Court Opinion

ID: 9476509
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:57:40.786187+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:21.531178
License: Public Domain

ENGEL, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff William Dougherty appeals a summary judgment entered against him and in favor of defendant Seaboard System Railroad, and certified as final under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In certifying the appeal, Senior United States District Judge David S. Porter made a thorough statement in support of his finding that there was “no just reason for delay.” See Solomon v. Aetna, 782 F.2d 58 (6th Cir.1986); COMPACT v. Met*1478ropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, 786 F.2d 227 (6th Cir.1986).
Prior to the underlying litigation, Mr. Dougherty had been employed as a crane operator by the defendant Parsec, Inc. Parsec and the defendant Local 100 of the Teamsters Union were parties to a collective bargaining agreement which was applicable to Dougherty’s employment and provided that plaintiff could be terminated only for “just cause.” The agreement contained the usual provisions for processing of grievances, including the usual steps requisite to proceeding to a hearing before a joint committee of the Teamsters and members of the trucking industry.
In his complaint, Dougherty asserted that on or about June 27, 1985, Parsec discharged him from his employment at the request of Seaboard. He alleged that Seaboard brought about his discharge because he had complained to OSHA concerning certain unsafe work conditions which Seaboard allowed to exist on its premises. Plaintiff at the time had been required to carry on part of his duties on Seaboard’s premises. Parsec denied that it was in any way motivated by any complaint of Seaboard, denied that his discharge was motivated by a retaliation for his “ringing the bell” on Seaboard, and instead asserted that he had been properly discharged for just cause.
A grievance protesting plaintiff’s discharge was taken to a hearing before the joint committee, and the committee upheld the discharge. Plaintiff alleges that the committee was biased against him and that the union was negligent in presenting his grievance. The complaint requests relief under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, for breach of the collective bargaining agreement on the part of the employer, and also for breach by the union of its duty of fair representation. Plaintiff also appended a claim against Seaboard for tortious interference with his contractual relationship with Parsec.
In its motion for dismissal Seaboard argued first that the tortious interference claim was preempted by section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 29 U.S.C. § 660(c). This section, which prohibits retaliatory actions against individuals who make complaints to OSHA, does not create a private right of action. Taylor v. Brighton Corp., 616 F.2d 256 (6th Cir.1980). As a backup position, Seaboard also contended that under Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985), the tortious interference claim was preempted by section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act. Judge Porter accepted Seaboard’s second argument, and we fully agree. A copy of Judge Porter’s memorandum and order of May 9, 1986 is attached hereto as Appendix A.
While acknowledging that the issue was not free from doubt, Judge Porter concluded that a fair reading of Allis-Chalmers was that a tort claim under state law is preempted by section 301 if that claim is “inextricably intertwined with consideration of the terms of the labor contract.” Id. at 213, 105 S.Ct. at 1912. Judge Porter observed that some of the public policies served by preemption would not necessarily be endangered by permitting plaintiff to proceed on the pendent claim, and Judge Porter also acknowledged that such a cause of action can exist under Ohio law, see Heheman v. E.W. Scripps Co., 661 F.2d 1115 (6th Cir.1981); Cincinnati Bengals, Inc. v. Bergey, 453 F.Supp. 129 (S.D. Ohio 1974). However, Judge Porter also stated: “Regardless of how the tortious interference with a contract claim is defined, the terms of the labor agreement will have to be scrutinized to determine if Seaboard induced its breach.” We agree with Judge Porter that his conclusion is reinforced by the cases cited by Seaboard, such as Satterfield v. Western Electric Co., 758 F.2d 1252 (8th Cir.1985). He concluded that even if plaintiff had filed separate actions in state and federal courts, such a procedure would have an improper impact upon national labor policy and the interest of Congress in the speedy and uniform administration of national labor law under the National Labor Relations Act. Again, we agree. The only contract with which any interference could be charged is *1479the collective bargaining agreement. An interference claim could not exist in the absence of such agreement, which in turn is exclusively to be interpreted under federal law.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.