Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO v. Delta Air Lines, Inc.
| Citation | 879 F.2d 906 |
| Decision Date | 18 July 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-7040,AFL-CI,A,87-7040 |
| Parties | 131 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3009, 279 U.S.App.D.C. 60, 58 USLW 2115, 112 Lab.Cas. P 11,379 ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS,ppellant, v. DELTA AIR LINES, INC. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia) |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Civil Action No. 87-00040).
Deborah Greenfield, Washington, D.C., for appellant. David A. Borer, Columbus, Ohio, entered an appearance for appellant.
Scott A. Kruse, with whom Michael H. Campbell, Paul D. Jones, Robert S. Harkey and William J. Kilberg, Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellee. Baruch A Fellner, Washington, D.C., entered an appearance for appellee.
Before MIKVA, BUCKLEY, and D.H. GINSBURG, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge D.H. GINSBURG.
This appeal arises from a labor dispute involving the 1987 merger of Western Airlines, Inc. into Delta Air Lines, Inc. The Association of Flight Attendants, which represented Western's flight attendants prior to the merger, filed suit in the district court seeking an order compelling Western to arbitrate the question whether Western breached the "successorship clause" in its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with AFA by failing to bind Delta to the Agreement. The district court dismissed the action, holding that it involves a representative dispute under Sec. 2, Ninth of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 152, Ninth, and thus comes within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board. 662 F.Supp. 1, 3 (D.D.C.1987).
The Union appealed and, as discussed below, on Western's motion, we held that some of AFA's claims for relief are moot. The questions now before us are (1) whether AFA's remaining claim is moot in light of the consummation of the Delta-Western merger and the subsequent determination by the NMB retroactively to extinguish AFA's certificate as bargaining representative for Western's flight attendants; and (2) if AFA's remaining claim is not moot, whether the district court has subject matter jurisdiction over it.
Prior to its acquisition by Delta, Western entered into a CBA with the Union, in which it recognized AFA "as the duly designated bargaining agent for the Flight Attendants in the employment of [Western]," and as required by the Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 184, established a System Board of Adjustment "for the purpose of adjusting and deciding disputes which may arise under the terms of the Flight Attendant's Agreement...." The agreement conferred upon the System Board "jurisdiction over disputes ... growing out of grievances or out of interpretation of [or] application of any of the terms of the Flight Attendants' Agreement."
In addition to these essentially standard terms, the CBA contained the following successorship provision:
This agreement shall be binding on any successor or merged Company or Companies, or any successor in the control of the Company, its parent(s) or subsidiary(ies) until changed in accordance with the Railway Labor Act, as amended.
In September 1986, Western entered into a merger agreement with Delta. Under the terms of this agreement, the merger would be affected in two steps: (1) on December 18, 1986, Delta would acquire 100% control of Western; and (2) on April 1, 1987, Western would be merged into Delta and cease to operate as a separate entity. The merger agreement provided that Western would honor its CBAs as long as they remained in effect, but did not purport to bind Delta to Western's CBAs.
In October 1986, AFA filed a grievance against Western. Specifically, AFA asserted that Western had a contractual duty to bind any successor to the CBA and that it breached that duty by agreeing to merge with Delta without so binding it. Western denied the grievance on the ground that it raised "representation issues within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board." AFA then submitted the dispute to the System Board, but Western refused to arbitrate.
Shortly after the first step of the merger took effect, AFA brought this action in the district court to compel arbitration. In its complaint, AFA alleged that its grievance raised a "minor dispute" under the RLA and thus fell within the jurisdiction of the System Board. AFA sought an order directing Western to submit to expedited arbitration before the System Board for a determination whether it had breached the CBA, or in the event that the court did not expedite arbitration, preserving the status quo pending proceedings before the System Board.
In a memorandum submitted to the district court in support of its motion for summary judgment, AFA suggested that in the event the System Board were to rule in its favor, available relief might take the form of: (1) an order binding Delta to the terms of the CBA, "including the provisions recognizing AFA" as the exclusive representative of Western's flight attendants; or (2) an order requiring Western (a) to bind Delta to the CBA as a condition of its consummating the merger; and (b) to continue to operate as a separate entity; or (3) a declaration that without a term in the merger agreement binding Delta to the CBA, the merger could not occur; or (4) a determination that Western would be required to respond in damages in the event that it failed to bind Delta to the CBA.
In February 1987, the district court dismissed the action on the ground that AFA's complaint raised a "representation dispute" within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NMB. 662 F.Supp. at 3. Accordingly, the court held that it lacked jurisdiction to grant the relief sought by AFA, and dismissed the action with prejudice. AFA then filed the appeal now before us.
While AFA was pursuing this action in the district court, two other Western unions challenged the Delta-Western merger in the District Court for the Central District of California. They, too, sought both an order compelling arbitration of their claim that Western had breached the successorship clauses in their CBAs by failing to bind Delta to those agreements, and an injunction against consummation of the merger pending arbitration. The district court denied the requested relief, but the Ninth Circuit, on March 31, issued an order (1) directing the district court to enter orders compelling arbitration; and (2) enjoining the merger until either (a) completion of arbitration proceedings; or (b) entry of a stipulation by Western and Delta that the result of the arbitration would bind the successor corporation. IBTCWHA v. Western Airlines, Inc. (Teamsters), 813 F.2d 1359, 1364 (9th Cir.1987). On April 1, however, the scheduled date of the operational merger, Justice O'Connor granted the carriers' ex parte application for a stay of the Ninth Circuit's order. 480 U.S. 1301, 107 S.Ct. 1515, 94 L.Ed.2d 744 (1987) (in chambers). With the injunction thus lifted, the second step of the Delta-Western merger took place as planned, Western ceased to exist as a separate operating entity, and Delta refused to recognize either the CBA or AFA's status as the representative of the former Western flight attendants.
Shortly thereafter, Delta petitioned the NMB to "determine whether the Board's certifications of the Western labor organizations as collective bargaining representatives of the various crafts or classes at Western have been extinguished or terminated effective April 1, 1987." In re Delta Air Lines, Inc. and Western Air Lines, Inc., 14 N.M.B. 291 (1987). On July 9, the NMB ruled that, the merger having eliminated Western as a separate operating identity, the certifications of the Western unions (including AFA) that represented a minority of their crafts in the merged entity were extinguished retroactively to April 1. Id. at 301.
On October 5, 1987, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the Teamsters litigation, vacated the decision of the Ninth Circuit, and remanded the case for that court to consider whether it was moot. 484 U.S. 806, 108 S.Ct. 53, 98 L.Ed.2d 18 (1987). Thereafter, the Ninth Circuit, having requested and received briefing on the issue of mootness, issued a per curiam order dismissing that action as moot. 854 F.2d 1178 (9th Cir.1988).
Meanwhile, Delta had moved to dismiss this appeal on the ground that the NMB's retroactive decertification of AFA rendered it moot. Another panel of this court held, on June 6, 1988, that "Appellant's claim based on any right of continued representation" was moot, but that it was "not clear whether an arbitrator could award damages for breach of the collective bargaining agreement." Accordingly, the court denied Delta's motion but ordered the parties to limit their briefs to that issue. We turn now to the question left open in our order of June 6.
By virtue of "the constitutional command that the judicial power extends only to cases or controversies," a federal court lacks jurisdiction over a case that has become moot. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 496 n. 7, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 1950 n. 7, 23 L.Ed.2d 491 (1969). A case is moot when "the issues presented are no longer 'live' or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome," but as long as some issues remain alive, "the remaining live issues supply the constitutional requirement of a case or controversy." Id. at 496, 497, 89 S.Ct. at 1950-51, 1951.
Even though a claim for injunctive or declaratory relief has been rendered moot by intervening events, which our June 6 order indicates happened here, a claim for damages keeps the controversy alive if that claim "is not so insubstantial or so clearly foreclosed by prior decisions that th[e] case may not proceed." Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division v. Craft, 436 U.S. 1, 9, 98 S.Ct. 1554, 1560, 56 L.Ed.2d 30 (1978). See also Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mills of Alabama, 353 U.S. 448, 459, 77 S.Ct. 912, 919, 1 L.Ed.2d...
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