Sheehan v. Union Pacific R. Co.

• Citation: 576 F.2d 854
• Decision Date: 31 May 1978
• Docket Number: No. 76-2001,76-2001
• Parties: 98 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2632, 84 Lab.Cas. P 10,633 Kermit Kimball SHEEHAN, Appellant, v. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a Utah Corporation, and National RailroadAdjustment Board, Fourth Division, an agency of the United States of America,Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)

Page 854

576 F.2d 854

98 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2632, 84 Lab.Cas. P 10,633

Kermit Kimball SHEEHAN, Appellant, v. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a Utah Corporation, and National RailroadAdjustment Board, Fourth

Division, an agency of the United States

of America,Appellees.

No. 76-2001.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Argued March 17, 1978.

Decided May 31, 1978.

R. Clark Arnold, Reynolds & Arnold, Salt Lake City, Utah, for appellant.

Robert N. Weatherbee, Omaha, Neb. (Steven A. Goodsell, Salt Lake City, Utah, with him on brief), for appellee, Union Pac. R. Co.

Ramon M. Child, U. S. Atty. and Brent Ward, Asst. U. S. Atty., Salt Lake City, Utah, on brief, for appellee, Nat. R. Adjustment Bd., Fourth Division.

Before SETH, Chief Judge, and DOYLE and McKAY, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

The appellant Sheehan, a discharged employee of the Union Pacific Railroad, filed an action in the trial court to set aside or reverse a decision of the National Railroad Adjustment Board which had denied him a hearing on his discharge. The trial court treated defendants' motions as motions for summary judgment and granted them. The court thus did not disturb the Board's decision on the basis that the Board had jurisdiction to enter the order it did.

The facts are set out by the district court in Sheehan v. Union Pacific R.R., 423 F.Supp. 324, and need not be repeated here.

However, two preliminary issues should be considered at the outset. First, plaintiff Sheehan urges that the National Railroad Adjustment Board (NRAB) is a proper party to these proceedings because ". . . it was the Board's action in refusing to adjudicate the issue which effectively bars litigation of his (Sheehan's) claims, . . . ." On this contention, we agree with the district court's reasoning that the Board's status as a quasi-judicial body makes it inappropriate as a defendant in this case. See System Federation v. Braidwood, D.C., 284 F.Supp. 607; Fong v. American Airlines, Inc., D.C.,431 F.Supp. 1340, at 1342-43.

Second, plaintiff's cause of action under the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 185 (1965), was properly dismissed. Employees subject to the Railway Labor Act are specifically excluded from coverage under the Labor Management Relations Act. See 29 U.S.C. § 142(3); 29 U.S.C. § 152(3), (5); Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen v. United Transportation Union, 471 F.2d 8 (6th Cir.), headnote No. 2.

The real issue here is whether the Board's determination that it lacked jurisdiction because of non-compliance with the limitations in the modified collective bargaining agreement deprived Sheehan of his due process rights.

We conclude the Board's failure to address the merits of plaintiff Sheehan's claim denied him due process of law.

Union Pacific maintains that the award of the Board complied with the requirements of the Railway Labor Act and the Board acted within its jurisdiction. The Railroad also urges that the NRAB's determination with regard to the time limitations in the collective bargaining agreement is subject to a narrow standard of judicial review under 45 U.S.C.A. § 153 First (p) and (q), and under Gunther v. San Diego & Arizona Eastern Ry., 382 U.S. 257, 86 S.Ct. 368, 15 L.Ed.2d 308. The provisions of the Railway Labor Act dealing with the Adjustment Board are "to be considered as compulsory arbitration in this limited field." Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Chicago River & Indiana R.R., 353 U.S. 30, 77 S.Ct. 635, 1 L.Ed.2d 622; see Gunther v. San Diego & Arizona Eastern Ry., 382 U.S. 257, 86 S.Ct. 368, 15 L.Ed.2d 308. The Senate report on 1966 amendments to Railway Labor Act stated:

"The National Railroad Adjustment Board was established in 1934 under the Railway Labor Act to provide machinery for resolving so-called minor disputes between individual employees and the carriers. Minor disputes arise out of grievances or interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions." (Emphasis added). 1966 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 2286.

The federal courts do not sit as super arbitration tribunals in suits brought to enforce awards of the Adjustment Board. Prompt execution of Board orders is a necessity. The range of judicial review in enforcement cases is among the narrowest known to the law and the findings and order of the Board are conclusive. Denver & R.G.W. R.R. v. Blackett, 538 F.2d 291 (10th Cir.); Diamond v. Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks, 421 F.2d 228 (5th Cir.); Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Denver & R.G.W. R.R., 370 F.2d 833 (10th Cir.).

We agree generally with the railroad that the reviewable aspects of an award have been traditionally confined to lack of jurisdiction, the Board's acting outside the law, or the presence of fraud or corruption. This scope was fully treated by this court in Denver & R.G.W. R.R. v. Blackett, 538 F.2d 291 (10th Cir.), which concerned a seniority issue and yardmasters' qualifications under the agreement then in force. No jurisdictional question was there present. Lack of due process must always be recognized as a legitimate ground for objection to a decision of the Railroad Adjustment Board. Kotakis v. Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Ry., 520 F.2d 570 (7th Cir.); Hall v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 511 F.2d 663 (5th Cir.). Considering the implications arising from, and the developments since Andrews v. Louisville & Nashville R.R., 406 U.S. 320, 92 S.Ct. 1562, 32 L.Ed.2d 95, and the elimination of the right to sue on the employment contract in the state courts, it is possible that the extent or scope of judicial review of purely legal issues decided by the National Railroad Adjustment Board should be reexamined. The Board members are not chosen for their legal expertise; they are chosen to interpret and apply the collective bargaining agreements. In such interpretation and application their decisions are reviewable only as to such aspects as relate to lack of jurisdiction, fraud or corruption, acting outside the law, and, of course, lack of due process as above mentioned. The Board's expertise and the legislative intent otherwise dictate that the most narrow scope of review must be applied as to all other matters.

Plaintiff Sheehan had two options at the time of his discharge from Union Pacific. He could have treated his grievance as involving a determination of rights as an employee under the bargaining agreement and asserted his rights to be retained as an employee before the Adjustment Board. Or he could have accepted the action of the carrier as a final discharge, and sued in court for a breach of his contract of employment. Slocum v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R.R., 339 U.S. 239, 70 S.Ct. 577, 94 L.Ed. 795; Moore v. Illinois Central R.R., 312 U.S. 630, 61 S.Ct. 754, 85 L.Ed. 1089. Mr. Sheehan could only choose one course of action. He opted to treat his discharge as final and sue in the state court for breach of his contract of employment. This was under way at the time of the decision of the Supreme Court in Andrews v. Louisville & Nashville R.R., 406 U.S. 320, 92 S.Ct. 1562, 32 L.Ed.2d 95,...