BROTH. OF MAINTENANCE, ETC. v. ST. JOHNSBURY, ETC.

• Decision Date: 24 April 1981
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 79-142.
• Citation: 512 F. Supp. 1079
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Vermont
• Parties: BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY EMPLOYEES v. ST. JOHNSBURY & LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD; St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad, Inc.; Wabash Valley Railroad Co.; Lamoille Valley Railroad Co. and State of Vermont. LAMOILLE VALLEY RAILROAD v. LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD, INC. and St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad. ST. JOHNSBURY & LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD, INC. v. WABASH VALLEY RAILROAD CO. and Lamoille Valley Railroad Co. ST. JOHNSBURY & LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD, INC. v. M.P.S. ASSOCIATES, INC.

512 F. Supp. 1079

BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY EMPLOYEES v. ST. JOHNSBURY & LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD; St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad, Inc.; Wabash Valley Railroad Co.; Lamoille Valley Railroad Co. and State of Vermont.

LAMOILLE VALLEY RAILROAD v. LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD, INC. and St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad.

ST. JOHNSBURY & LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD, INC. v. WABASH VALLEY RAILROAD CO. and Lamoille Valley Railroad Co.

ST. JOHNSBURY & LAMOILLE COUNTY RAILROAD, INC. v. M.P.S. ASSOCIATES, INC.

Civ. A. No. 79-142.

United States District Court, D. Vermont.

April 24, 1981.

Michael Schein, Hoff, Wilson & Powell, Burlington, Vt., and Raymond J. Sweeney, North Andover, Mass., for plaintiff.

Philip J. Fitzpatrick, Jeffersonville, Vt., and Richard C. Sargent, Sargent & White, Morrisville, Vt., for defendants St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad and St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad, Inc.

Priscilla K. Reidinger, Downs, Rachlin & Martin, South Burlington, Vt., for defendant Wabash Valley Railroad.

Robert Gensburg, Gensburg & Axelrod, St. Johnsbury, Vt., for defendant Lamoille Valley Railroad Co.

Richard M. Finn, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Vt., Montpelier, Vt., for defendant State of Vt.

Edwin Free, Richard E. Davis Associates, Inc., Barre, Vt., for third-party defendant, M.P.S. Associates, Inc.

OPINION AND ORDER

COFFRIN, District Judge.

This is a civil action in which plaintiff seeks to enforce two awards of the National Railroad Adjustment Board (NRAB). Jurisdiction to enforce the awards is present under 45 U.S.C. § 153 First (p) and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1337.

Plaintiff Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (Brotherhood) is an unincorporated association whose members are employees in the track maintenance departments of railroad carriers throughout the United States and Canada.¹ The defenants in this case include all the owners and operators since 1967 of a small railroad which runs from east to west across northern Vermont. Plaintiff has represented the railroad's track maintenance employees during the period when each of the defendants owned or operated the railroad. Certain of plaintiff's members claim that during the years 1972, 1973, and 1974 they became entitled to paid vacation time earned during the years 1971, 1972, and 1973. Plaintiff submitted this claim to the NRAB in November 1975, and in awards number 21522 and 21524 dated May 19, 1977, the Third Division of the NRAB sitting in Chicago ruled that the employees had earned vacation time for which they had not received compensation.²

The controversy before us today arises from the series of reorganizations experienced by the railroad in recent years. Operation of the railroad has changed hands so many times since the vacation pay was earned that the question of which organization must compensate the employees has no ready answer. A corporation controlled by Samuel Pinsley owned and operated the railroad from 1967 until 1973. Members of the Brotherhood earned all of the vacation pay at issue in this case during the period of ownership of the Pinsley corporation. The Pinsley corporation, called the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad (St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley) at the time it operated the railroad, now appears in this action as a third party defendant under the name of M.P.S. Associates, Inc.

On November 7, 1972, St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley filed an application under Section 1(18) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. § 10903(a)(2), with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to abandon the railroad. In June 1973, the ICC issued its initial abandonment order. In October 1973, however, the ICC amended its initial order to provide that the railroad would not cease operations but would be sold to the Vermont Transportation Authority (VTA). On December 7, 1973, the ICC granted St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley authority to abandon the entire line of the railroad in ICC Docket No. AB65. At the same time, VTA acquired all the real and personal property of the railroad pursuant to 1973 Vt. Acts, No. 182 (adjourned session.)

The Brotherhood did not participate in the St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley abandonment proceedings before the ICC. The United Transportation Union, representing the train operating personnel only, did appear and participate in those proceedings. In granting the St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley petition to abandon, the ICC did not impose any conditions for the protection of railroad employees.

In the course of the proceedings which culminated in the transfer of ownership of the railroad to VTA, daily operation of the railroad pursuant to a lease agreement passed to the Lamoille County Railroad, Inc., a corporation headed by Bruno Loati, which in June 1974 changed its name to St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railway, Inc. (L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati). L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati commenced operation of the railroad as a common carrier on September 18, 1973, pursuant to an agreement with VTA. L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati obtained an ICC certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate shortly thereafter.

In June 1974 VTA transferred its functions, including management of the railroad, to the Vermont Public Service Board (VPSB). Neither VTA nor VPSB has been a signatory to any labor agreement concerning the disputed vacation pay. In addition, L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati never entered into a new labor agreement with the Brotherhood.

L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati refused to pay for any outstanding vacation pay asserted to have been earned by members of the Brotherhood during the period when St. J. and L.C.R.R./Pinsley operated the railroad. In November 1975 the Brotherhood submitted the dispute to the National Railroad Adjustment Board (NRAB). In May 1976 the NRAB held a hearing on the vacation pay dispute. Only the Brotherhood and L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati received notice of the hearing, and they were the only parties to participate. Bruno Loati, appearing pro se, represented L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati at the hearing.

On September 18, 1976, the agreement between L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati and VTA/VPSB expired by its terms, and at about the same time VPSB entered into an operating agreement with the Vermont Northern Railroad Company, now known as the Wabash Valley Railroad Company (V.N.R.R. Co./W.V.R.R. Co.). L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati continued to operate the railroad until October 4, 1976 when V.N.R.R./W.V.R.R. took over pursuant to ICC Car Service Order No. 1254. On October 21, 1976, V.N.R.R./W.V.R.R. entered into a new labor agreement with the Brotherhood which provided for vacation entitlement in the years 1976 and 1977 but was silent with respect to vacations earned during 1972, 1973, and 1974.

V.N.R.R./W.V.R.R. was never successful in negotiating a long-term operating agreement with VPSB, and when its operating lease with VPSB expired in December 1977, Lamoille Valley Railroad Company (L.V. R.R.) took over operation of the railroad. On January 1, 1978, by Car Service Order No. 1291, the ICC directed L.V.R.R. to commence and carry on the railroad operation. Simultaneously, by ICC Docket No. AB-134 and Finance Docket No. 28320, V.N.R.R./W.V.R.R. and L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati received certificates of abandonment pursuant to Section 1(18) of the Interstate Commerce Act.³ L.V.R.R. is the operating carrier at the present time.

Plaintiff names as defendants in this enforcement action the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad (the Pinsley corporation), all three lessee-operators, and the State of Vermont. Although the award itself names only the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad, the award assumes as a matter of law that the collective bargaining agreement of the parties survives a change in the owner or operator of the railroad. In the view of the NRAB, therefore, successor owners and operators are liable for vacation pay earned by employees during the operation of the railroad by the St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley. The award expressly anticipates liability for the accrued vacation pay on the part of L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati.

In addition to plaintiff's claim for enforcement, defendant L.V.R.R., the present operator, has crossclaimed for indemnification against both L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati and St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley. L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati has crossclaimed against both L.V.R.R. and V.N.R.R./W.V.R.R. Finally, L.C.R.R./St. J. & L.C. Ry., Inc./Loati has brought a third party complaint against M.P.S. Associates, Inc. — the present name for the corporation which was once named St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad (St. J. & L.C.R.R./Pinsley).

This case is now before the court on the following motions:

1. Defendant Lamoille Valley Railroad's Motions to Dismiss and for Summary Judgment,

2. Defendant Lamoille Valley Railroad's Motion to Dismiss the Crossclaim of Defendant St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad, Inc.,

3. Defendant St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County, Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss,

4. Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment, and

5. Defendant Wabash Valley Railroad Company's Motion for Summary Judgment.

Analysis

I. Enforcement and Scope of Review of NRAB Awards

The Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 151-188, vests exclusive jurisdiction in the NRAB over claims arising out of the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements between railroads and their employees. Any railway worker asserting such a claim against his employer must first bring his claim before the appropriate division of the NRAB. Andrews v. Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 406 U.S. 320, 92 S.Ct. 1562, 32 L.Ed.2d 95 (1972). After the NRAB has ruled on the claim, the United States district courts have jurisdiction under 45 U.S.C. § 153 First (p) to enforce the orders and awards of the NRAB. Since 1966, the Railway Labor Act has...