Adkins v. General Motors Corp.

• Decision Date: 15 April 1983
• Docket Number: No. C-3-82-011.,C-3-82-011.
• Citation: 573 F. Supp. 1188
• Parties: John J. ADKINS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

573 F. Supp. 1188

John J. ADKINS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, et al., Defendants.

No. C-3-82-011.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, W.D.

April 15, 1983.

Irving I. Saul, Dwight D. Brannon, Dayton, Ohio, for plaintiffs.

Richard F. Rice, Kittering, Ohio, Joseph P. Buchanan, Dayton, Ohio, Carole W. Wilson, Washington, D.C., J.R. Wheatley, Detroit, Mich., for defendants.

DECISION AND ENTRY ON PENDING MOTIONS; PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT OVERRULED; DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, ON FEDERAL CLAIMS, CONDITIONALLY SUSTAINED; COURT DECLINES TO EXERCISE PENDENT JURISDICTION OVER STATE CLAIMS; STATE CLAIMS DISMISSED; FURTHER PROCEDURES REQUIRED OF COUNSEL UPON RENDERING OF CERTAIN SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

RICE, District Judge.

This case involves complex and difficult questions of law and policy concerning actions brought under federal labor statutes. Plaintiffs, former employees of Defendant General Motors Corporation (GMC), and members of Defendant Local 801 of the Defendant International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO (IUE), and a number of their spouses, have brought suit against the company and the unions under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 185, and under § 101(a)(1) of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. § 411(a)(1). Plaintiffs claim that the unions breached their duty of fair representation, and that GMC breached certain labor contracts, in the negotiation and implementation of certain collective bargaining agreements. Most of the Plaintiffs claim they lost jobs at GMC plants due to these breaches. They seek relief in the form of damages and reinstatement.

The automobile industry has been particularly hard hit by the current recession. In these difficult economic times, one must empathize with the plight of the Plaintiff union members; most have lost jobs, probably forever, at GMC, and may have had difficulty obtaining comparable employment in the Dayton area, or anywhere else. Defendants, in contrast, assert that they sought to save as many jobs as possible in implementing the challenged collective bargaining agreements. At the time, GMC was phasing out the unprofitable Frigidaire appliance section, and placing employees in the remaining automotive divisions. Should the Plaintiffs prevail and obtain their requested relief, Defendants argue, many current GMC employees will be deprived of their jobs, and operations at GMC plants in the Dayton area will be disrupted.

Against this background, GMC (Doc. # 41), and the Defendant Unions (Doc. # 41)¹ have moved for summary judgment, primarily on the grounds that (1) the actions are barred by the applicable statute of limitations, and (2) there are no facts indicating that the unions breached their duty of fair representation. Plaintiffs have moved (Doc. # 54) for partial summary judgment on their LMRDA claim. Oral argument was had on these motions on March 24, 1983.

The Court disposes of these matters as follows: Part I of the opinion summarizes the factual background and procedural posture of this case. Part II addresses, and overrules, Plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment. In Part III, the Court addresses the statute of limitations defenses for both the § 301 and § 101 actions. Acknowledging the difficulty of the legal questions presented, the Court determines that the most applicable statute of limitations is the six-month period found in § 10(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. § 160(b). Having found that the causes of action accrued, at the latest, in January of 1981, applying the six-month statute bars these actions brought in January of 1982. Finally, in Part IV, the Court sustains Defendants' motions, but will not enter judgment on same until the United States Supreme Court renders decisions on two cases pending in the 1982 Term. Should the Supreme Court decisions invalidate, in whole or in part, the reasoning of the decision, this Court will vacate same and conduct further appropriate proceedings. Should the rulings not affect this decision, judgment will be entered for the Defendants on the federal claims, and the balance of the state law claims will be dismissed.

I. OVERVIEW OF THE CLAIMS

Defendants earlier moved to dismiss the original and first amended complaints. In a Decision and Entry (Doc. # 35), this Court sustained in part, and overruled in part, those motions. Solely for the purpose of adding almost 200 additional plaintiffs, the Court permitted (Doc. # 42) plaintiffs to file a second amended complaint. Said filing was permitted with the understanding that the aforementioned motions would be treated as applying to the second amended complaint as well. Based on the earlier decision, the motions, as applied to the second amended complaint, were similarly sustained in part and overruled in part (Doc. # 44). The effect of those latest rulings are summarized below.

Named as Plaintiffs in the second amended complaint are some 489 employees and former employees of the Delco Air Conditioning Division of GMC (numbered 1 through 342, and 601 through 747 in the second amended complaint), and some 327 of their respective spouses (numbered 343 through 600, and 747 through 817 in said complaint). Briefly, the relevant allegations are as follows: the employee plaintiffs were working at GMC's Frigidaire Division (now closed). Pursuant to a "Bridge Agreement" between Frigidaire and Local 801, dated December 10, 1976, that group had the right to transfer to GMC's Delco Division. Plaintiffs were members of a group who elected to transfer to Delco. They so transferred, they allege, with the "implied understanding" that their accumulated Frigidaire seniority would be preserved in their post-Frigidaire tenure. Two new collective bargaining agreements, entered into in February and September of 1979, substantially modified the "bridge" agreement. These agreements provided for the transfer of Frigidaire employees to the newly operational Moraine truck plants, and for the recall of laid off Frigidaire — but not Delco — employees. Plaintiffs allege that the IUE and Local 801 violated their duty of fair representation, and that GMC violated implied obligations in the Bridge Agreement, through these various acts. They also assert that the manner in which the IUE and Local 801 conducted ratification votes on the 1979 agreements violated the LMRDA. Four state law claims were also advanced.

The Court, in its earlier Decision, dismissed the federal claims of the spousal plaintiffs and two state law claims in their entirety. Retained were the federal claims of the employee plaintiffs, the infliction of mental distress claims of the spousal plaintiffs (with respect to the unions), and the loss of consortium claims of the spousal plaintiffs.

II. PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS OVERRULED

Plaintiffs have moved for partial summary judgment on their claim that the union's ratification of the 1979 agreements violated § 101(a)(1) of the LMRDA. Given the Court's ultimate conclusion that Plaintiffs' LMRDA § 101 and LMRA § 301 claims are time-barred, this motion is, in effect, moot. However, to complete the record, the Court will proceed to rule on said motion.

Section 101(a)(1) states that:

Every member of a labor organization shall have equal rights and privileges within such organization to nominate candidates, to vote in elections or referendums of the labor organization, to attend membership meetings, and to participate in the deliberations and voting upon the business of such meetings, subject to reasonable rules and regulations in such organization's constitution and bylaws.

Any person may bring suit under § 102 of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. § 412, for violations of § 101.² While § 101, on its face, only prohibits unequal treatment of union members, the section has been interpreted to create a generalized right to cast a "meaningful," or a "reasoned and informed" vote. See, Nienaber v. Ohio Valley Carpenters District Council, 652 F.2d 1284, 1286 (6th Cir.1981); Blanchard v. Johnson, 532 F.2d 1074, 1079 (6th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 834, 97 S.Ct. 100, 50 L.Ed.2d 100 (1976); Parker v. Teamsters Local 413, 501 F.Supp. 440, 445 (S.D.Ohio 1980), aff'd without published opinion, 657 F.2d 269 (6th Cir.1981).

Plaintiffs assert in their motion that they were deprived of such an "informed" vote for the February 22, 1979, election, principally due to the failure of the February 21, 1979, issue of the "801 News" to indicate that employees, in the positions of Plaintiffs, would be adversely affected by the vote. Defendants, in their memoranda contra this motion (Docs. # 59 & 62), argue that disputed issues of material fact remain on whether or not Plaintiffs had an informed vote on the aforementioned date, making inappropriate the sustaining of Plaintiffs' motion.

The Court finds Defendants' position to be well taken. It is unnecessary to adopt their broad argument that the "entire circumstances" of the negotiations and ratification of the 1979 agreements must be examined in order to determine the presence of a meaningful vote. Alternatively, Defendants point out that the Plaintiff employees were given full notice of the February 22, 1979, meeting, and had an unimpaired opportunity to attend and to ask questions at same. Affidavit of Carole Wilson, Doc. # 61, and documents attached thereto. Moreover, they contend that, on its face, the disputed issue of the "801 News" contains no misleading or erroneous statements. Based on these factual assertions, the Court holds that the nature of a "meaningful" or "informed" vote by Plaintiffs is a genuine issue of material fact. Accordingly, Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on the LMRDA claim is overruled. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Board of Educ. v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 102 S.Ct. 2799, 2806, 73 L.Ed.2d 435 (1982); Atlas Concrete Pipe,...