Opinion ID: 3064664
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: BRU’s Motion for Contempt Sanctions

Text: BRU also contends that the district court abused its discretion in denying its motion for civil contempt sanctions against MTA for MTA’s alleged failure to comply with the 2004 Final Order. For issuance of a contempt order against MTA to be proper, BRU must establish “(1) that [MTA] violated the court order, (2) beyond substantial compliance, (3) not based on a good faith and reasonable interpretation of the order, (4) by clear and convincing evidence.” In re Dual-Deck Video Cassette Recorder Antitrust Litig., 10 F.3d 693, 695 (9th Cir. 1993). BRU argues that MTA violated the Final Order in two ways: (1) by failing to allocate all of the newly purchased buses and additional service hours to peak time periods, and (2) by failing to hire any new mechanics. The Final Order required that, among other things, MTA purchase “the vehicular equivalent of 145 new 40-seat expansion buses” and add an additional 290,145 annual in-service hours. MTA did add 145 buses and 298,985 in-service hours LABOR/COMMUNITY v. L.A. COUNTY MTA 5223 to the bus system. But according to BRU, MTA violated the Final Order by failing to allocate all of these resources to peak time periods. MTA does not dispute that some of the new hours and buses went to non-peak times, but contends that the Final Order gave MTA discretion regarding how to perform the allocation. [12] Upon review of the Final Order, it is not immediately obvious whether the hours and buses were required to be allocated to peak time periods. There is no express language directing MTA to do so and the Final Order provides MTA with “discretion” to deploy the buses “throughout the bus system.” Even assuming that MTA violated the Final Order by allocating some resources to non-peak time periods, the district court was within its discretion in ruling that contempt sanctions were not warranted. There is no evidence that MTA’s conduct was “not based on a good faith and reasonable interpretation of the order.” See id. [13] While MTA did not add all of the additional in-service hours to peak periods, it did add an estimated 162,947 annual in-service hours during peak periods and did increase its total annual in-service hours by more than the amount required by the Final Order. MTA also added 145 buses to its fleet as required (though it is not clear how many of those buses were added to peak time periods). These efforts rebut any inference that MTA was acting in bad faith. In addition, even if MTA’s interpretation of the Final Order were ultimately deemed incorrect, it was not unreasonable. MTA is right that the Final Order does not literally state that the additional hours and buses must be added during peak times. [14] BRU also argues that MTA’s failure to hire new mechanics violated the Final Order, which mandated that MTA “[h]ire additional mechanics as needed to meet the expansion service requirements[.]” The language “as needed” renders the directive conditional, and we have no basis to second-guess MTA’s conclusion that it had no need to hire 5224 LABOR/COMMUNITY v. L.A. COUNTY MTA more mechanics. It is, for example, undisputed that MTA added nearly 300,000 annual in-service hours after Special Master Bliss issued the Final Order. The fact that MTA increased its in-service hours so significantly without adding mechanics lends substantial credence to its argument that no new mechanics were needed to meet its obligations under the Final Order. [15] We hold that BRU has not demonstrated that the district court abused its discretion in declining to sanction MTA for its alleged violations of the Final Order.