Opinion ID: 445295
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mandatory Arbitration

Text: 28 Thompson challenges the MPPAA's mandatory arbitration provisions on constitutional grounds. At the outset we note that Thompson failed to take the steps required by the Act to obtain arbitration. In Shelter Framing, however, we held that an employer may mount such a facial constitutional challenge to the Act's provisions without first submitting to arbitration. 705 F.2d at 1509. Consequently, we will consider the constitutional arguments. 29 Thompson contends the MPPAA's mandatory arbitration provisions deny it the right to trial by jury. The seventh amendment, however, grants a right to trial by jury only in actions known to the common law. The Fund's cause of action under the MPPAA never existed under common law. Congress may delegate fact-finding functions to non-jury bodies in cases involving newly created statutory rights. See, e.g., Atlas Roofing Co., Inc. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, 430 U.S. 442, 458-61, 97 S.Ct. 1261, 1270-72, 51 L.Ed.2d 464 (1977); The Washington Star, 729 F.2d at 1511; Standard Dye, 725 F.2d at 855. 30 Nor are we persuaded that the MPPAA's mandatory arbitration procedures, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(a), and the statutory presumption of correctness accorded to the arbitrators' factual findings, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(c), unconstitutionally vest judicial functions in persons who lack the tenure and salary protections of article III. See U.S. Const. art. III, Sec. 1. To make this argument, Thompson relies primarily on Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50, 102 S.Ct. 2858, 73 L.Ed.2d 598 (1982), in which the Supreme Court invalidated a portion of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 on grounds similar to those Thompson urges here. 31 It is uncontested that the arbitrators are not judges for article III purposes. In Northern Pipeline, a plurality of the Court recognized only three narrow situations in which persons unprotected by article III could discharge judicial functions: (1) territorial courts, (2) courts-martial, and (3) legislative courts created to adjudicate public rights. Id. at 64-67, 102 S.Ct. at 2867-69. Only the third exception is arguably applicable here. 32 Even if the arbitrators cannot be considered legislative courts exempt from the commands of article III, however, they still can function as factfinding adjuncts of the district court, provided that the court itself retains and exercises the essential attributes of federal judicial power. Northern Pipeline, 458 U.S. at 77, 102 S.Ct. at 2874. See, e.g., Atlas Roofing Co., Inc. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, 430 U.S. at 450 n. 7, 97 S.Ct. at 1266 n. 7; Crowell v. Benson, 285 U.S. 22, 51-65, 52 S.Ct. 285, 292-298, 76 L.Ed. 598 (1932). As Northern Pipeline noted, however, the essential attributes of judicial power, Northern Pipeline, 458 U.S. at 81, 102 S.Ct. at 2876, may differ depending on the type of rights at issue. Id. at 83, 102 S.Ct. at 2877. Congress possesses great discretion to delegate limited factfinding functions to specialized non-article III bodies and to create presumptions limiting judicial review where Congress itself has created the substantive federal right to be adjudicated. Id. By contrast, where rights arise from the Constitution or state law, Congress' power to encroach upon traditional judicial functions is much more limited. Id. at 84, 102 S.Ct. at 2878. In such cases, the court must retain power to review more closely the actions of the non-article III body. 33 In Crowell, for example, Congress created a system of compensation for injured federal employees and delegated to an administrative agency the responsibility to make limited factual findings regarding the employees' injuries. The agency's factual findings were considered final if supported by evidence, but the statute left the courts free to review de novo all questions of law. The Supreme Court held that the reservation of full authority to the court to deal with matters of law provides for the appropriate exercise of the judicial function .... 6 Crowell, 285 U.S. at 54, 52 S.Ct. at 293. 34 On the other hand, in United States v. Raddatz, 447 U.S. 667, 100 S.Ct. 2406, 65 L.Ed.2d 424 (1980), the 1978 Federal Magistrates Act allowed non-article III magistrates to make findings and recommendations on a wide variety of pretrial motions, including those based on alleged violations of constitutional rights. The Court upheld this broad delegation of judicial power only because the Act allowed de novo review by the court of both the factual and legal conclusions of the magistrate, id. at 681-83, 100 S.Ct. at 2415-16, and the court controlled what issues were referred to the magistrate and could remove the magistrate from office. Id. at 685, 100 S.Ct. at 2417 (Blackmun, J., concurring). Accord Northern Pipeline, 458 U.S. at 85, 102 S.Ct. at 2878 (invalidating the Bankruptcy Act's similarly broad delegation because, inter alia, the bankruptcy court's judgment was reviewable only under a clearly erroneous standard); Pacemaker Diagnostic Clinic of America, Inc. v. Instromedix, Inc., 725 F.2d 537, 545-46 (9th Cir.1984) (en banc) cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 100, 83 L.Ed.2d 45 (1984) (upholding consensual referral of civil suits to magistrates on the partial grounds that article III courts retained full authority over questions of law, selected the magistrates and could cancel orders of reference sua sponte). 35 The instant statute is most similar to the law at issue in Crowell. As in Crowell, Congress has created a system of substantive federal rights and responsibilities and has delegated to arbitrators the power to make limited factual findings in an area within which they possess special expertise. Only these factual findings are presumed correct, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(c), and therefore the district court may review de novo all conclusions of law. We find that, in this limited area of congressionally created statutory rights, the Act's reservation to the court of the authority to decide de novo all issues of law and to review factual findings for a clear preponderance of the evidence provide[s] for the appropriate exercise of the judicial function by an article III tribunal. See Northern Pipeline, 458 U.S. at 81, 102 S.Ct. at 2876; Crowell, 285 U.S. at 54, 52 S.Ct. at 293. Accord Republic Industries, 718 F.2d at 640; cf. Standard Dye, 725 F.2d at 855 (no denial of meaningful access to courts because MPPAA provides for judicial review of arbitration award); Peick, 724 F.2d at 1277 (same).