Opinion ID: 3028631
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Continental II

Text: During the pendency of Continental I, the Pilots Association settled its dispute with Continental. Id. at 127. Not all of Eastern’s pilots accepted this settlement, however, and the remaining pilots continued to pursue an award under the CBA, both within the bankruptcy and outside of it. Those pilots pursuing claims within the bankruptcy attempted to determine the amount of their entitlement in a class action before the Bankruptcy Court. The parties ultimately settled this suit and the Bankruptcy Court approved the settlement.2 The pilots who pursued claims outside the bankruptcy filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (the “New Jersey action”) as the Eastern Pilots Merger Committee (the “Eastern pilots”).3 In pursuing their case, these Eastern pilots 2 In two unpublished opinions, we affirmed the Bankruptcy Court’s settlement order. In re Continental Airlines, Inc., Nos. 032374, 03-2375 (3d Cir. Mar. 9, 2004); In re Continental Airlines, Inc., No. 03-2376 (3d Cir. Mar. 17, 2004). 3 Appellants are the Eastern Pilots Merger Committee, its individuals members and officers, its president, Peter Crawford, and its attorney, John O’B. Clarke. We refer to them collectively as “the Eastern pilots” or “Eastern’s pilots.” Moreover, we will sometimes cite the name of the organization as “EPMC.” -6- entered into a stipulation (“Stipulation of Withdrawal”) before the Bankruptcy Court in which they waived all claims against Continental in the bankruptcy proceeding and consented to a discharge of all relief under Continental’s reorganization plan. In the New Jersey action, Eastern’s pilots asserted that the CBA survived Continental’s discharge, allowing the remaining pilots to specifically enforce seniority integration and to recover damages for Continental’s failure to comply with the CBA. In response to this suit, Continental filed a motion in Bankruptcy Court to halt the New Jersey action, asserting that all potential relief under the Labor Provisions had been addressed within the bankruptcy proceedings. Continental II, 279 F.3d at 228. To enforce Continental’s plan of reorganization, the Bankruptcy Court enjoined the New Jersey action, holding that, under Continental I, all relief based on the Labor Provisions had been discharged by the plan. See id. at 228-29 (citing In re Continental Airlines, Inc., 236 B.R. 318, 332 (Bankr. D. Del. 1999)); see also 11 U.S.C. § 524(a)(2) (“A discharge . . . operates as an injunction against the commencement or continuation of an action, the employment of process, or an act, to collect, recover or offset any such debt as a personal liability of the debtor.”). In Continental II, we upheld the Bankruptcy Court’s injunction, explaining that Continental I had interpreted the CBA as providing a right of payment dischargeable in bankruptcy. 279 F.3d at 230. Moreover, we held that this was the only relief available under the CBA, whether post- or pre-petition. Since the Eastern pilots were seeking relief outside these parameters, we affirmed the Bankruptcy Court’s injunction of the New Jersey action.