Court Opinion

ID: 9480143
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:39:40.31012+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:30.821048
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
We affirmed the district court’s grant of a directed verdict to the defendant Teamster Local Union No. 580 (the union) and to the employer, Anchor Motor Freight (Anchor), on November 14, 1989, in a decision reported at 889 F.2d 718 (6th Cir.1989). I believe that we decided the case at that time properly in accord with precedent in this circuit and not contrary to our understanding of Supreme Court decisions on “hybrid” actions brought under § 301 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). The facts in this appeal by the truck driver employee, White, are set out in that opinion. We relied then upon Bagsby v. Lewis Bros., Inc. of Tennessee, 820 F.2d 799 (6th Cir. 1987);1 Breininger v. Int’l Assoc., Local Union No. 6, 849 F.2d 997 (6th Cir.1988); *563and on Adkins v. International Union of Electricians, Radio & Machine Workers, 769 F.2d 330 (6th Cir.1985).
Breininger held that “if the employee fails to affirmatively allege that his employer breached the collective bargaining agreement ..., he cannot prevail.” 849 F.2d at 999 (emphasis in original), citing Bagsby v. Lewis Brothers, Inc. of Tennessee, 820 F.2d 799, 801 (6th Cir.1987). The Supreme Court, however, on December 5, 1989, in — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 424, 107 L.Ed.2d 388 reversed our Breininger holding and held that the above quote “is a misstatement of existing law.” 110 S.Ct. at 432, citing Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967).
In Breininger, the Supreme Court went on to hold
Federal courts have jurisdiction to hear fair representation suits whether or not they are accompanied by claims against employers ... [Independent federal jurisdiction exists over fair representation claims....
110 S.Ct. at 434. Our decisions in Adkins and Bagsby were overturned by the Supreme Court in this regard.
The complaint in this case asserts a breach of the collective bargaining agreement by reason of discharge without just cause,2 and the union’s discriminatory and arbitrary failure to represent White properly, particularly in allegedly failing to present to the grievance hearing panel “highly relevant evidence” (work record and handling of comparable charges against other employees).
We have held in this case that because White failed to charge Anchor with discriminatory discharge in violation of Article 14 of the CBA, he cannot litigate this claim before this court on appeal. Today's opinion goes on to conclude that if the claim against the employer failed, because White did not present evidence raising a genuine issue on the “major” accident factual question, then the claim against the union on the “interdependent” failure to represent claim must also fail. I believe that this reasoning is no longer valid in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Breininger, and that federal jurisdiction continues to exist on the claim against the union. See also Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, 424 U.S. 554, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976).
White did, in fact, assert discriminatory conduct on the part of both employer and his union, although the assertion against the employer was perfunctory and conclu-sory. He did not make it clear that he claimed that Anchor was, in effect, retaliating against him because he supported TDU, and did not pursue proof to that effect at trial. I concur, then, in holding that the directed verdict in favor of Anchor is not error, although I find the issue to be close. I concur with the majority, then, in affirming the judgment for Anchor.
I must depart from the majority decision, however, in respect to the judgment against White in his claim against the union. I construe Breininger to mean what it says in holding that “whatever the employer’s liability, the employee would still retain a legal claim against the union,” and that “independent jurisdiction exists over fair representation claims.” Id. 110 S.Ct. at 434. If independent jurisdiction exists in the first instance over a separate claim for failure to represent fairly, then it seems to me that it also exists even if a judgment has been rendered that the employer did not breach the collective bargaining agreement in the particular manner alleged by the plaintiff-employee.
*564If the employer has the right to discharge for involvement in a major accident, but if the discharge were also motivated by a retaliatory or discriminatory motive, or if in analogous cases other employees are disciplined less drastically, I would find that a separate cause of action may yet exist against the union if the trier of fact were to be persuaded that the union acted “arbitrarily and capriciously, and with hostile discrimination” in its representation of White, or failed to represent him altogether.
Storey v. Local 327, Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, 759 F.2d 517 (6th Cir.1985), citing Vaca v. Sipes, stated:
The Supreme Court and various lower courts have recognized a cause of action for breach of a union’s duty of fair representation which does not depend on section 301 as a jurisdictional base. In Vaca v. Sipes the Supreme Court stated that a primary justification for the preemption doctrine “is not applicable to cases involving alleged breaches of the union's duty of fair representation.” 386 U.S. at 180-81, 87 S.Ct. at 911-12.
The duty of fair representation does not arise out of a collective bargaining agreement; it flows from the union’s statutory position as exclusive representative and exists both before and after the execution of an agreement.
759 F.2d at 523. Storey also relied upon Amalgamated Assoc. of Street Railway Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274, 91 S.Ct. 1909, 29 L.Ed.2d 473 (1971), in reaching that decision, and that case involved a suit against the employer, Kroger, despite the employee plaintiffs’ contention that no valid collective bargaining agreement was in effect at the pertinent time. There was implicated then in Storey an interrelationship between the employee, the union, and the employer. In Beriault v. Local 40, I.L. & W. Union, 501 F.2d 258 (9th Cir.1974), the employee sued both the employer for breach of contract and the union for failure to represent properly. Although the claim against the employer was dismissed, the court held that the claim for unfair representation against the union might be pursued. I believe plaintiff White in this case should similarly be permitted to pursue his claim against the union.
Because I believe Breininger changed what this court, under Bagsby, Breininger, and Adkins, had believed to be the law in a hybrid § 301 fair representation case, I would hold that we should reverse the judgment rendered on the defendant union’s motion for directed verdict. I dissent, therefore, from the affirming of the judgment for the union and would remand for further proceedings against it.

. We cited language from Bagsby which referred to Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, 424 U.S. 554, 570-71, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 1059-60, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976). Hines reversed our court's decision reported at 506 F.2d 1153 (6th Cir.1974), stating:
Under the rule announced by the Court of Appeals, unless the employer is implicated in the Union’s malfeasance or has otherwise caused the arbitral process to err, petitioners would have no remedy against Anchor even though they are successful in proving the Union’s bad faith, the falsity of the charges against them, and the breach of contract by Anchor by discharging without cause. This rule would apparently govern even in circumstances where it is shown that a union manufactured the evidence and knows from the start that it is false; or even if, unbeknownst to the employer, the union has corrupted the arbitrator to the detriment of disfavored union members. As is the case where there has been a failure to exhaust, however, we cannot believe that Congress intended to foreclose the employee from his § 301 remedy otherwise available against the employer if the contractual processes have been seriously flawed by the union’s breach of its duty to represent employees honestly and in good faith and without invidious discrimination or arbitrary conduct.
But it is quite another matter to suggest that erroneous arbitration decisions must stand even though the employee’s representation by the union has been dishonest, in bad faith, or discriminatory; for in that event error and injustice of the grossest sort would multiply.
Petitioners, if they prove an erroneous discharge and the Union's breach of duty tainting the decision of the joint committee, are *563entitled to an appropriate remedy against the employer as well as the Union. It was error to affirm the District Court’s final dismissal of petitioner's action against Anchor.
424 U.S. at 570, 571, 572, 96 S.Ct. at 1059, 1059, 1060.

. The complaint asserts that "Anchor wrongly concluded that the August 21 incident was a ‘major’ accident, chargeable against White,” and then discharged him. White referred to Article 40 of the CBA relating to a "just cause” discharge, and asserted then that his discharge by Anchor was "discriminatory and unjust.” In his claim against the union, he referred to his dissident TDU activities and asserted that the union acted against his interests, with “hostile discrimination."