Court Opinion

ID: 2964076
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:20:03.8603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:21:33.081261
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

        April 19, 1996          [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
                                 ____________________

        No. 95-2152

                                   ANDREW P. LORE,

                                Plaintiff, Appellant,

                                          v.

              MARVIN T. RUNYON, POSTMASTER GENERAL, UNITED STATES POSTAL
               SERVICE AGENCY AND VINCENT SOMBROTTO, PRESIDENT NATIONAL
                           ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS,

                                Defendants, Appellees.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                          FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

                   [Hon. Reginald C. Lindsay, U.S. District Judge]
                                              ___________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Torruella, Chief Judge,
                                           ___________
                            Cyr and Stahl, Circuit Judges.
                                           ______________

                                 ____________________

            Andrew P. Lore on brief pro se.
            ______________
            Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, and  George B. Henderson,
            _______________                               ____________________
        II, Assistant U.S. Attorney, on brief for Marvin T. Runyon, Postmaster
        __
        General, appellee.
            Peter D. DeChiara, Cohen,  Weiss and Simon, Christopher N. Souris,
            _________________  _______________________  _____________________
        and  Feinberg,  Charnas &  Birmingham, P.C.  on  brief for  Vincent R.
             ______________________________________
        Sombrotto, appellee.

                                 ____________________

                                 ____________________

                      Per Curiam.  Appellant Andrew Lore appeals from the
                      __________

            grant of summary judgment in favor of Marvin Runyon, Jr., the

            United  States  Postmaster  General, and  Vincent  Sombrotto,

            President  of  the National  Association  of Letter  Carriers

            (NALC).  We affirm for the following reasons.  

                 1.  To  the extent Lore's  suit was  based on the  claim

            that the United States Postal Service failed to pay him fully

            for  his  military leave  in 1993  and  that NALC  refused to

            arbitrate  that issue,  it was  time-barred, as  the district

            court correctly  explained in  its order dated  September 15,

            1995.  We note as well  that Lore offered no evidence showing

            that   NALC's    refusal   to   arbitrate    was   arbitrary,

            discriminatory  or undertaken  in bad faith.   See  Miller v.
                                                           ___  ______

            U.S. Postal Service, 985 F.2d 9,  11 (1st Cir. 1993) (a union
            ___________________

            breaches its duty of fair representation only if  its conduct

            is arbitrary,  discriminatory  or in  bad  faith)  (quotation

            marks and citation omitted).  To the contrary, NALC submitted

            evidence  showing  that its  decision  not  to arbitrate  was

            reasonable  and  undertaken in  good  faith.   Hence,  Lore's

            claims  against  appellees  were   meritless.    See  id.  (a
                                                             ___  ___

            plaintiff's   failure  to   establish   the  union's   unfair

            representation defeats his connected breach of contract claim

            against his employer).

                 2.  To the  extent Lore's suit asserted that  the Postal

            Service had breached  its collective bargaining  agreement by

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            deducting time spent on military leave  from his annual leave

            without  his prior consent  and that NALC  had not vigorously

            arbitrated   that issue,  it was  dismissable for  failure to

            exhaust  available contractual  remedies.   See Hayes  v. New
                                                        ___ _____     ___

            England  Millwork Distributors,  Inc., 602  F.2d 15,  18 (1st
            _____________________________________

            Cir. 1979).  At the time Lore  filed suit, arbitration on the

            annual  leave issue was pending.   Lore has  not described or

            documented  any specific  action  or inaction  by NALC  which

            unreasonably  delayed the arbitration  and which might excuse

            his obligation to exhaust his contractual remedies.

                 3.     Lore's claim  of  discrimination did  not  assert

            discrimination  on  the  basis  of a  protected  status,  but

            amounted essentially  to a claim that the  Postal Service had

            treated him differently than it had treated another employee.

            Such a claim  is not actionable.   See Jensen  v. Frank,  912
                                               ___ ______     _____

            F.2d 517, 520-21 (1st Cir. 1990).

                      Affirmed. 
                      _________

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