Opinion ID: 397209
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Events of January and February

Text: 11 With these statutory provisions in mind, we return to Lake Charles. When Langford sent notice of a labor dispute to the FMCS on January 25, the thirty-day period in which the Union was forbidden to serve notice of a strike began to run. Thus, the first day on which Langford could have noticed a strike was February 25. In addition, the last day for the FMCS to appoint a Board of Inquiry under section 213 was February 4, ten days after the Union served the thirty-day notice. Richard Bible, the local FMCS representative, then asked Langford to sign a stipulation extending the time for the FMCS to appoint a Board of Inquiry. 10 The stipulation was a standard form with blanks for the extended date and the names of the parties. 11 12 The proposed stipulation extended the time for the FMCS to act until any time prior to February 25, 1977. That date was chosen so that if the FMCS failed to appoint the factfinder in lieu of a statutory Board of Inquiry before February 25, Langford could go ahead with the strike plans. Langford signed on February 1; two days later, on February 3, the Hospital signed, thus creating the agreement that is the basis for this suit. 13 Despite the extension, or perhaps because of it, the FMCS did nothing until February 24, a Thursday. 12 On that date the FMCS began the process of appointing a factfinder, but made no attempt at that time to notify the Union or the Hospital of its action. Langford, meanwhile, had scheduled a meeting of Union members for Thursday, February 24. Having heard nothing from the FMCS by the end of the day, Langford held the meeting; the members voted to strike. The next day, Friday, February 25, Langford sent a letter to the Hospital noticing a strike for Tuesday, March 8, eleven days later. 14 The following Monday, February 28, the National Labor Relations Board derailed Langford's plans by telling him that the Hospital had not received his strike notice until that morning and therefore the ten-day notice period would not be satisfied by the date set for the strike. But before Langford could fix the deficiency, the factfinder that the FMCS purported to appoint, Samuel Nicholas, called to inform Langford of the appointment. Langford had received no official word of Nicholas's appointment from the FMCS. He knew, moreover, that the stipulation between the Union and the Hospital required the factfinder to be appointed prior to February 25. In light of these facts, Langford went ahead and noticed a new strike for March 11, eleven days later. Later that day Langford received a mailgram from the FMCS dated February 26 informing him that Samuel J. Nicholas is hereby appointed effective February 25, 1977 as a factfinder in the dispute between Lake Charles Memorial Hospital and Office & Professional Employees Intl. Union, Local 87. 15 Between February 28 and March 7, the Union and the Hospital maintained a tense silence with regard to the strike. 13 The Hospital broke the silence on March 7 to inform the Union that a strike would be illegal in view of the appointment of the factfinder, and, moreover, it would breach the parties' stipulation of February 1 and February 3. Langford did not respond directly to the Hospital, but uncertain whether the factfinder had been timely appointed under the stipulation, he called Richard Bible, the local FMCS mediator. Bible referred the matter to Washington, from which issued the cryptic response that Nicholas's appointment was effective on February 25, and that the parties were bound to maintain the status quo until March 26. 16 Because of doubt about the strike's legality, on March 8 Langford told the local press that the strike might be delayed. The Executive Director of the Hospital read the newspaper stories on the possible delay of the strike. On March 10, Langford told counsel for the Hospital that the strike was off. No strike in fact occurred. 17 Less than one week later the Hospital filed this suit for damages under Section 301 of the Taft-Hartley Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (1976). The theory of the Hospital's action was that the Union had contracted to follow the procedures of Section 213 if the FMCS timely appointed a factfinder in lieu of a Board of Inquiry. Because a factfinder was properly appointed, the Hospital argued, the Union was bound to maintain the status quo pending the factfinding investigation. The Union's strike notice, in the Hospital's view, breached the status quo, thus forcing the Hospital to prepare for the strike and causing it to incur damages. In an unreported decision the district court, after a trial, held that a factfinder had been timely appointed, but concluded as a matter of law that a strike notice by itself does not breach the status quo required under section 213. The court therefore found for the Union, and the Hospital appealed.