Anne Arundel County v. Fraternal Order of Anne Arundel Detention Officers and Personnel

Decision Date01 September 1986
Docket NumberNo. 137,137
Citation313 Md. 98,543 A.2d 841
PartiesANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Maryland et al. v. FRATERNAL ORDER OF ANNE ARUNDEL DETENTION OFFICERS AND PERSONNEL. ,
CourtMaryland Court of Appeals

David S. Bliden, Deputy County Sol. (Stephen R. Beard, County Sol., on the brief), Annapolis, for appellants.

John Gregory Smith (Whitworth, Weber & Smith, on the brief), Crofton, for appellee.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, COLE, RODOWSKY, COUCH, * McAULIFFE and ADKINS, JJ.

ELDRIDGE, Judge.

This case concerns the validity of a provision in a collective bargaining agreement between Anne Arundel County and a union to resolve certain disputes that may arise in the future through arbitration.

I.

Article 8, Title 4, of the Anne Arundel County Code authorizes the County to bargain collectively with certified representatives of the County's employees with regard to various matters. The local ordinance, in §§ 4-107 and 4-110 of Article 8, Title 4, also authorizes arbitration to resolve certain types of disputes between the County and the employees' representative. Pursuant to the statutory authorization for collective bargaining, Anne Arundel County and the Fraternal Order of Anne Arundel Detention Officers and Personnel (the Union) entered into a collective bargaining agreement on March 21, 1984. This agreement became effective on July 1, 1984, and continued through June 30, 1987, after which it became "self-renewing for yearly periods unless written notice of intention to terminate or modify this Agreement is given by either party ... not later than January 1st of any calendar year."

Article 1, § 1.2(a), of the agreement sets forth the employee positions that are currently represented by the Union. These positions are Detention Officer I, Detention Officer II, and nurse. Section 1.2(b) of the agreement provides that if a position is newly-created or retitled, whether it is included in the unit represented by the Union depends upon "the mutual agreement of the County and the Union." 1 This section further provides that if an agreement cannot be reached, the dispute shall be resolved in accordance with the provisions of § 4-107(e) of Article 8 of the Anne Arundel County Code. Under § 4-107(e), "[w]henever the [County] Personnel Officer and the petitioning employee organization are in disagreement as to the determination of the appropriate representation unit, the issue shall be submitted to arbitration at the request of either party." According to § 4-107(e)(2), the decision of the arbitrator "shall be final and binding on the parties." 2

On March 15, 1985, Anne Arundel County established an additional position, Detention Officer III (lieutenant), to be assigned to the Detention Center. The Union sought to include this new position in the same representation unit. The County Office of Personnel, however, considered the lieutenants "management and confidential employees" and therefore not proper members of this representation unit. See Article 8, § 4-107(d) of the Anne Arundel County Code. Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement, the Union sought arbitration to resolve this issue. On June 24, 1985, the Acting Personnel Officer of the County informed the Union that the County would not enter into arbitration, apparently deciding that the Personnel Office's conclusion that the Detention Officer III position was "management and confidential" resolved the matter of the appropriate representation unit. 3

On September 9, 1985, the Union filed suit in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County seeking an order compelling arbitration, and on June 26, 1986, the Union moved for summary judgment. The County filed an opposition to the motion, as well as a cross-motion for summary judgment, contending, inter alia, that "[t]he requested arbitration is not authorized" and that the arbitration provision in the collective bargaining agreement was "ultra vires." The circuit court granted the Union's motion, denied the County's motion, and issued an order compelling arbitration. The circuit court viewed the issue to be arbitrated as unlike "the amount of compensation to be set for employees or the hours to be set." Instead, the court characterized the representation issue as "ministerial in nature."

The County appealed the order to the Court of Special Appeals. Before any proceedings began in that court, we issued a writ of certiorari.

In support of its contention that arbitration is inappropriate, the County makes two alternate arguments. First, the County asserts that, because this agreement to arbitrate is not within the Maryland Uniform Arbitration Act, 4 the common law rule applies, rendering unenforceable agreements to arbitrate disputes which, at the time the agreement was entered into, were not yet in existence. Alternatively, the County argues that, even if an agreement to arbitrate future disputes is generally enforceable, submitting this collective bargaining dispute to arbitration is invalid under this Court's opinions in Office & Prof. Employees Int'l v. MTA, 295 Md. 88, 453 A.2d 1191 (1982); Maryland Cl. Emp. Ass'n v. Anderson, 281 Md. 496, 380 A.2d 1032 (1977); and Mugford v. City of Baltimore, 185 Md. 266, 44 A.2d 745 (1945). The County claims that arbitration of a collective bargaining dispute such as the one involved in this case is invalid unless authorized by the County Charter or by an act of the General Assembly, and that no charter provision or act of the General Assembly authorizes the arbitration. Therefore, the County concludes, the circuit court should not have issued an order compelling arbitration.

II.

Historically, when two parties entered into an agreement to arbitrate disputes, courts generally distinguished between agreements to arbitrate existing disputes and agreements to arbitrate disputes that might arise in the future. While the former agreements would be judicially enforceable, courts generally took the position, with some exceptions, that agreements to arbitrate future disputes were voidable at any time by either party before an award was made. Thus, equity courts refused to specifically enforce agreements to arbitrate future disputes, and such an agreement would not be a defense to a suit in law or equity with respect to the matter agreed to be arbitrated. See, e.g., 16 Williston on Contracts § 1923 (3d ed. 1976); Brantley on Contracts 227 (2d ed. 1912); Mullen, Arbitration Under Maryland Law, 2 Md.L.Rev. 326 (1938). See also Insurance Company v. Morse, 20 Wall. 445, 451, 22 L.Ed. 365 (1874); Tomlinson v. Dille, 147 Md. 161, 167, 127 A. 746 (1925); Wilson & Co. v. Curlett, 140 Md. 147, 153-154, 117 A. 6 (1922); Allegre v. Maryland Ins. Co., 6 H. & J. 408, 413 (1823); Contee v. Dawson, 2 Bland 264, 275-276 (1826); W.H. Blodgett Co. v. Bebe Co., 190 Cal. 665, 671, 214 P. 38, 41 (1923); Cocalis v. Nazlides, 308 Ill. 152, 158-159, 139 N.E. 95, 98 (1923); Oskaloosa Sav. Bank v. Mahaska County State Bank, 205 Iowa 1351, 1359, 219 N.W. 530, 533-534 (1928), overruled, Wilmotte & Co. v. Rosenman Bros., 258 N.W.2d 317 (Iowa 1977); Dugan v. Thomas, 79 Me. 221, 223, 9 A. 354, 354-355 (1887); Sanford v. Boston Edison Co., 316 Mass. 631, 636, 56 N.E.2d 1, 4 (1944); Pres't, etc., D. & H. Canal Co. v. Pa. Coal Co., 50 N.Y. 250, 258 (1872); Pepin v. Societe St. Jean Baptiste, 23 R.I. 81, 83-84, 49 A. 387, 388 (1901); Johnson v. Brinkerhoff, 89 Utah 530, 544-545, 57 P.2d 1132, 1139 (1936); Kinney v. Relief Assn., 35 W.Va. 385, 387, 14 S.E. 8 (1891), overruled, Board of Education v. W. Harley Miller, Inc., 160 W.Va. 473, 236 S.E.2d 439 (1977); Avery v. Scott, 8 Exch. 497, 500, 155 Eng.Rep. 1447, 1448 (1853). See additionally, Restatement of Contracts, §§ 550, 551 (1932).

The Maryland Uniform Arbitration Act, Code (1974, 1984 Repl.Vol.), § 3-206(a) of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, in contrast, provides that agreements to arbitrate future disputes are "valid and enforceable." Section 3-206(b), however, provides that the Maryland Uniform Arbitration Act does not apply to an arbitration agreement between employers and employees unless the agreement expressly states that the Act applies. See Wilson v. McGrow, Pridgeon & Co., P.A., 298 Md. 66, 467 A.2d 1025 (1983). Unless the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between Anne Arundel County and the Union make the Maryland Uniform Arbitration Act applicable, which they do not, § 3-206(a) will not apply to validate the agreement to arbitrate future disputes. Neither side in this case has pointed to any other statute which would make the arbitration agreement between the County and the Union enforceable. 5 Consequently, if the arbitration provision is to be enforced, it must be enforceable as a matter of Maryland common law. See Bd. of Educ. v. P.G. Co. Educators' Ass'n, 309 Md. 85, 95-98, 522 A.2d 931 (1987).

Many types of arbitration agreements have traditionally been enforceable in Maryland; indeed, arbitration agreements were and are encouraged by the courts and the General Assembly. See, e.g., Ch. XXI of the Acts of 1778, § VIII; Ch. 379 of the Acts of 1878, § 1. See also Code (1974, 1984 Repl.Vol.), § 3-201 through § 3-234 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article; Code (1957), Art. 7, § 1 through § 5. This Court has consistently stated that arbitration is a favored method of dispute resolution. See, e.g., Bd. of Educ. v. P.G. Co. Educators' Ass'n, supra, 309 Md. 85, 522 A.2d 931, and cases there cited; Gold Coast Mall, Inc. v. Larmar Corp., 298 Md. 96, 468 A.2d 91 (1983). 6

Only one type of arbitration agreement--an agreement to arbitrate disputes that might arise in the future--has been deemed unenforceable under Maryland common law principles. As previously indicated, courts would neither order specific performance of such agreements, Contee v. Dawson, supra, 2 Bland at 275-276, nor was the existence of an arbitration agreement a defense to a court action...

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