proceedings held thereafter. Service Employees Int'l Union, Local 36 v. Office Center Serv., Inc., 670 F.2d 404, 412 (3d Cir.1982). Eichleay argues, nonetheless, that the Pennsylvania statute of limitations was not the proper statute of limitations, and that, even if it were, the district court properly vacated the awards. 60 We turn first to the question of the proper statute of limitations. Eichleay contends that the limitations period in either the Federal Arbitration Act or the California Code should have been applied to its petition to vacate. Since section 301 of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, does not contain a statute of limitations, we look to state law to supply the most analogous statute of limitations. Service Employees Int'l Union, Local No. 36, AFL-CIO v. Office Center Services, Inc., 670 F.2d 404, 409 (3d Cir.1982). 61 In Service Employees we held that actions to vacate or confirm an arbitration award under section 301 should be governed by the relevant state statute of limitations. 670 F.2d at 409. Service Employees considered the applicability of the Federal Arbitration Act's statute of limitations to section 301 actions, and rejected it in favor of state law. 670 F.2d at 406-08 n. 6. Eichleay suggests that this panel need not be bound by our prior, directly on point decision, because the Supreme Court in DelCostello v. Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151, 103 S.Ct. 2281, 76 L.Ed.2d 476 (1983), held that federal concerns for uniformity overrode the presumption that state law applies to employees' hybrid actions alleging both breach of the collective bargaining agreement and breach of the duty of fair representation under section 301. 62 We do not believe that DelCostello requires us to disregard our prior decision in Service Employees. Although we noted in Federation of Westinghouse Independent Salaried Unions v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 736 F.2d 896, 901 (3d Cir.1984), that DelCostello, particularly in footnote 12, suggests that the applicability of state statutes of limitation to pure section 301 actions was now an open question, we believe that Service Employees is still good law. 15 63 The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals confronted the effect of DelCostello on the statute of limitations for an action to vacate or confirm an arbitration award in Plumbers' Pension Fund, Local 130 v. Domas Mechanical Contractors, Inc., 778 F.2d 1266 (7th Cir.1985). The court had previously held, in Teamsters Local 135 v. Jefferson Trucking Co., 628 F.2d 1023 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1125, 101 S.Ct. 942, 67 L.Ed.2d 111 (1981), that it would look to state law for an appropriate statute of limitations in a section 301 action to vacate an arbitration award. In Domas Mechanical, the employer argued that DelCostello, not Jefferson Trucking should control the choice of limitations period. 64 In concluding that DelCostello should not control, the court noted that two concerns were central to the Supreme Court's decision in that case. First, there was a federal statute of limitations that provided a closer analogy than state statutes of limitation; and second, federal policies and the realities of litigation favored the federal statute of limitations. The court in Domas Mechanical concluded that neither of those concerns was present when a union or an employer sought to vacate or enforce an arbitration award. Domas Mechanical, 778 F.2d at 1268-70. 65 We agree with the reasoning in Domas Mechanical. Pennsylvania 16 provides a statute of limitations that is precisely directed to vacating arbitration awards, unlike the situation in DelCostello, where there was no close analogy in state law for hybrid actions. Similarly, the practical concerns of the DelCostello Court, that unsophisticated employees would need more time than provided by state law to determine if the union has breached its duty of fair representation, is not present in this case. Both labor unions and union employers are sufficiently sophisticated in the mechanics of arbitration and litigation to know that arbitration awards must be promptly enforced or vacated. Furthermore, the federal interest in swift resolution of arbitrated disputes would be served by the short limitations period provided under Pennsylvania law. We conclude that the rule announced in Service Employees, that state statutes of limitations apply to petitions under section 301 to confirm or vacate arbitration awards, remains the law of this circuit. Accord Posadas de Puerto Rico Assoc. v. Asociacion de Empleados, 873 F.2d 479 (1st Cir.1989) (applying 30 day Puerto Rican statute of limitations over Federal Arbitration Act's 90 day limitations period); Harry Hoffman Printing v. Graphic Communications, Int'l Union, Local 261, 912 F.2d 608, 612-13 (2d Cir.1990) (applying New York law instead of Federal Arbitration Act, and gathering similar cases); Champion Int'l Corp. v. United Paperworkers Int'l Union, 779 F.2d 328, 332 (6th Cir.1985). But see American Postal Workers Union v. United States Postal Serv., 823 F.2d 466 (11th Cir.1987) (applying limitations period of Federal Arbitration Act over Florida statute of limitations). 66 Having determined that we should look to state law for the appropriate statute of limitations, we turn next to Eichleay's contention that California law, rather than Pennsylvania law, should control. 17 Eichleay acknowledges that, generally, the law of the forum state should control. See Champion Int'l Corp., 779 F.2d at 334; c.f. Consolidated Express, Inc. v. New York Shipping Assoc., 602 F.2d 494, 507-08 (3d Cir.1979), vacated on other grounds, 448 U.S. 902, 100 S.Ct. 3040, 65 L.Ed.2d 1131 (1980), on remand, 641 F.2d 90 (1981) (holding that limitations period of forum state should control in actions brought under section 303(b) of the National Labor Relations Act). Eichleay argues that an exception to the general rule should be recognized in this case, since application of Pennsylvania, rather than California, law will work an extreme hardship on it and seriously frustrate federal labor policies. 67 We can certainly see why Eichleay argues that an extreme hardship will be imposed on it by application of Pennsylvania law. But this hardship is no different than that imposed on any party who fails to preserve its rights by timely action. As for frustrating federal labor policies, Eichleay's argument here is simply that its petition was meritorious, and should be heard regardless of the limitations period. We do not believe that enforcement of this arbitration award will so frustrate labor policies that an exception to the general rule should be allowed. 18 The district court properly applied the Pennsylvania statute of limitations. 19 68 Having properly applied this statute of limitations, however, and dismissed the petition to vacate and stricken Eichleay's affirmative defenses, see Service Employees, 670 F.2d at 412, the district court then sua sponte raised its own petition to vacate. This the district court could not do. 20 69 The Pennsylvania statute of limitations on vacating arbitration awards states that if an application to vacate is denied the Court shall confirm the award. 42 Pa.Con.Stat.Ann. § 7314(d) (emphasis supplied). Pennsylvania cases hold that the time limitations on contesting awards are jurisdictional and go to the court's competence. See e.g. Maxton v. Philadelphia Housing Auth., 308 Pa.Super. 444, 454 A.2d 618 (1982). Maxton does recognize an exception to this rule in extraordinary circumstances, such as fraud or some breakdown in the court's operation. Id. 454 A.2d at 620. There is no allegation of fraud in this case, and the facts do not establish an extraordinary exception, thus the court was bound to confirm the award. We will reverse and remand with instructions that the district court confirm IBEW's award.