Opinion ID: 439051
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: District Court Jurisdiction Over Count III

Text: 13 Under Count III, the jury found that the defendants had violated section 101--the Bills of Rights provisions--and section 609 of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 411, 529, 14 by refusing to accept plaintiff's dues when he tendered them, by suspending plaintiff for allegedly failing to pay his dues, by instructing the members of defendant Local not to work on any jobs with plaintiff, and by doing all of these things because of plaintiff's participation and candidacy in the election for officers of defendant Local. 15 Local 31 argued to the district court and in its brief on appeal that the district court had no jurisdiction over the claims asserted in Count III because the conduct alleged was arguably an unfair labor practice and thus within the exclusive and primary jurisdiction of the NLRB. The Union pointed out, to bolster its preemption argument, that Quinn had actually litigated and won essentially the same claim before the NLRB, and had been awarded backpay, a cease-and-desist order and posting of notices. In oral argument before this court, however, counsel for the defendants characterized their jurisdictional argument differently, as one under the doctrine of election of remedies: Even if Quinn could have chosen initially to proceed in federal court under the LMRDA Bill of Rights, he could not do so once having successfully pursued relief under the NLRA before the Board. Although we are aware of no decisions barring the pursuit of claims under the LMRDA on the basis of a prior successful NLRB proceeding, we examine the defendants' arguments in turn. 12 16 We find that the district court's jurisdiction over Count III was not preempted by the exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRB. Under the preemption doctrine, state and federal courts generally may not adjudicate claims based on conduct that is arguably protected or arguably prohibited by the NLRA. See San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959). As the Supreme Court explained in Amalgamated Association of Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274, 91 S.Ct. 1909, 29 L.Ed.2d 473 (1971), 17 The principle of preemption that informs our general national labor law was born of this Court's efforts, without the aid of explicit congressional guidance, to delineate state and federal judicial authority over labor disputes in order to preclude, so far as reasonably possible, conflict between the exertion of judicial and administrative power in the attainment of the multifaceted policies underlying the federal scheme. 18 Id. at 286, 91 S.Ct. at 1918. Thus, although developed in the courts, the doctrine is designed to effectuate congressional intent. In Lockridge, the Supreme Court held that the preemption doctrine barred a state court from entertaining a breach of contract claim against a union for procuring the discharge of an employee, since the union's conduct was arguably protected by section 7 and arguably prohibited by section 8 of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 157, 158. 19 Local 31, relying on Lockridge, argues that the essence of Count III is the union's attempt to procure Quinn's discharge on grounds other than his failure to pay dues, and that the claim is therefore within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRB because it merely restates, under the guise of the LMRDA, an unfair labor practice, previously found by the NLRB under [s]ection 8(b)(2) of the Act. Brief for Appellants at 9. In other words, even though Count III charges conduct that violates the rights of union members under the LMRDA, and even though the LMRDA expressly provides for federal court jurisdiction over claims under the Bill of Rights provisions, see 29 U.S.C. Sec. 412, the NLRB has exclusive jurisdiction under the preemption doctrine over conduct that also constitutes an unfair labor practice under the NLRA. We do not agree. 20 The district court properly relied on International Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. Hardeman, 401 U.S. 233, 91 S.Ct. 609, 28 L.Ed.2d 609 (1971), in rejecting defendants' argument. In Hardeman, a union member sued his union under a provision of the LMRDA Bill of Rights, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 411(a)(5), alleging that he had been expelled without a full and fair hearing. The union contended that because Hardeman was seeking damages for loss of employment resulting from his expulsion, his real claim was essentially one of union discrimination in job referrals, and was within the exclusive competence of the NLRB. The Court rejected this argument in light of the explicit congressional purpose to refer claims under the LMRDA Bill of Rights to the federal courts. Furthermore, federal court jurisdiction over the claim at issue--the fairness of internal union disciplinary procedures--raised none of the concerns underlying the preemption doctrine. 21 [T]he critical question in this action is whether Hardeman was afforded the rights guaranteed him by Sec. 101(a)(5) of the LMRDA. If he was denied them, Congress has said that he is entitled to damages for the consequences of that denial. Since these questions are irrelevant to the legality of conduct under the [NLRA], there is no danger of conflicting interpretation of its provisions. And since the law applied is federal law explicitly made applicable to such circumstances by Congress, there is no danger that state law may come in through the back door to regulate conduct that has been removed by Congress from state control. 22 Id. at 241, 91 S.Ct. at 614-615. 23 Most courts agree with the district court that Hardeman stands for the proposition that NLRB jurisdiction over an unfair labor practice does not divest the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear an LMRDA claim arising out of the same pattern of misconduct. Opinion at 5. The district court quoted the Ninth Circuit's decision in Benda v. Grand Lodge of International Association of Machinists, 584 F.2d 308, 314 n. 2 (9th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 937, 99 S.Ct. 2065, 60 L.Ed.2d 667 (1979): Obviously the doctrines of preemption and primary jurisdiction must yield to the extent necessary to prevent frustration of congressional purposes as expressed in the LMRDA. Opinion at n. 2. See also Vandeventer v. Local 513, International Union of Operating Engineers, 579 F.2d 1373, 1377 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 984, 99 S.Ct. 576, 58 L.Ed.2d 656 (1978). The defendants contend, however, that Hardeman and its progeny dealt with purely internal union matters which are only of peripheral concern under the NLRA, and that claims based on union interference in the employment relationship, as they characterize Count III, are within the sole jurisdiction of the Board. 24 We need not decide whether Hardeman means that the preemption doctrine has no application whatsoever to claims under the LMRDA Bill of Rights, for Count III, as we read it, is confined to disciplinary measures taken against Quinn within the union, and stops short of alleging direct interference by the union in Quinn's employment relations. As the very least, Hardeman teaches that the preemption doctrine is not triggered by a claim that loss of employment was a compensable consequence of action in violation of the LMRDA. 13 Furthermore, the motivation behind the defendants' conduct--Quinn's participation and candidacy in the union election--is critical to the LMRDA Bill of Rights claim but, like the fairness of disciplinary procedures in Hardeman, irrelevant to the legality of the union's conduct under the NLRA. Thus, even a narrow reading of Hardeman controls this case, and we therefore reject the union's challenge to Count III on preemption grounds. 25 There is, however, a later incarnation of the defendants' preemption argument. Their basic contention is that Quinn actually won an NLRB ruling, along with backpay and the usual cease-and-desist order and posting of notices, on essentially the same facts as those alleged in Count III: the union's successful attempt to have Quinn discharged by refusing his dues, suspending him and ordering his fellow union members to refuse to work with him. 14 The union defendants argue that, even assuming that Quinn could have chosen originally to bring his claim to either the district court or the Board, he could not do both, and is now barred by the election of remedies doctrine. 26 The election of remedies doctrine is a harsh doctrine not favored in jurisprudence and not to be unduly extended. Louis Cook Plumbing & Heating, Inc. v. Frank Briscoe Co., 445 F.2d 1177, 1179 (10th Cir.1971). See also Macklin v. Spector Freight Systems, 478 F.2d 979, 991 (D.C.Cir.1973). The doctrine is based on an estoppel theory: 27 One who, with full knowledge of facts upon which inconsistent claims for relief may be predicated, requires his adversary to defend against a version of the facts marshalled in support of one theory, cannot in good conscience subsequently pursue a claim resting upon repugnant factual or legal bases. If, on the other hand, two causes of action that are not inconsistent arise from a single course of events, the doctrine of election of remedies does not require that a plaintiff, by choosing to assert one cause of action, be precluded from asserting the other. 28 1B J. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice p 0.405 (2d ed. 1983). See also Lubbock Feed Lots, Inc. v. Iowa Beef Processors, Inc., 630 F.2d 250 (5th Cir.), reh'g denied, 634 F.2d 1355 (5th Cir.1980). Because the defendants assert no inconsistency, and we can see none, between the claim asserted under the NLRA and that asserted under the LMRDA, the election of remedies doctrine has no application here. 29 At bottom, the defendants' argument rests simply on the supposed inequity of permitting Quinn two separate remedies for the same course of conduct. It is true that both the NLRB's backpay order and the jury's award of damages for the conduct charged in Count III were meant to remedy the consequences of the union's conduct in suspending Quinn and ordering his fellow members not to work with him. However, the defendants' argument that Quinn should not be permitted to recover twice for the same course of conduct misses the mark. First, the jury was instructed to subtract from its calculation of damages the amount of the NLRB's backpay award, thus alleviating any possibility of double recovery for those lost wages. 15 In addition, the defendants' argument overlooks the disparity in remedies available under the two acts. The Board, whose remedial powers are limited, awarded $836 in backpay and ordered Local 31 to cease and desist from its illegal conduct with respect to Quinn or any employee. By contrast, the jury in this action concluded that as a proximate result of much the same course of conduct Quinn had sustained compensable damages in the amount of $5000, to which the jury added $1,500 in punitive damages. 16 30 Furthermore, even though much the same course of conduct was at issue in both the NLRB proceedings and the trial below, the defendants' motivation--critical under the LMRDA--was not at issue before the Board. Since it is the suppression or punishment of the political activities of union members that is at the heart of the LMRDA Bill of Rights, we cannot say that Quinn's successful unfair labor practice charges vindicated the same right as he claimed under the LMRDA in Count III. We conclude that, even though Quinn's successful unfair labor practice charge was based on approximately the same factual pattern as Count III in this action, both the rights vindicated and the remedies available under section 102 of the LMRDA for the misconduct charged in Count III are distinct from those in an unfair labor practice action under the NLRA. Count III was therefore properly before the court.