Black v. Ryder/P.I.E. Nationwide, Inc., 90-5035

• Decision Date: 21 June 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-5035,90-5035
• Parties: 137 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2091, 118 Lab.Cas. P 10,749, 32 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 975 Donald BLACK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RYDER/P.I.E. NATIONWIDE, INC.; and Teamsters Local # 519, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 505

930 F.2d 505

137 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2091, 118 Lab.Cas. P 10,749,

32 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 975

Donald BLACK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RYDER/P.I.E. NATIONWIDE, INC.; and Teamsters Local # 519,

Defendants-Appellees.

No. 90-5035.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Oct. 10, 1990.

Decided April 15, 1991.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Denied June 21, 1991.

Peter Alliman, Lee, Alliman & Carson, Madisonville, Tenn., for Donald L. Black.

Howard H. Vogel, O'Neil, Parker & Williamson, Knoxville, Tenn., Peter Reed Corbin, Corbin & Dickinson, Jacksonville, Fla., John Paul Jones, Clearwater, Fla., for Ryder/P.I.E. Nationwide, Inc.

Cecil D. Branstetter, Jane B. Stranch, Branstetter, Kilgore, Stranch & Jennings, Nashville, Tenn., for Teamsters Local # 519, and Joint Council # 87 of the Intern. Broth. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America.

G. William Baab, Mullinax, Wells, Baab & Cloutman, Dallas, Tex., for Southern Conference of Teamsters, Intern. Broth. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America.

Before NELSON, Circuit Judge; WELLFORD ^*, Senior Circuit Judge; and JOINER ^**, Senior District Judge.

WELLFORD, Senior Circuit Judge.

This is a hybrid Sec. 301/unfair representation action brought against a trucking company and a teamster local by a driver who lost both an arbitration proceeding and his job after he allegedly failed to report an accident. The driver, who insisted that he had not had an accident, was represented in the arbitration proceeding by a union business agent who was said to have been a political enemy.

Because the district court did not read the plaintiff's claim for money damages as extending to the union (except for a Landrum-Griffin Act claim that had been severed), the court ruled that the case against the union should be tried to the court rather than to a jury. The plaintiff promptly moved to amend the complaint by adding a prayer for damages against the union, but this motion to amend was denied.

The district court then ordered a bifurcated bench trial, with the case against the union being heard first. 730 F.Supp. 102. If the plaintiff prevailed on his unfair representation claim against the union, he was then to receive a jury trial on his wrongful discharge claim against the company. No jury trial was ever held because the district judge decided for the defendant union.

The plaintiff contends on appeal, among other things, that he was entitled to a jury trial on both claims. We are persuaded that the plaintiff had such a right and therefore REVERSE the judgment entered by the district court. ¹

I.

On November 26, 1984, the plaintiff truck driver, Donald L. Black, drove a loaded truck from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Birmingham, Alabama. After the truck had been left at the Birmingham terminal, a mechanic discovered some damage to the front-end of the vehicle. The defendant employer, Ryder/P.I.E. Nationwide, Inc., then discharged Black for failure to report an accident.

Black filed a grievance through Teamsters Local 519, which is the other defendant here. The grievance was heard on December 17, 1984, by a joint committee that the governing collective bargaining agreement designates as the final arbiter. Black, who was present at the hearing, was represented by Business Agent Jimmy Metts of Local 519.

Ryder called no witnesses at the grievance committee hearing, but introduced documents that include a vehicle repair order prepared by the mechanic at the Birmingham terminal. The report contained this language:

Unit came in with damage on L. front. L. turn signal and marker light knocked off. Area around unit inspected and no broken lenses or fiberglass around unit.

The company also introduced relevant correspondence, a diagram of the service aisle at the terminal, photographs of the damaged truck, and documents relating to the repairs.

The theory of the case presented by Business Agent Metts was that the truck was in working condition when Black left Knoxville; that there was no accident during the trip; that the truck was undamaged when Black left it at the terminal; and that the damage must therefore have occurred subsequently. In presenting this theory, Metts read Black's grievance into the record. The grievance explained that Black had been in a convoy with two other trucks throughout the run from Knoxville to Birmingham, and that three more trucks accompanied the group for part of the trip. The drivers were never more than half a mile apart, the grievance said, and they passed each other periodically. The other drivers would verify that Black's turn signals were operating at all times and that no accident occurred during the trip.

Metts also introduced written statements from other drivers, including the two who had accompanied Black throughout the trip. They said that they had observed Black's turn signals in operating condition and had seen no incident that would have resulted in damage to the truck. One of the men said that he noticed, prior to leaving the Birmingham terminal at the end of the run, that a truck was being moved between the service aisle and the tire shop. He recalled, the statement continued, that Black had remarked that this was the truck he had driven in from Knoxville.

After presenting the statements of Black's fellow drivers, Metts introduced documents showing that Black and two other drivers arrived at the Birmingham terminal at approximately 5:30 a.m. on November 26, 1984. The committee was asked to note that the company's records showed that Black's truck was not serviced until more than two hours later.

Metts explained to the committee that Black, who had been employed by Ryder for twenty years, was within seven months of retirement at the time of his discharge. Metts offered trip sheets indicating that it was Black's practice to report damage to this truck whenever he observed such damage. Pointing out that the damage at issue here was repaired at a cost of only $200 (although the company's estimate was somewhat higher), Metts argued that it would have been foolish for Black to jeopardize his retirement by not reporting the damage if he had been aware of it. This argument was supported by evidence of ten subsequent occasions on which truck damage had been noted at the Birmingham terminal and no one had been disciplined.

Metts explained further that Black was not notified of the damage until approximately thirteen hours after its discovery. Black then contacted Metts, and Metts asked Ryder for permission to inspect the damaged truck. The company replied that the truck had already been repaired and put back on the road; Metts therefore had no opportunity to inspect the damage.

Metts told the committee that the pictures of the damaged truck showed it parked in a spot other than the one where Black had left it. The truck had obviously been moved by a hostler, Metts argued, and the damage must have occurred in that move. Black himself testified at the hearing before the grievance committee. His testimony substantiated the main points made by Metts.

Ryder, for its part, told the committee that Black's truck had been moved after the damage was discovered, not before. The company said that the crew at the Birmingham terminal had examined the ground around the truck in its original location, and had not found the sort of debris that would have been left had the damage occurred after the truck was returned.

The grievance committee decided the case in favor of Ryder. Black then sued Ryder and the union under Sec. 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185. Black asserted a claim against Ryder for violating the collective bargaining agreement by discharging him without just cause. Local 519 was claimed to have violated its duty of fair representation.

In connection with his claim against the union, Black alleged that he was a member of a dissident group that was a political threat to Metts and others then holding power at the union. Black claimed that because of political and personal animosity, the union did not represent him properly. The union was faulted for, among other things, failing to send anyone to the Birmingham terminal to interview witnesses there. The relief requested in the complaint included declaratory relief, a reinstatement order, and compensatory and punitive damages from Ryder. The district court allowed an amendment to increase the prayer for damages against Ryder, but this amendment did not involve the union.

The district court eventually ordered that Black's unfair representation claim be tried to the court. If Black succeeded on that claim, the breach of contract claim against Ryder would be tried to a jury. ² The court concluded that Black was not entitled to a jury trial on the unfair representation claim because the only relief requested in connection with that claim was equitable in nature.

Black then moved for leave to amend his complaint to seek damages from the union and to request a jury trial on the unfair representation claim. The court denied this motion, noting that the case had already been pending for some four years. The court concluded that the defendants would be prejudiced if an amendment were permitted so close to the trial.

During the bench trial, the court refused to let a purported expert, Roy Rogers, give certain opinion testimony. Rogers was one of the drivers who had accompanied Black part of the way to Birmingham; his statement had been introduced at the grievance hearing. Rogers was permitted to testify that he was a retired member of the Teamsters and had served as president of Local 519 over a year, during which time he had been involved in a few discharge cases. He testified about the events of the night of the trip to Birmingham, about Black's involvement in a dissident movement within the union, and about Black's strained relationship with Metts and other union leaders. The court sustained an objection to the...