Court Opinion

ID: 9475519
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:29:57.15539+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:45.874567
License: Public Domain

HOFFMAN, Senior District Judge,
concurring specially:
Daniel Webster once stated, “There is nothing so powerful as the truth, and nothing so strange.”1 This sentiment is particularly apropos in light of appellant’s predicament. While I concur in the result reached by the court, I am compelled to express my concern that the scope of the majority’s holding not be expansively interpreted. I concur on the grounds that, based on the affidavit of Paul McAllister, appellant’s state law claim does not fail as a matter of law and that the state claim is not pre-empted by federal law.
I.
Florida law is consistent with the general rule that an actionable misrepresentation must involve a false statement of a past or existing fact and not a promise to do something in the future. Hamlen v. Fairchild Industries, Inc., 413 So.2d 800, 802 (Fla. *6421st Dist.Ct.App.1982); Vance v. Indian Hammock Hunt & Riding Club, Ltd., 403 So.2d 1367, 1371 (Fla. 4th Dist.Ct.App. 1981). However, Florida law recognizes several exceptions to this rule. First, “a promise is actionable as fraud only when the promisor had a positive intent not to perform his promise, or made the promise without a present intent to perform it.” Bissett v. Ply-Gem Industries, Inc., 533 F.2d 142, 145 (5th Cir.1976); Perry v. Cos-grove, 464 So.2d 664, 666 (Fla. 2d Dist.Ct. App.1985). Second, projections, opinions or representations of future profits or business success when made by a party with superior or exclusive knowledge of the underlying facts can constitute fraud when the “defendant knew or should have known, that the facts in his possession invalidated the opinion which he expressed.” Bissett, 533 F.2d at 146 (applying Florida law of misrepresentation to allegedly false statements made to induce plaintiff to enter franchise agreement); cf, Day v. Avery, 548 F.2d 1018, 1025-28 (D.C. Cir.1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 908, 97 S.Ct. 1706, 52 L.Ed.2d 394 (1977) (generally discussing actionable misrepresentations involving statements of prospective returns made in order to induce those with inferior knowledge to enter into agreement).
Because projections of future performance are subject to the uncontrollable economic influence of the marketplace, such projections are generally considered expectations or predictions and not ironclad guarantees, regardless of their persuasive effect. Kelly Tire Service, Inc. v. Kelly-Springfield Tire Co., 338 F.2d 248, 253 (8th Cir.1964). Clearly, however, presentation of false projections of business performance would fall within actionable misrepresentation under Florida law as a false statement of past fact. Further, substantial discrepancies between profit and loss statements presented to induce plaintiff to enter into a franchise agreement and the actual performance records of other franchises may reasonably support the inference that the defendant had knowledge of facts which would prevent the attainment of the projections. Bissett, 533 F.2d at 148.
This case does not involve conduct as egregious as the intentional manipulation of representations of projected revenues in order to overstate income. During the 20-odd meetings during the month of May, McAllister accurately represented to Varnum the existing terms of employment which governed his employment from June 2, 1983 (date of employment) to July 13, 1983 (date of implementation of the seniority based dispatch system). Throughout this one and one-half month period, appellant 1) was dispatched on a “first in-first out” system, 2) remained home-based in Jacksonville and 3) earned revenues comparable with the projections. McAllister’s statements did not become inaccurate until the change in the collective bargaining agreement on or about June 26, 1983, at which time appellant was a Nu-Car employee and a provisional member of the union. Presumably, at this juncture any complaint by Varnum involving the change in dispatch system should have been brought pursuant to the grievance procedures established in the collective bargaining agreement. It should be noted that during the collective bargaining negotiations, as a response to Nu-Car’s desire to reduce the cost of employee health care and pension benefits, the union, and not Nu-Car, initiated the suggestion to change the dispatch system. Further, in most instances it would be difficult to attribute a quantifiable degree of knowledge of a possible change in the collective bargaining agreement to an employee not involved in the bargaining sessions. Consequently, under these circumstances, summary judgment would appear proper because the misrepresentation claim would fail as a matter of law and the collective bargaining agreement would afford a remedy.
Florida courts have been reluctant to grant summary judgment when fraud or misrepresentation is involved. Elmore v. Vatrano, 485 So.2d 888 (Fla. 1st Dist.Ct. App.1986). The court in Elmore noted at 890:
*643Summary judgment is not a substitute for a trial; and fraud is a subtle thing requiring full explanation of the facts and circumstances of the alleged wrong to determine if they collectively constitute fraud. Since the whole context is necessary for the determination, it is seldom that one can determine the presence or absence of fraud without a trial. Alepgo Corp. v. Pozin, 114 So.2d 645 (Fla. 3d Dist.Ct.App.1959).
If the statements made by McAllister during May concerning the terms of Varnum’s employment were made with actual knowledge of the fact that the dispatch system was to be changed or that Nu-Car intended to engage in a course of conduct which would prevent the realization of the representations made to Varnum, then the state tort action accrued when the statements were made and prior to the employment relationship. Consequently, viewing the facts in a light most favorable to appellant, there exists some doubt as to the extent of McAllister’s knowledge during the month of May of the certainty of the change to the seniority based dispatch system. Particularly, I rely on the statement in McAllister’s affidavit dated April 11,1985, to the effect that McAllister was aware of discussion within the company concerning a shift to the seniority system and that he did not disclose this information because he was under pressure to hire a certain number of owner-operators.
Although there is no affirmative duty in Florida to disclose possible future changes in the terms and conditions of employment, an employer may not represent terms of an employment agreement when the employer has a present intent not to perform the terms under the agreement, or has knowledge of facts which will prevent the bargained for agreement from being performed. Because there is some evidence which suggests that Nu-Car may have had either the intent not to employ appellant under the bargained for terms or knowledge of facts which would materially alter what was represented to appellant, the state law claim does not fail, but should be resolved by the trier of fact.
II.
The close question in this case is whether Section 301 pre-empts appellant’s state law claim. The court below ruled that because the terms of appellant’s employment were specifically addressed in the collective bargaining agreement, his proper remedies were under the contract grievance procedure and 29 U.S.C. § 185 (Section 301), and that Section 301 pre-empted the state law claim. In reversing the district court, I am concerned that the opinion not be broadly construed to open the floodgates to a myriad of state law actions in an area where federal law is paramount. The holding does not chip away at the pre-emptive effect of Section 301, but rather, on its particular facts falls outside of the established parameters of Section 301.
I do not believe that permitting appellant’s state law claim to proceed would be inconsistent with these established parameters. “Pre-emption cases in the labor area are often difficult because we must decide the questions presented without any clear guidance from Congress.” Belknap, Inc. v. Hale, 463 U.S. 491, 523, 103 S.Ct. 3172, 3190, 77 L.Ed.2d 798 (1983) (Brennan, J., dissenting). Thus, “[t]he full scope of the pre-emptive effect of federal labor-contract law remains to be fleshed out on a case-by-case basis.” Allis-Chalmers v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 220, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 1916, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985). The novel facts present here test the scope of the pre-emptive effect of federal labor law by questioning whether the employment relationship incorporates all statements made by an employer, even if the employee has not yet been formally employed. In Teamsters Local v. Lucas Flour Co., 369 U.S. 95,103, 82 S.Ct. 571, 576, 7 L.Ed.2d 593 (1962), the Court stated:
The dimensions of § 301 require the conclusion that substantive principles of federal labor law must be paramount in the area covered by the statute. Comprehensiveness is inherent in the process by which the law is to be formulated under the mandate of (Textile Workers Union
*644More recently in Lueck, 471 U.S. at 210-11, 105 S.Ct. at 1911, the Court echoed the principle of Lucas Flour, when it noted:
If the policies that animate § 301 are to be given their proper range, however, the pre-emptive effect of § 301 must extend beyond suits alleging contract violations. These policies require that ‘the relationships created by [a collective bargaining] agreement’ be defined by application of ‘an evolving federal common law grounded in national labor policy.’ Bowen v. United States Postal Service, 459 U.S. 212, 224-225, 103 S.Ct. 588, 596, 74 L.Ed.2d 402 (1983).
The Court suggests the pre-emptive effect be paramount in the area covered by the statute, but recognizes that not every dispute involving a collective bargaining agreement is necessarily pre-empted. Id.
The district court relied heavily on Eitmann v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., 730 F.2d 359 (5th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1018, 105 S.Ct. 433, 83 L.Ed.2d 359 (1984), in granting summary judgment. In Eitmann, defendant New Orleans Public Service, Inc. (NOPSI) explained prior to employing plaintiff that, because of the hazardous work conditions, plaintiff would receive full compensation during periods of disability caused by work related injury. Upon discharge as a result of an on-the-job injury, plaintiff brought suit, not upon the collective bargaining agreement between his union and NOPSI, but on an alleged breach of an independent agreement between himself and NOPSI, which included the agreement to pay full compensation. The Fifth Circuit ruled that the breach of contract claim was subsumed in the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, because the collective bargaining agreement provided for a grievance procedure for discharged employees claiming unjust dismissal. Id., at 363. The court concluded that the collective bargaining agreement governed the avenue of remedy since plaintiff sought “redress for a grievance awardable by the arbitrator.” Id., at 364.
Appellant’s claim in this case focuses upon the conduct of Nu-Car prior to signing the Leased Equipment Agreement on June 2, 1983, at which time he became an owner-operator. Unlike Eitmann, appellant’s complaint centers upon representations of the terms of employment made by the employer which the employer allegedly knew were not true, and not a failure by the employer to adhere to established terms of the collective bargaining agreement. The difference in these circumstances is that here the wrong was committed prior to the employment relationship, while in Eitmann the wrong occurred when NOPSI allegedly failed to pay full compensation.2 Therefore, in Eitmann the grievance procedure anticipates resolution of conflicts when parties to the collective bargaining agreement fail to perform under the established terms, but here arbitration is inadequate because the alleged misrepresentation involves conduct which does not arise under the terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement.
“The collective bargaining agreement states the rights and duties of the parties. It is more than a contract; it is a generalized code to govern a myriad of cases which the draftsmen could not wholly anticipate.” Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Co., 363 U.S. 574, 578, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1351, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960). In Republic Steel v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 85 S.Ct. 614, 13 L.Ed.2d 580 (1965), the Court rejected re*645spondent’s argument that because he had been discharged, the employment relationship had terminated and state law applies. While the Court intimates that the relationship continues after employment has terminated, the Court’s holding is justified because it prevents a disgruntled, discharged employee from sidestepping the available grievance procedure and undermining the method for orderly settlement of employee grievances. Id. at 653, 85 S.Ct. at 616. However, despite the apparent breadth of the employment relationship under a collective bargaining agreement, I remain unconvinced that this collective bargaining agreement would encompass the activity complained of here and that the grievance procedure set out in the agreement would adequately redress the alleged harm. By not extending the employment relationship to include representations made by the employer to prospective employees, we do not undermine the established parameters of Section 301 because the alleged wrongful activity deals with misrepresentation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and not the change in the terms of the labor contract resulting from the negotiations between Nu-Car and the Union.
The Supreme Court also acknowledges an exception to the rule of uniform labor policies when the state claim is “of only peripheral concern to the federal law or touches interests deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility.” Belknap, 463 U.S. at 498, 103 S.Ct. at 3177. In Belknap, replacement employees, who were promised permanent employment in filling the position of striking employees, brought suit against the employers for breaching the representation of permanent employment when the striking employees were subsequently rehired. Consistent with other cases which address claims tangentially related to national labor policy, the Court permitted the state law claim to proceed because “maintaining the misrepresentation action would not interfere with the [National Labor Relations] Board’s determination of matters within its jurisdiction ...” and the state “surely has a substantial interest in protecting its citizens from misrepresentations that have caused them grievous harm.”3 Id. at 511, 103 S.Ct. at 3183. Here, adjudication of the state law misrepresentation claim will not jeopardize uniform determination of national labor policy, because the claim is only of peripheral concern to the federal regulatory scheme, and will afford relief for an interest protected in local feeling.

. Edwin P. Whipple, The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, 204 (1879). At the request of the government, Webster appeared for the prosecution and made this comment in' the prosecution’s closing argument in the murder trial of Captain Joseph White.

. This is not to say that I perceive § 301 to pre-empt state law actions only when breach of contract is involved. Rather, as the Supreme Court recently noted in Allis-Chalmers Corporation v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 212, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 1912, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985), “In extending the pre-emptive effect of § 301 beyond suits for breach of contract, it would be inconsistent with congressional intent under that section to preempt state rules that proscribe conduct, or establish rights and obligations, independent of a labor contract.” However, rejecting the state law bad faith handling of an insurance claim, the Court in Lueck determined that evaluation of that state law tort was inextricably intertwined with consideration of the terms of the labor contract and, therefore, was pre-empted by Section 301.

. The Court in Belknap, Inc. v. Hale, 463 U.S. 491, 509-10, 103 S.Ct. 3172, 3182-83, 77 L.Ed.2d 798 (1983), supports this proposition based on a line of cases which follow from San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), by citing Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U.S. 53, 86 S.Ct. 657, 15 L.Ed.2d 582 (1966) (false and malicious statements which were injurious to reputation actionable under state law not preempted even if an unfair labor practice); Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U.S. 290, 97 S.Ct. 1056, 51 L.Ed.2d 338 (1977) (intentional infliction of emotional distress not pre-empted although conduct might arguably have constituted an unfair labor practice); Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180, 98 S.Ct. 1745, 56 L.Ed.2d 209 (1978) (state trespass action not pre-empted because it concerned objection to location of the picketing and not the picketing itself). In Eitmann v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., 730 F.2d 359, 364 (1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1018, 105 S.Ct. 433, 83 L.Ed.2d 359 (1984), the Fifth Circuit approvingly cites the same cases as those above and adds Franchise Tax Board of the State of California v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust for Southern California, 463 U.S. 1, 25 n. 28, 103 S.Ct. 2841, 2854, n. 28, 77 L.Ed.2d 420 (1983) (dictum suggesting battery suit arising from a violent strike not pre-empted).