Dunn v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n

• Decision Date: 25 October 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-5587,97-5587
• Parties: (11th Cir. 1999) LARRY DUNN, TOM DUCKWORTH, et al., Plaintiffs-Counter- defendants-Appellants, v. AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, HENRY DUFFY, et al., Defendants-Counter- claimants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1185

193 F.3d 1185 (11th Cir. 1999)

LARRY DUNN, TOM DUCKWORTH, et al., Plaintiffs-Counter- defendants-Appellants, v. AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, HENRY DUFFY, et al., Defendants-Counter- claimants-Appellees.

No. 97-5587

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

Oct. 25, 1999

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D. C. Docket No. 91-2679-CV-EBD

Before TJOFLAT, DUBINA and HULL, Circuit Judges.

HULL, Circuit Judge:

A group of airline pilots allege that the Air Line Pilots Association-a labor union-libeled them by placing them on a "scabs" list. The pilots also assert that by listing them as "scabs," the union intentionally interfered with their business relationships with other airlines. The district court dismissed the tortious interference claim for failure to state a claim for relief. As for the libel claim, the court held on summary judgment that the description of the pilots as "scabs" was not false because the pilots admit they crossed union picket lines and worked during the 1989 strike of Eastern Air Lines. The district court also held there was no evidence of actual malice. We affirm.

I. FACTS

A. Eastern Pilots' Sympathy Strike

The Air Line Pilots Association ("ALPA") is a labor union that represents airline pilots from a number of commercial airlines. Within each airline, ALPA operates through a Master Executive Council ("MEC"), a board of elected pilot representatives that makes union policy decisions relating to that airline.

In early 1989, Eastern Air Lines, Inc. ("Eastern" or "EAL") reached an impasse in its negotiations with the International Association of Machinists ("IAM"), and IAM began to consider a strike. At its February 1989 meeting, the Eastern MEC adopted a formal resolution declaring the MEC's intention to direct pilots to honor IAM picket lines in the event of an IAM strike.

The Eastern MEC also directed its officers to survey the membership to measure pilot support for a sympathy strike to provide guidance to the MEC's strike deliberation. On February 16, 1989, MEC Chairman Bavis sent a letter to each Eastern pilot enclosing a copy of the MEC resolution expressing support for the IAM. The following day, the Eastern MEC sent a "ballot poll card" to each Eastern pilot. Nearly seventy-five percent of the 2,165 pilots who returned the ballot poll cards responded that they would honor IAM picket lines outright or would support the MEC's decision to call a sympathy strike.

The Eastern MEC met again on March 1, 1989. After reviewing the results of the pilot survey and conducting a last-minute telephone poll revealing even stronger pilot support, the MEC unanimously adopted a resolution "that all Eastern Air Lines pilots shall honor the International Association of Machinists picket lines and shall refuse to cross picket lines and that all pilots shall refrain from performing any work for EAL during the strike."

On March 4, 1989, the IAM struck Eastern, and ALPA commenced its sympathy strike. Over ninety percent of the approximately 3,400 Eastern pilots initially joined the sympathy strike and refused to cross IAM picket lines.

B. "Scabs" List

Eastern encouraged pilots to cross picket lines by promising that any pilot who returned to work would receive promotions to higher-paying positions. In response, on March 28, 1989, the Eastern MEC unanimously adopted a formal resolution to "publish a finalized list of strikebreaking pilots at the conclusion of the ALPA sympathy strike" and to bring internal union charges under ALPA's constitution against ALPA members who crossed the picket lines. Individuals were placed on this list of working pilots only upon receipt of two confirmed reports that they had crossed ALPA picket lines, and after being provided with "an opportunity to refute the allegation" that they had crossed picket lines to fly for Eastern.

The Eastern MEC, the strike operations committee, and striking pilots repeatedly advised working pilots that the union would regard them as "scabs" if they crossed ALPA's picket lines. For example, a July 31 MEC strike committee report reminded pilots that, "[a] pilot becomes [a] scab at [the] moment he signs to go back to work ."

C. Pilots Vote to Continue Strike

Meanwhile, the Eastern MEC was engaged in an internal debate about whether to continue the Eastern pilots' sympathy strike. Initially, the MEC convened on August 1, 1989, and met for five consecutive days to review the situation. Following substantial discussion, two "straw" polls of the MEC members established that a majority favored continuation of the sympathy strike; thus, the MEC unanimously adopted a resolution to continue the sympathy strike pending membership meetings at each local pilot base.

The first of these local pilot meetings was held on August 6 in Miami and broadcast to other cities. As detailed later, the parties dispute what the ALPA and Eastern MEC leadership said at this August 6 meeting about returning to work. However, it is undisputed that the August 6 meeting concluded with the Miami-based Eastern pilots voting overwhelmingly, by a show of hands, to continue the sympathy strike. Subsequent local pilot meetings yielded the same result. From August 6 to 9, ALPA held pilot meetings at communication centers throughout the Eastern system. At each meeting, with one exception, the pilots voted overwhelmingly to continue the sympathy strike.

On August 11, 1989, the Eastern MEC made an official decision to continue the sympathy strike. ALPA President Duffy notified all ALPA pilots of the MEC's decision by letter, explaining: "Over the past week . . . the Eastern pilots have reviewed their options and have voted overwhelmingly not to return to work without a structured settlement of the sympathy strike." On August 12, 1989, the strike operations committee likewise confirmed that "THE STRIKE IS ON!! THE PICKET LINE REMAINS!!" The pilots' overwhelming vote to remain on strike was widely reported in the media and in internal ALPA communications.

On November 22, 1989, the Eastern MEC voted to end the pilots' sympathy strike, despite the fact that the IAM strike had not ended. Accordingly, the MEC made an unconditional offer-on behalf of all pilots-to return to work.

During the sympathy strike, ALPA had compiled a "scabs" list of pilots who crossed union picket lines to fly for Eastern. ALPA added the names of other crossover pilots and new hires over time. The list was available to anyone who wanted it. In 1991, ALPA produced and distributed 50,000 copies of the "scabs" list. This final publication was entitled "The Scabs of Eastern of the Strike of '89."

The Plaintiffs-Appellants in this case are all pilots who were on this list. They brought suit against ALPA,¹ alleging, inter alia, that the publication of the "scabs" list constituted libel and that it intentionally interfered with their business relationships with other airlines.² The district court dismissed the tortious interference allegation for failure to state a claim under Florida tort law.³ The court granted summary judgment to ALPA on the libel claim, concluding that the pilots had not shown the "scabs" list was false or evidence of actual malice, as required for a libel claim.⁴ The pilots now appeal these rulings.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

This Court reviews de novo the dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a claim, construing all allegations in the complaint as true and in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Lowell v. American Cyanamid Co., 177 F.3d 1228, 1229 (11th Cir. 1999); Harper v. Thomas, 988 F.2d 101, 103 (11th Cir. 1993). A complaint may not be dismissed unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle plaintiff to relief. Hall v. Coram Healthcare Corp., 157 F.3d 1286, 1288 (11th Cir. 1998); Terry v. Cook, 866 F.2d 373, 375 (11th Cir. 1989).

Our review of a summary judgment order is also de novo. See Eastman Kodak Co. v. Image Tech. Servs., Inc., 504 U.S 451, 465 n.10, 112 S. Ct. 2072, 2081 n.10, 119 L. Ed.2d 265 (1992); Harris v. H&W Contracting Co., 102 F.3d 516, 518 (11th Cir. 1996); Carriers Container Council v. Mobile S.S. Assoc., Inc., 896 F.2d 1330, 1337 (11th Cir. 1990). We review all evidence and all factual inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.

III. TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE CLAIM

We first consider the pilots' claim for tortious interference with business relationships. ALPA moved to dismiss the claim under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; the district court granted the motion. See Dunn v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, 836 F. Supp. 1574, 1584 (S.D. Fla. 1993). The pilots challenge this dismissal.⁵

Under Florida law, the elements of an interference with a business relationship claim are: (1) the existence of a business relationship, (2) the defendant's knowledge of that relationship, (3) an intentional and unjustified interference with the relationship, and (4) injury resulting from the breach of the relationship. See Tamiami Trail Tours, Inc. v. Cotton, 432 So.2d 148, 151 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), aff'd in relevant part, 463 So.2d 1126, 1127 (Fla. 1985). A "business relationship," for purposes of the first prong, does not require the existence of a contractual agreement. See id. It does, however, require a relationship with a particular party, and not just a relationship with the general business community. See Ethan Allen, Inc. v. Georgetown Manor, Inc., 647 So.2d 812, 815 (Fla. 1994). In their complaint, none of the pilots alleged the existence of a business relationship with a particular airline. They instead alleged that ALPA's publication of the scab list prohibited them from obtaining employment with any commercial airline-in other words, that it interfered with the pilots' ability to sell...