Coppage v. U.S. Postal Service

• Citation: 119 F.Supp.2d 1375
• Decision Date: 30 October 2000
• Docket Number: No. 7:00-CV-18-WDO.,7:00-CV-18-WDO.
• Parties: Patricia Joyce COPPAGE, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE and National Rural Letter Carriers Association, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia

119 F.Supp.2d 1375

Patricia Joyce COPPAGE, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE and National Rural Letter Carriers Association, Defendants.

No. 7:00-CV-18-WDO.

United States District Court, M.D. Georgia, Valdosta Division.

October 30, 2000.

Adam J. Conti, Mr., Atlanta, GA, for Patricia Joyce Coppage, plaintiffs.

William David Gifford, Mr., Macon, David J. Worley, Mr., Atlanta, GA, William B. Peer, Michael J. Gan, Washington, DC, for United States Postal Service, National Rural Letter Carriers Association, defendants.

ORDER

OWENS, District Judge.

Before the Court are Defendant United States Postal Service's Motion to Dismiss, or in the Alternative, Motion for Summary Judgment [Tab 11] and Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, or in the alternative, Motion for Summary Judgment [Tab 16]. As both motions involve the same questions of law, they will be analyzed and adjudicated together in this Order. The Court treats the motions as ones for summary judgment because both parties relied upon matters outside the pleadings in support of their motions. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b). For the reasons set forth in this Order, summary judgment is granted in favor of Plaintiff.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The facts of this case are taken primarily from Plaintiff's Complaint and Answers to Mandatory Interrogatories, or, otherwise from subsequent filings in the record.

Since 1983 Plaintiff has been employed in Valdosta, Georgia as a rural letter carrier by the United States Postal Service. For purposes of the arbitration proceeding pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement, she was represented by Defendant National Rural Letter Carriers' Association (NRLCA).

On March 7, 1997, the Postal Service discharged Plaintiff for reasons not relevant to the issues now before the Court¹. Plaintiffs filed a grievance regarding this discharge alleging it was in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. On April 2, 1998, an arbitration hearing was held on Plaintiff's behalf wherein the arbitrator considered her grievance and the Postal Service's reasons for her termination. On May 13, 1998, Arbitrator William Holey issued an award sustaining Plaintiff's grievance and directed the Postal Service as follows: to reinstate Plaintiff immediately, "to expunge this removal from her records, to restore her seniority, and to pay her backpay (minus earnings during this period), and interest. The Postal Service is directed to pay the costs of the arbitration." See Comp. Ex. "A." There was no mention of reducing Plaintiff's award for any other reason, including failure to mitigate damages, other than the parties taking into account, when determining the amount of backpay owed, any possible money from alternate or secondary employment.

The Postal Service reinstated Plaintiff but failed to pay her the ordered backpay. Instead, the Postal Service argues that the arbitrator's award should have been decreased due to Plaintiff's failure to mitigate damages by not finding other employment during the pendency of her arbitration. Although Plaintiff contends she was never apprised of any duty to do so by the Postal Service, Plaintiff argues that she "diligently" sought other employment but was unable to find another job due to the "stigma" of her discharge and the economic environment in Valdosta, Georgia for providing comparable employment. See Pl. Resp. to Mandatory Interrogs. at 2. Plaintiff complained of this to her union representatives at NRLCA on October 27, 1998. Initially, NRLCA sought payment of Plaintiff's back-pay, but the Postal Service refused to abide by the award. By letter on July 27, 1999, NRLCA informed Plaintiff that they had contacted the Postal Service and settled the matter. NRLCA and the Postal Service determined unilaterally that the arbitrator wrongfully awarded Plaintiff backpay, due to the mitigation issue. Plaintiff contested this `settlement' through private counsel on August 23, 1999, arguing that it was contrary to law, improperly motivated and was without any consent or input from her or her attorney. On September 17, 1999, Plaintiff's attorney contacted NRLCA by letter and demanded that NRLCA fully prosecute her grievance and seek enforcement of the arbitrator's award or a suit would be initiated immediately. By letter dated September 22, 1999, NRLCA informed Plaintiff's attorney of the following: "I have your letter of September 17, 1999. You may govern yourself accordingly." See Comp. Ex. "E." The letter was signed by William B. Peer, counsel for NRLCA.

The Plaintiff then filed the Complaint in this matter on February 29, 2000 and alleged the following Counts: (1) breach of employment agreement by (a) the Postal Service for failing to adhere to the binding arbitration award and (b) by NRLCA in ratifying the breach; and (2) breach of the duty of fair representation by NRLCA for failure to enforce the arbitrator's award.

The defenses asserted by Defendant Postal Service in their Answer are as follows: (1) that this Court lacks jurisdiction under 29 U.S.C. § 185; (2) that the Complaint is time-barred as not filed within six months of the final determination by NRLCA of Plaintiff's case; and (3) that Plaintiff failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

The defenses asserted by Defendant NRLCA in their Answer are: (1) that Plaintiff failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; (2) that the Complaint is barred by the applicable statute of limitations; and (3) that Plaintiff failed to mitigate her damages.

In its current motion before the Court, Defendant Postal Service petitioned the court to dismiss the Complaint, or in the alternative, to award Defendant summary judgment based on the following arguments: (1) that "Plaintiff cannot maintain a cause of action against Defendant Postal Service because she cannot first establish that the Union breached its duty of fair representation"; (2) that "Defendant Postal Service did not breach any provision of the collective bargaining agreement because it followed its governing regulations ... in processing Plaintiff's back-pay award"; and (3) that "Plaintiff's civil action is untimely with respect to Defendant Postal Service, because the action was filed more than six months after the Postal Service entered a binding settlement agreement with the Union which relieved the Postal Service of any further obligation with respect to the period of backpay disallowed by the Employer." See Def. Postal Service's Reply to Pl. Resp. to Def. Mot to Dismiss and Resp. to Pl. Mot. on the Pleadings at 1.

Plaintiff contends that Defendant NRLCA breached its duty of fair representation by failing to adequately process her grievance of Defendant Postal Service's failure to follow the arbitrator's award. Plaintiff claims that NRLCA's failure to follow the arbitrator's decision is arbitrary, without factual justification and retaliatory in nature. Plaintiff contends that NRLCA harbored animosity toward her for criticizing NRLCA's effectiveness as an organization and for seeking outside counsel to process her grievance, once NRLCA refused to seek enforcement of the arbitration award. Plaintiff further contends that Defendants waived the ability to now raise the affirmative defense on mitigation of damages when Defendant Postal Service failed to raise the same during the arbitration proceedings. Defendant admitted in their answer that the issue of mitigation was not presented at the arbitration hearing. See Def. Postal Service's Answer at ¶ 10. Finally, Plaintiff contends that her suit was timely filed as it was filed within six months of the date she knew that NRLCA would not further process her grievance regarding the back pay issue.

II. Analysis

C. Statutory Jurisdiction

The Defendants correctly asserted that jurisdiction for this claim comes from 39 U.S.C. § 1208, rather than 29 U.S.C. § 185, as stated in the Complaint. The former deals specifically with suits "for violation of contracts between the Postal Service and a labor organization representing Postal Service employees." 39 U.S.C. § 1208(b). "Any labor organization may sue or be sued as an entity and in behalf of the employees whom it represents in the courts of the United States." Id. at (c). It has been recognized specifically in other circuits that caselaw dealing with 29 U.S.C. § 185 is applicable to cases analyzing 39 U.S.C. § 1208 since the wording of the two statutes is virtually identical. See Miller v. U.S. Postal Service, 985 F.2d 9 (1st Cir.1993); Sheehan v. U.S. Postal Service, 6 F.Supp.2d. 141 (N.D.N.Y.1997). In the Eleventh Circuit, this is impliedly true as most of the caselaw deciding labor disputes with the Postal Service and its employees in the cases cited below are in fact interpreting 29 U.S.C. § 185 and other law relating thereto.

B. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary Judgment is appropriate when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving part is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The moving party bears the burden of clearly establishing the absence of a triable fact issue. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The initial burden on the party seeking summary judgment is to make a prima facie showing that there are no genuine issues of material fact; once she has done so, the burden shifts to the party opposing summary judgment to go beyond her pleadings and demonstrate the existence of genuine issues of material fact. Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

As jurisdiction has been established, the court must next determine whether Plaintiff has standing to bring this suit and whether she timely filed her Complaint. These claims can be decided as a matter of law based on the undisputed facts in the record. Next, the court must determine as a matter of law whether the Defendants have waived the affirmative defense issue of mitigation of damages in this matter by...