Matthews v. Nat'l Football League Mgmt. Council

• Decision Date: 06 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11–55186.,11–55186.
• Citation: 77 Cal. Comp. Cases 711,688 F.3d 1107,12 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8852,2012 Daily Journal D.A.R. 10833
• Parties: Bruce MATTHEWS, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE MANAGEMENT COUNCIL; Tennessee Titans, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

688 F.3d 1107

77 Cal. Comp. Cases 711

12 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8852

2012 Daily Journal D.A.R. 10,833

Bruce MATTHEWS, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE MANAGEMENT COUNCIL; Tennessee Titans, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 11–55186.

United States Court of Appeals,Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted May 11, 2012.

Filed Aug. 6, 2012.

Andrew S. Tulumello (argued), Washington, DC; Jeffrey L. Kessler, Adam J. Kaiser and Jeffrey H. Newhouse, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, New York, NY; Matthew M. Walsh, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Rex S. Heinke (argued), L. Rachel Helyar and Johanna R. Shargel, Akin Gum Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Los Angeles, CA; Daniel L. Nash, Akin Gum Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Washington, DC, for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, Janis L. Sammartino, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. 3:10–cv–01671–JLS–WMC.

Before: JOHN T. NOONAN and RAYMOND C. FISHER, Circuit Judges, and JAMES E. GRITZNER, Chief District Judge.^*

OPINION

FISHER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff–Appellant Bruce Matthews played professional football for 19 years. When he retired in 2002, he was employed by the Tennessee Titans. In 2008, he filed a workers' compensation claim in California, alleging that he suffered pain and disability from injuries incurred during his career as a professional football player.

Matthews asks us to vacate an arbitration award that prohibits him from pursuing workers' compensation benefits under California law. He contends that the award violates California public policy barring contractual waiver of workers' compensation benefits and federal labor policy providing that an employment agreement may not preempt state minimum labor standards. Matthews also argues that the award is in manifest disregard of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution.

We hold that Matthews has not alleged sufficient contacts with California to show that his workers' compensation claim comes within the scope of California's workers' compensation regime. He has therefore not met his burden of establishing that the arbitration award prohibiting him from pursuing California benefits violates an explicit, well-defined and dominant public policy of the state of California. Because Matthews has not shown that the award deprives him of something to which he is entitled under state law, he likewise has not shown that it violates federal labor policy. Nor has Matthews established that the arbitrator manifestly disregarded the Full Faith and Credit Clause. We accordingly affirm the district court's order confirming the arbitration award.

Background

Matthews played football in the National Football League (NFL) from 1983 to 2002, first for the Houston Oilers and later for its successor teams, the Tennessee Oilers and the Tennessee Titans (Titans). He retired in 2002. In 2008, Matthews filed for workers' compensation benefits in California. Matthews claimed pain and disability resulting from injuries incurred while he was employed by the NFL at “various” locations over 19 years of “playing and practicing professional football.” He did not allege that he sustained any particular injury in California.

The Titans and the National Football League Management Council (NFLMC) filed a grievance against Matthews. They argued that by applying for workers' compensation benefits in California, Matthews breached his employment agreement, which provided that all workers' compensation claims would be decided under Tennessee law.¹ They sought to prevent Matthews from pursuing his workers' compensation claim in California. Pursuant to a binding arbitration clause in the NFL collective bargaining agreement, the parties arbitrated their dispute.

The arbitrator found that the choice of law clause in Matthews' contract constituted a “promise[ ] to resolve workers compensation claims under Tennessee law” and that by pursuing workers' compensation under California law, Matthews was in violation of the agreement. The arbitrator ordered Matthews to “cease and desist” from seeking California benefits. Matthews filed suit in federal district court to vacate the arbitration award. See29 U.S.C. § 185; Carter v. Health Net of Cal., Inc., 374 F.3d 830, 835 (9th Cir.2004) (recognizing that the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) creates federal question jurisdiction over petitions to confirm or vacate arbitration awards).

In January 2011, the district court denied Matthews' motion to vacate the arbitration award and granted the Titans and the NFLMC's cross-motion to confirm the award. Matthews appealed.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The facts do not appear to be in dispute. We review de novo the district court's resolution of legal questions. See Aramark Facility Servs. v. Serv. Emps. Int'l Union, Local 1877, 530 F.3d 817, 822 (9th Cir.2008).

Discussion

I.

“[B]ecause federal labor policy strongly favors the resolution of labor disputes through arbitration, [j]udicial scrutiny of an arbitrator's decision is extremely limited.” United Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union, Local 588 v. Foster Poultry Farms, 74 F.3d 169, 173 (9th Cir.1995), as amended (second alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Arbitration awards are ordinarily upheld so long as they represent a plausible interpretation of the contract.” Aramark, 530 F.3d at 823 (internal quotation marks omitted).

One narrow exception to this rule is when the arbitration award is contrary to public policy. “ ‘[A] court need not, in fact cannot, enforce an award which violates public policy.’ ” Id. (quoting Stead Motors v. Auto. Machinists Lodge No. 1173, 886 F.2d 1200, 1209 (9th Cir.1989) (en banc)). To vacate an arbitration award on public policy grounds, we must “(1) find that an explicit, well defined and dominant public policy exists ... and (2) that the policy is one that specifically militates against the relief ordered by the arbitrator.” Foster Poultry Farms, 74 F.3d at 174 (internal quotation marks omitted). Any such public policy “must be ascertained by reference to the laws and legal precedents and not from general considerations of supposed public interests.” E. Associated Coal Corp. v. United Mine Workers of Am., Dist. 17, 531 U.S. 57, 62, 121 S.Ct. 462, 148 L.Ed.2d 354 (2000) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Matthews argues that the arbitration award here contravenes California workers' compensation policy and federal labor policy. We address each argument in turn.

A. California Public Policy

Matthews contends that California has an explicit, well-defined and dominant public policy militating against agreements that purport to waive an employee's right to seek California workers' compensation benefits before a California tribunal, no matter how tenuous the connection between California and the employee or the employment. Matthews derives this “no waiver” policy primarily from the California workers' compensation statute, seeCal. Labor Code § 5000 (“No contract, rule, or regulation shall exempt the employer from liability for the compensation fixed by [the workers' compensation statute].”); id. § 2804 (“Any contract or agreement, express or implied, made by any employee to waive the benefits of this article or any part thereof, is null and void....”), and the decision of the California Supreme Court in Alaska Packers' Ass'n v. Industrial Accident Commission, 1 Cal.2d 250, 260, 34 P.2d 716 (Cal.1934), which held that the statutory predecessor to § 5000 of the California Labor Code barred an employer from using a contractual choice of law clause to prevent an employee from receiving workers' compensation benefits under California law. Matthews contends that by prohibiting him from seeking benefits under California law, the arbitration award violates this fundamental policy.

We do not read California's policy so broadly. Rather than guarantee a universal right to seek California workers' compensation benefits, the workers' compensation statute establishes a rule that an employee who is otherwise eligible for California benefits cannot be deemed to have contractually waived those benefits, and an employer who is otherwise liable for California benefits cannot evade liability through contract. SeeCal. Labor Code § 3600(a)(1) (providing that employers are liable for work-related injuries to their employees only when, among other things, “at the time of the injury, both the employer and the employee are subject to the compensation provisions of this division”); id. § 5000 (“No contract, rule, or regulation shall exempt the employer from liability for the compensation fixed by this division....” (emphasis added)); id. § 2804 (“Any contract or agreement, express or implied, made by any employee to waive the benefits of this article or any part thereof, is null and void....” (emphasis added)). The “no waiver” rule applies only when an employee's workers' compensation claim is subject to California law.

Our reading of the statute is consistent with Alaska Packers'. There, an employee applied for workers' compensation under California law despite a choice of law clause in his employment agreement, which provided that the parties would resolve workers' compensation disputes under Alaska law. See Alaska Packers' Ass'n, 1 Cal.2d at 252–53, 34 P.2d 716. The California Supreme Court concluded that the choice of law clause was unenforceable under the statutory predecessor to § 5000, but only after finding that the employment relationship in question had sufficient contacts with California to apply California's workers' compensation law. See id. at 255–57, 260, 34 P.2d 716 (holding that employment relationships entered into in California were subject to California's workers' compensation laws, under which a “contract attempting to avoid the liability imposed by the [workers' compensation] act [was] invalid”). See also Pac. Emp'rs Ins. Co. v....