Court Opinion

ID: 9648699
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:32:57.135873+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:04.553567
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing or to Transfer to Court En Banc.
PER CURIAM.
Plaintiffs present a motion for rehearing containing thirty assignments of error. In their suggestions in support thereof they discuss only the contention pertaining to the alleged “failure by the Court to apply federal substantive law in reaching its decision,” and those are the only assignments which merit additional comment.
Plaintiffs contend that pursuant to Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C.A. § 185(a), and the decisions of the United States Supreme Court this court was required to apply federal substantive labor law in reaching its decision. We have re-examined plaintiffs’ brief and find that no federal statute was cited therein, not even Section 301(a), supra, and no federal cases whatever were cited. In the submission of this case they relied solely on state court cases, primarily those from Missouri. It has long been the rule that new propositions and complaints not submitted in the original briefs, Ford v. Wabash Ry. Co., 318 Mo. 723, 300 S.W. 769, 778, and raised for the first time after the opinion is handed down, Phippin v. Missouri Pacific Ry. Co., 196 Mo. 321, 93 S.W. 410, 418, or which are clearly afterthoughts, State ex rel. Cole v. Matthews, Mo., 274 S.W.2d 286, 292, will not be considered on motion for rehearing. We do not propose now to change or relax that rule. However, if in a suit in a state court by an employee against an employer on a collective bargaining agreement, we are required to apply “federal substantive law” and we did not do so, and the result reached is contrary to such law, then plain *468error would have resulted. We may, in our discretion, consider plain error affecting substantial rights, Civil Rule 79.04, V. A.M.R., and on that discretionary basis we shall examine the contention, presented now for the first time, that we erred in not ruling the case pursuant to “federal substantive law” which plaintiffs at no time urged.
Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C.A. § 185 (a), provides as follows: “Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this chapter, or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.” In Smith v. Evening News Association, 371 U.S. 195, 83 S.Ct. 267, 9 L.Ed.2d 246, the United States Supreme Court, speaking through Mr. Justice White, stated that this section “has substantive content and that Congress has directed the courts to formulate and apply federal law to suits for violation of collective bargaining contracts.” Quoting then from Local 174, Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America v. Lucas Flour Co., 369 U.S. 95, 82 S.Ct. 571, 7 L.Ed.2d 593, the court also said: “ ‘The possibility that individual contract terms might have different meanings under state and federal law would inevitably exert a disruptive influence upon both the negotiation and administration of collective agreements.’ ”
Plaintiffs assert that “Under federal law the courts may even interpolate * * * if the federal policy will be served thereby,” and although they say “such is not needed here” they clearly imply that their understanding of federal policy is that they should not lose this litigation, and that we should read into the contract such non-existing provisions as are necessary to carry out that policy. They say we “deviated from federal requirements” when we applied “the same Missouri law that would be applied to all contracts regardless of their nature,” and “had the court considered federal law and endeavored to reach a conclusion consonant therewith, the court should have found itself compelled to reach a contrary result.” They further argue that the result of plaintiffs losing this litigation “would certainly never promote industrial stability or peace and can only be ‘a breeder of discontent and unharmonious relations between employer and employees,’ ” and the “failure to consider the interests and position of the plaintiffs could never meet or satisfy the federal requirements or standards.”
We are not convinced that it is “federal policy” that in a suit of this nature we must interpolate into the contract such nonexisting provisions as may be necessary in order to enable plaintiffs to prevail regardless of the merits of their position. We shall, therefore, turn to the question of whether the result we reached in construing the terms of the contract as written is contrary to “federal substantive law.” In their motion for rehearing plaintiffs cite not one federal case construing language of a collective bargaining agreement which was the same or similar to that construed in the principal opinion, and not one federal case is cited in the motion for rehearing which tends to hold that the result we reached is construing the contract as written is incorrect. In the preparation of the principal opinion we ruled the issues by giving the language of the contract its normal meaning in accordance with its accepted usage. In doing so we considered every case cited by plaintiffs, none of which were federal cases. In our research on the issues we studied and considered not only Missouri cases, but the federal cases and cases of other states pertaining to the issues. We found no federal case directly in point, but we cited two, a court of appeals opinion and an opinion of the United States Supreme Court, on related matters. Assuming, therefore, that in this suit we are required to apply federal substantive *469law, it is our conclusion that we did so insofar as there has been a pronouncement thereof by the federal courts, and that we correctly applied it and the result reached is in accord therewith. There is absolutely nothing in Smith v. Evening News Association or any other federal case cited by plaintiffs in their motion for rehearing, which directly or inferentially holds that the result we reached is contrary to federal substantive law, and plaintiffs certainly have not demonstrated in their motion for rehearing that on the merits we reached an incorrect result. The motion for rehearing is overruled.
For the reasons set forth in the per curiam in Irwin v. Globe-Democrat Publishing Company, Mo., 368 S.W.2d 452, there is no federal question which requires or justifies a transfer of this case to the court en banc. No supreme court rule requires, and we find no reason to order, its transfer. The alternative motion to transfer to the court en banc is denied.