Court Opinion

ID: 9470750
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:15:09.416142+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:05.516270
License: Public Domain

CLARK, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
No matter how favorably to Smith all the evidence in this record is viewed, it does not show me any just cause limitation on Kerr-*921to discharge Smith. This means the trial court correctly entered summary judgment. I respectfully dissent.
*922None of the three grounds relied on by the majority singly or in combination evidence to me an intent to create a just cause limitation. Nor can I find any other evidence to indicate that the parties intended a just cause limitation. Certainly, there was no express limitation. “Dismissal for cause” was never even referred to. There was no provision for arbitration. There was no mutual grievance procedure. Kerr-ville did not limit discharges to those based on specified causes.1 There was no provision for tenure, or anything remotely resembling tenure. There was no union hiring hall arrangement.2 In sum, there was simply no proof of a mutual intention on the part of the Drivers Committee and Kerrville to limit the right Kerrville otherwise had to discharge an employee for any reason or no reason at all.
The majority does not expressly hold that a just cause limitation is implicit in every collective bargaining agreement. However, this is the import of its decision. I would not presume a just cause limitation here. The employer ought not be required to bargain for a negating proviso such as “The employer reserves the right to discharge any employee for any reason or no reason at all.”
A court should not rewrite the parties’ contract. Rather, it should look to the objectively manifested intent of the parties without bias in favor of either party. Because I believe the majority has failed to do this, I respectfully dissent.

. The first paragraph in the Drivers Rule Book reads:
1. POLICY; It is the policy of the Company to have only reasonable and necessary rules. The duties and responsibilities of the Driver are prescribed by the rules contained in this Rule Book, and by such additional rules, orders, instructions, bulletins and directives as may be issued by Management.
(emphasis supplied).

. In Lowe v. Pate Stevedoring Co., 558 F.2d 769 (5th Cir.1977), cited by the majority, this court affirmed the district court’s finding that a just cause limitation could be “inferred as a part of the basic fabric of the collective bargaining agreement.” Id. at 771 n. 3. We so held only because the agreement created a hiring hall arrangement whereby workers were routinely hired on a day-to-day basis as needed. Thus, there was never any occasion for an employer to “discharge” in the usual sense. Id.