Opinion ID: 755232
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Thoroughness of the Arbiters' Review

Text: 21 Wellman argues that the arbiters failed to give the materials submitted to them a meaningful review. Specifically, Wellman maintains that the arbiters could not have read all the materials that the Guild supplied them in the four-day period in which they deliberated. 22 Wellman misapprehends the scope of judicial review in cases involving arbitration conducted pursuant to Schedule A and the Guild's Screen Credits Manual. Where, as here, the Board has reviewed a writer's complaints regarding the adequacy of the arbiters' consideration of the materials provided them, we review only the Board's decision. See 29 U.S.C. § 185(a); Marino, 992 F.2d at 1486-87. Under these circumstances, we do not review directly the actions of the arbiters. See id. Accordingly, we hold that Wellman's various allegations about the actions of the arbiters raise an issue only of the adequacy of the Board's decision to affirm the arbiters' judgment. 23 To prevail on this issue, Wellman must demonstrate that the Board's conduct was arbitrary, discriminatory, or undertaken in bad faith. See id. at 1486 (quoting Burkevich, 894 F.2d at 349). Our threshold inquiry is whether the Board's conduct in this case was ministerial or involved the exercise of the Board's judgment. See id. As a preliminary matter, we note that Wellman is not contending that the Board's actions deviated from the terms of the collective bargaining agreement or the policies adopted to implement it. 6 Instead, Wellman argues that the Board's review of his claim was so perfunctory as to be ministerial, pointing to the fact that the Board reached its decision in only two hours. 24 We disagree with Wellman's assumption that the Board could not have conducted a diligent review of the arbiters' judgment in that span of time. Guild policies and procedures circumscribe the Board's review of the arbiters' credit determination. The Credit Determination Procedure prohibits the board from reviewing any materials that were available to the arbiters. The Board may consider only whether the arbitration was marred by undue influence on the arbiters or whether the arbiters' award reflects a dereliction of duty or a misinterpretation, misapplication, or violation of Guild policy. Significantly, the Board is not empowered to reverse the decision of an Arbitration Committee in matters of judgment. The Board reasonably could have concluded that how closely the arbiters read the materials was a matter of judgment. Under this construction of the Credit Determination Procedure, the Board need not have spent much time investigating this claim: it could not have second-guessed the arbiters' judgment anyway. Where, as here, the resolution of a union member's grievance turns on the union's rational interpretation of its written policies, further investigation is unnecessary. Evangelista v. Inlandboatmen's Union, 777 F.2d 1390, 1396 (9th Cir.1985). 25 Wellman argues further that the Board acted discriminatorily or in bad faith in determining that the arbiters' review of the materials did not constitute a dereliction of duty within the meaning of the Credit Determination Procedure. The Board rejected Wellman's argument that the arbiters were required to evaluate the screenplays by breaking down the novel Fair Game structurally, as the writers had done in creating their scripts. The Board determined that the Arbitration Committee is not required to perform a structural breakdown of a novel when determining screenwriting credit. The Board relied instead on its own practical familiarity with the arbiters' duties, and upon its common-sense understanding that writing a script is very different from reading one. 26 We find nothing discriminatory in this exercise of the Board's judgment. It is unavoidable, even desirable, that arbiters draw from their personal knowledge of the workplace and the relevant industry when they make their awards. Stead Motors v. Automotive Machinists Lodge No. 1173, 886 F.2d 1200, 1207 (9th Cir.1989) (en banc). Because the practices of the industry ... [are] equally a part of the collective bargaining agreement although not expressed in it, United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 582, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960), we assume that the Board-which is charged with measuring the arbiters' conduct against the rules and procedures that implement the collective bargaining agreement-will resort to its knowledge of the industry when reviewing arbitration awards. 27 In sum, Wellman has adduced no evidence tending to show that the Board conducted a discriminatory or bad faith investigation of the depth and attention that the arbiters paid to their task. The district court's decision to enforce the Board's decision therefore was correct.