Opinion ID: 439051
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Punitive Damages for Breach of the Duty of Fair Representation

Text: 41 In International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Foust, 442 U.S. 42, 99 S.Ct. 2121, 60 L.Ed.2d 698 (1979), the Supreme Court held that damages may not be assessed against a union that breaches its duty of fair representation by failing properly to pursue a grievance. Id. at 52, 99 S.Ct. at 2128. The plaintiff would have us limit the holding of Foust to grievance handling and permit the award of punitive damages in this case, where the union breached its duty of fair representation by procuring Quinn's discharge because of his political activity within the union. The defendants argue that Foust announced a per se rule applicable to all fair representation suits and thus barred the jury's award of $7500 in punitive damages. We agree with the defendants. 42 Although the precise holding quoted above was made in the specific context of grievance handling, we do not believe this can be read as a limitation. First, Justice Blackmun, speaking for four members, concurred in the result only precisely because, in his view, [t]he Court now adopts a per se rule that a union's breach of its duty of fair representation can never render it liable for punitive damages, no matter how egregious its breach may be. Id. at 52-53, 99 S.Ct. at 2128 (Blackmun, J., concurring). The majority made no objection to this broad characterization of its decision. On the other hand, the Court specifically responded to the suggestion of the concurrence, id. at 59, 99 S.Ct. at 2131, that its holding might extend to suits under the LMRDA Bill of Rights, reserving that question for another day. See id. at 47 n. 9, 99 S.Ct. at 2125 n. 9. We believe that the majority's response to the concurring justices strengthens our view that the Court meant to formulate a blanket rule for DFR suits. This also appears to be the view of the Fifth Circuit, see Wells v. Southern Airways, Inc., 616 F.2d 107, 109 n. 1 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 862, 101 S.Ct. 166, 66 L.Ed.2d 78 (1980), and the Eighth Circuit, see Dependahl v. Falstaff Brewing Corp., 653 F.2d 1208, 1216 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 968, 102 S.Ct. 512, 70 L.Ed.2d 384 (1981). 43 The reasoning of the Foust decision also supports a broad reading of its holding. The judicially-implied fair representation doctrine imposes on unions the duty to represent fairly the interests of all bargaining-unit members during the negotiation, administration, and enforcement of collective bargaining agreements. See Foust, 442 U.S. at 47, 99 S.Ct. at 2125. This duty was implied from the NLRA by the Supreme Court as a necessary corollary and counterbalance to the union's power under the NLRA of exclusive representation of all members of the bargaining unit. See Steele v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., 323 U.S. 192, 65 S.Ct. 226, 89 L.Ed. 173 (1944). The Court determined in Foust that permitting punitive damage awards threatened to impair the financial stability of unions and unsettle the careful balance of individual and collective interests which [the Supreme] Court has previously articulated in the unfair representation area. 442 U.S. at 48, 99 S.Ct. at 2126. 44 It is true that Foust, like the bulk of DFR suits, concerned the union's handling of a grievance. Thus, the Court stated, [a]dditionally, the prospect of punitive damages in cases such as this could curtail the broad discretion ... afforded unions in handling grievances. Nevertheless, most of the Court's analysis applies to the union's task of balancing individual and collective interests at every stage of the collective bargaining process, which is the context in which the duty of fair representation operates. 45 The plaintiff argues that in this case, in which the union procured his discharge on the basis of his electoral opposition to the incumbent officers, there were no countervailing collective interests to balance against Quinn's individual interest. Of course, in any particular case of an egregious breach of the duty it will appear that no collective interest could possibly justify the union's action. But Foust clearly rejected the notion that punitive damages could be awarded because the union's conduct was especially culpable. Thus, if the union here were charged with maliciously refusing to process Quinn's meritorious grievances because of his intra-union political activities, Foust would clearly bar any award. The union's arguably greater culpability in this case does not take it out from under the broad reach of Foust. 46 Neither is the particular manner in which the union breached its duty to Quinn--procuring his discharge--a rational basis for carving an exception to the broad reach of Foust. It is only because the union's action against Quinn can be understood as an aspect of the union's representation of him in collective bargaining that the duty of fair representation comes into play. If the union's action here were so remote from the daily administration of the collective bargaining relationship involved in Foust that the reasoning of that case had no application, we doubt that it would be a fair representation suit at all. We think the analysis of Foust extends logically to all aspects of the union's representation of employees in the collective bargaining process, and thus bars punitive damages in all suits for breach of the union's duty to represent fairly all its members in collective bargaining. We therefore vacate the jury's award of $7500 in punitive damages against Local 31. 47