Court Opinion

ID: 9648765
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:34:29.164826+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:05.331634
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing or to Transfer to Court En Banc.
PER CURIAM.
Plaintiffs contend in their motion for rehearing that we did not “take into account section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C.A., Section 185(a) and the decided cases of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that there should be a uniform body of substantive law conformable to the federal law in the field of labor relations,” and that in deciding issues arising out of collective bargaining contracts this court “was sitting as a court of the United States,” and consequently it was bound by the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
We have examined plaintiffs’ brief filed in this court and we fail to find any reference to the above contentions. Only one federal case was cited in their brief, In re Public Ledger, Inc., 3 Cir., 161 F.2d 762. Plaintiffs placed their complete reliance upon that case and upon cases from this and other states, and upon the report in two arbitration decisions, all of which we expressly considered in the opinion. It has long been the rule that new propositions and complaints not submitted in the original brief, 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 R. 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 on a collective bargaining agreement by an employee 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 error would have resulted. In our discretion, we may 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, etc. 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 because “federal law” is to be applied to this case the “opinion should be reviewed to determine if it is harmonious with the body of substantive law in the field of labor relations as promulgated by the federal courts,” and that if it is not this court should modify its opinion to so conform. The “body of substantive law” relied upon by respondents in their motion for rehearing, and in the *459suggestions in support thereof, consists of but one federal case (another federal case is cited in support of a different point), the same one cited in their original brief to this court, In re Public Ledger, Inc., 3 Cir., 161 F,2d 762, and their argument pertaining to the substantive law of that case is precisely the same as that presented in their original brief which we carefully considered and rejected as decisive of the issue on appeal. Upon re-examination we are still of the opinion that In re Public Ledger, Inc. does not require nor justify a ruling different from that reached in the principal opinion.
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 determining this meaning we looked not only to the one federal case and the numerous state cases cited by respondents, but we also looked to and relied on other cases found by us in the course of our research including two cases in the lower federal courts and one opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States. No federal case was then found, none has been found upon re-examination, and respondents certainly have cited no federal case which, in the words of Mr. Justice White, formulates and applies federal law which would require or justify a result different from that we reached in the principal opinion. Assuming, therefore, that in this suit we were required to apply federal substantive law, it is our conclusion that we did so and that we did so correctly. There is absolutely nothing in Smith v. Evening Press Association, or the other federal cases cited by plaintiffs in the 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 that on the merits we reached an incorrect result.
We do not agree, assuming we are required to apply federal substantive law, that in doing so this court “was sitting as a court of the United States” any more than it is sitting as a court of a sister state when it applies the law of that state. Therefore, there is no merit to the contention that the Seventh Amendment to the Federal Constitution has any application to this case.
All other matters in the motion for rehearing have been carefully considered and are found to be without merit, and the motion for rehearing is overruled.
Respondents also assert that because of the issues presented for the first time in their motion for rehearing “there is now involved in this cause a federal question,” and they are entitled to have this case transferred to the court en banc.
Section 9, Article V, Constitution of Missouri, V.A.M.S., provides that a cause shall be transferred to the court en banc when (a) the members of a division are equally divided in opinion, (b) when the division shall so order, (c) on the application of the losing party when a member of the division dissents from the opinion therein, (d) when “a federal question is involved,” and (e) pursuant to supreme court rule. This court has held that the term “federal question” as used in Section 9 of Article V is to be “interpreted according to the standard” contained in Section 3 of Article V, pertaining to jurisdiction of the supreme court, which refers to “cases involving the construction of the Constitution of the United States or of this state, the validity of a treaty or statute of the United States, or any authority exercised under the laws of the United States, * * *.” McAllister v. St. Louis Merchants’ Bridge Terminal Ry. Co., 324 Mo. 1005, 25 S.W.2d 791; Huckleberry v. Missouri Pac. R. Co., 324 Mo. 1025, 26 S.W.2d 980, 988; Pashea v. Terminal R. Ass’n of St. Louis, 350 Mo. 132, 165 S.W.2d 691, 696; State ex rel. Perrine v. Keirnan, 361 Mo. 871, 237 S.W.2d 156. This case, as submitted to this court, did not involve a federal question. New matters not submitted in the original brief but raised for the first time in a motion for rehearing after the opinion is handed do\yn do not present any federal *460question requiring a transfer to the court en banc. No supreme court rule requires a transfer of. this case, and after careful ■consideration we conclude that no reason •exists for this division to order a transfer. The alternative motion to transfer to the court en banc is-denied.