Carroll v. United Steelworkers of America

• Decision Date: 04 December 1984
• Docket Number: No. 14398,14398
• Citation: 107 Idaho 717,692 P.2d 361
• Parties: , 117 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3304, 117 Lab.Cas. P 56,518 Michael A. CARROLL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 361

692 P.2d 361

107 Idaho 717, 117 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3304, 117 Lab.Cas. P 56,518

Michael A. CARROLL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 14398.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Dec. 4, 1984.

Kenneth B. Howard, Jr., Coeur d'Alene, and Thomas A. Mitchell, Coeur d'Alene for plaintiff-appellant.

Wayne P. Fuller, Caldwell, Samuel Eismann, Coeur d'Alene, George H. Cohen, Washington, D.C., and David L. Gore, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-respondent.

HUNTLEY, Justice.

Michael A. Carroll appeals from the trial court's decision granting summary judgment to the United Steelworkers of America. We affirm.

Carroll's complaint alleged that on September 18, 1975, he was employed by Bunker Hill Company, and while working below a skip cage was injured when the skip fell upon him due to a defect that existed in the hoist. This defect was discoverable by reasonable inspection. The complaint further alleged that the Union owed Carroll, a Union member, the duty of due care, and breached that duty in that:

The Defendant United Steelworkers of America undertook to act as accident prevention representative and enforcer of the company-union agreement and did so negligently in that it misrepresented its safety concern and expertise to the rank and file of its members, it failed to develop an adequate program for inspection and for safety, and it failed to inspect or cause to be inspected the hoist in question in an operating configuration, so as to discover defects appearing only during such operation, and failed to require other safety devices to be used when workmen are required to labor beneath hoists.

The trial court noted, "At this stage of the proceedings and for the purposes of this motion only, it must be assumed that the 'safety committee' did not inspect the hoist in question nor consequently did it make any recommendations regarding safety corrections." The trial court stated that it was unable to find any duty imposed upon the Union by law or otherwise which would give rise to a cause of action in negligence. The trial court concluded that failure to act could not constitute the proximate cause or even a proximate cause of the injury. Carroll avers that the trial court erred in determining that the Union had no actionable duty and that proximate cause could not be established.

Carroll contends that the Union owed him a duty under one of three theories. First, he claims that the duty was created by contract, i.e. the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Next, he asserts that the Union, by its conduct, voluntarily assumed the duty. Finally, he asserts that a duty was established by a state statute. We address each contention in turn.

I. THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

The duty of fair representation, required under the National Labor Relations Act, is not the sole duty owed by a union to those it represents. Dunbar v. United Steelworkers of America, 100 Idaho 523, 602 P.2d 21 (1979). In Dunbar, Justice Shepard writing for the majority stated that there is "no authority ... which insulates a union for its negligent and tortious conduct toward one of its members, i.e., if a member of a union was struck by a motor vehicle owned by the union and operated by one of its officials during the course of his employment for the union, we cannot believe the union would be insulated from liability on the basis that the only duty it owed toward its members was that of fair representation." Hence, under certain circumstances, a union member could have a cause of action against a union based on a tort theory. However, this is not such a case.

Under Idaho law it is settled that an alleged failure to perform a contractual obligation is not actionable in tort. As Justice Bakes observed in his special concurrence in Dunbar, supra, Idaho case law establishes that mere breach of contract does not ordinarily constitute a tort. In Taylor v. Herbold, 94 Idaho 133, 483 P.2d 664 (1971) we stated, "To found an action in tort, there must be a breach of duty apart from the nonperformance of a contract." In Just's, Inc. v. Arrington Construction Co., 99 Idaho 462, 583 P.2d 997 (1978) we again acknowledged that "a tort requires the wrongful invasion of an interest protected by the law, not merely an invasion of an interest created by the agreement of the parties." In the instant case, Carroll simply alleges that the Union failed to perform its contractual obligations under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. ¹ Mere nonfeasance, even if it amounts to a willful neglect to perform the contract, is insufficient to establish a duty in tort. Taylor, supra, 94 Idaho at 138, 483 P.2d 664. Consequently, Carroll's cause of action, if any, arising from the Collective Bargaining Agreement lies only in contract, not in tort. ²

II. THE GOOD SAMARITAN RULE

Carroll next relies upon the "Good Samaritan" doctrine which stands for the proposition that one may assume a duty by his or her voluntary conduct. ³ However, Carroll's complaint alleged only that the union failed to take any affirmative actions to protect him from harm.

Some cases have held that where a promissee relies to his detriment on a promise, the promisor may be liable to the promissee where such reliance has led to injury to the person or to damage to tangible property. ⁴ However, in his deposition Carroll stated that he was unaware of the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Even if the provisions of the agreement could be construed to constitute a promise, it is clear that Carroll could not have relied on those provisions since he did not know of them.

Because Carroll accused the Union of failing to perform protective actions and not of performing such actions in a negligent manner once undertaken, Carroll cannot rely on the "Good Samaritan" doctrine to establish a duty on the part of the Union.

III. STATUTORY OBLIGATION

Finally, Carroll maintains that Idaho Minimum Safety Standards and Practices for Mining and Mineral Industry which provides that "Regular safety inspections shall be made by management-employee safety committees" is an independent source of duty. ⁵ However, Carroll did not raise this argument in the court below and hence is precluded from asserting it here. ⁶

IV. CONCLUSION

The trial court correctly concluded that the union had no duty which could give rise to a tort action under common law or the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Since Carroll was unable to establish duty, a threshold requirement necessary for his claim, the trial court properly granted the Union's motion for summary judgment. Therefore, we need not consider whether the trial court's conclusion that the Union's alleged omission or failure to act could not constitute a proximate cause of the injury was also proper.

The judgment is affirmed. Costs to respondent. No attorneys' fees.

DONALDSON, C.J., and SHEPARD and BAKES, JJ., concur.

SEE SEPARATE DISSENTING OPINION OF BISTLINE, J., COMMENCING AT PAGE 10 FOLLOWING THE FOOTNOTES.

BISTLINE, Justice, dissenting.

Michael A. Carroll was employed by the Bunker Hill Company as a repairman in its Crescent Mine, a silver producer, near Kellogg, Idaho. On September 18, 1975, he was assigned to "muck out" the mine's number two shaft, a procedure which entailed cleaning out the ore and rock which had collected at the bottom of the shaft. This task was performed approximately every three weeks, and in the year-and-a-half that Carroll had been employed by Bunker Hill he had performed this operation over a dozen times.

While working in the shaft's bottom, a "skip" (elevated platform), was positioned approximately 20 feet above him to prevent rocks and debris from falling on him. As Carroll worked, the hoist operator inadvertently released the brake on the skip and it fell to the bottom of the shaft, hitting him and causing serious injuries. Carroll's injuries included a fractured spine resulting in paralysis from the waist down, a broken ankle, three broken ribs, a punctured lung, injury to an eye and infection which led to gangrene and resulted in a partial amputation. He was nineteen years old at the time of the accident.

The released handbrake was part of a clutch-brake interlock system, which when functioning properly should allow the hoist drum to move, even though the handbrake is released. Tests run by the Mine Enforcement and Safety Administration established that the system had malfunctioned. The record further reflects that proper safety procedures include the use of shoring in the shaft bottom to prevent the skip from falling to the bottom in the case of a malfunction. No such shoring was in use when the accident occurred.

At the time of the accident, Mr. Carroll's union, United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and Bunker Hill were parties to a collective bargaining agreement which provided for a "joint safety committee" comprised of representatives of the USWA, the craft unions and the company. The committee was charged, inter alia, with the task of inspecting the mine for "safe working conditions, procedures and equipment at least once each month." The agreement also provided that Bunker Hill compensate the members of the committee.

Mr. Carroll asserts that as part of the safety committee, USWA was negligent for its part in failing to develop an adequate program for inspection and safety, in failing to inspect the hoist in an operating configuration so as to discover defects which would appear only during such operation, and by failing to require that additional safety devices be used when workers were required to labor beneath hoists.

USWA moved for summary judgment, which motion was granted. In its memorandum opinion, the district court stated that it was unable to find any duty imposed upon the Union by law, or otherwise, which would give rise to a cause of action in negligence. The district court rendered its decision while conceding that, for purposes of...