Council of School Officers v. Vaughn, 87-291.

• Decision Date: 31 January 1989
• Docket Number: No. 87-291.,87-291.
• Citation: 553 A.2d 1222
• Parties: COUNCIL OF SCHOOL OFFICERS, Appellant, v. M. David VAUGHN and Dr. William Rumsey, Chairman, Public Employee Relations Board, Appellees.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

Page 1222

553 A.2d 1222

COUNCIL OF SCHOOL OFFICERS, Appellant, v. M. David VAUGHN and Dr. William Rumsey, Chairman, Public Employee Relations Board, Appellees.

No. 87-291.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued June 6, 1988.

Decided January 31, 1989.

Johnnie Landon, of the Bar of North Dakota, admitted pro hac vice, with whom Lillian A. McEwen and Steven E. Murray were on the brief, Washington, D.C., for appellant.

Kathleen A. McKee, Washington, D.C., for appellee M. David Vaughn.

Christopher A. Hart, Washington, D.C., for appellee Dr. William Rumsey.

Susan S. McDonald, Asst. Corp. Counsel, with whom Frederick D. Cooke, Jr., Corp. Counsel, Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corp. Counsel, and Lutz Alexander Prager, Asst. Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., filed a statement as amicus curiae.

Before ROGERS,^* Chief Judge, and FERREN and SCHWELB, Associate Judges.

ROGERS, Chief Judge:

Appellant Council of School Officers (CSO) appeals from the dismissal of its petition for review of an interest arbitration award. The trial court held that the award was not subject to judicial review where the District of Columbia's Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act (CMPA), D.C. Code § 1-601.1 et seq. (1987 Repl. & 1988 Supp.), provided that such an award was final and binding on the parties. Id. § 1-618.17(f)(3). The court also rejected CSO's alternative contention that the award was subject to common law judicial review on the ground that CSO had not alleged that the decision on which the award was based was arbitrary, indefinite, or beyond the scope of the arbitration panel's authority. CSO appeals contending that the award is reviewable either as agency action under the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act, D.C. Code § -1-1501 et seq. (1981), or under common law. We do not reach these issues because CSO failed to sue an indispensable party, Super.Ct.Civ.R. 19(a), and the D.C. Council had not yet approved the award pursuant to § 1-618.17(j) at the time that CSO filed its petition for review. Accordingly, we reverse and remand the case to the trial court to dismiss the complaint for want of jurisdiction because the award was not final and effective.

I.

Appellant Council of School Officers (CSO), an independent labor organization, is the exclusive bargaining representative for approximately 535 public school officers in the District's public school system.¹ CSO and the District of Columbia Board of Education were parties to a collective bargaining agreement that was due to expire on April 6, 1985. Under the provisions of the District of Columbia Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act (CMPA), the terms of that agreement remained effective while the parties undertook collective bargaining in an attempt to reach a new agreement. D.C.Code § 1-618.17(f)(4) (1988 Supp.). After efforts by the parties and by mediators proved to be unsuccessful in resolving the parties' differences,² CSO requested, pursuant to § 1-618.17(f)(3),³ binding arbitration on compensation matters.⁴ Thereafter, on January 8, 1986, PERB appointed appellee Vaughn as impartial arbitrator and permitted both CSO and the Board of Education to select one arbitrator each. Following eight days of hearings, commencing on January 21, 1986, the arbitration panel issued its opinion and award on February 14, 1986. Appellee Vaughn and George Margolies, the panel member selected by the Board of Education, subscribed to the award, while Johnnie Landon, CSO's advocate arbitrator, dissented from the panel's opinion and award.⁵ Vaughn then resigned his position as impartial chairman and the panel was dissolved.

Dissatisfied with the award, CSO sought review of the arbitration panel's decision by PERB. PERB ruled that it had no power to review interest arbitration awards.⁶ On March 17, 1986, CSO filed a petition in the Superior Court to set aside the panel's award, naming as respondents appellee Vaughn and appellee Dr. William Rumsey, chairman of PERB. The trial court granted appellees' motions to dismiss the petition on February 24, 1987, ruling that the CMPA precluded judicial review and that CSO's petition did not state a sufficient basis for common law judicial review. The trial court also rejected CSO's argument that the arbitration panel's award was a final order of PERB and therefore reviewable under § 1-618.13(c).⁷

II.

The meaning of the phrase "final and binding" in § 1-618.17(f)(3), see note 3, supra, is the principal dispute raised by the parties to this appeal. The issue, in essence, is whether that phrase is properly interpreted as precluding all judicial review of interest arbitration awards, and if not, what is the proper scope of judicial review. A threshold issue, however, causes us to forego resolving the issue of judicial review at this time.

It is an elementary proposition of law that a plaintiff must sue the proper party or parties as defendant. Flack v. Laster, 417 A.2d 393, 399-400 (D.C. 1980) (citations omitted). Rule 19(a) of the Superior Court rules of civil procedure provides:

(a) Persons to be joined if feasible. A person who is subject to service of process and whose joinder will not deprive the Court of jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action shall be joined as a party in the action if (1) in his absence complete relief cannot be accorded among those already parties, or (2) he claims an interest relating to the subject of the action and is so situated that the disposition of the action in his absence may (i) as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest or (ii) leave any of the persons already parties subject to a substantial risk of incurring double, multiple, or otherwise inconsistent obligations by reason of his claimed interest. If he has not been so joined, the Court shall order that he be made a party.

Who is a proper party defendant, or respondent, in an appeal from an interest arbitration award is a question of first impression in this court and turns on the statutory scheme created for impasse arbitration in the CMPA.⁸

A.

The CMPA was enacted to create a modern, flexible, and comprehensive system of public personnel administration in the District of Columbia government. HOUSE COMM. ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 96TH CONG., 1ST SESS., REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT COMPREHENSIVE MERIT PERSONNEL ACT OF 1978 at 153 (Comm.Print 1979). The statute sought to foster "a positive policy of labor-management relations including collective bargaining between the District of Columbia government and its employees. . . ." D.C.Code § 1-601.2(a)(6). The CMPA established PERB and invested that body with a number of functions, among which is the resolution of bargaining impasses through final and binding arbitration. Id. §§ 1-605.1, -605.2(4), -618.2(c). Under the statute, PERB may not itself perform arbitration and is limited to the selection of arbitrators from a list consisting of persons agreed upon by labor and management. Id. § 1-605.2(4). PERB is empowered only to consider appeals from arbitration awards rendered pursuant to a grievance procedure, id. § 1-605.2(6), and its decisions are subject to review in the Superior Court. Id. § 1-605.2(12).

The CMPA sets forth a specific procedure for compensation bargaining, based on negotiations between government employers and the unit representatives of government employees for the purpose of producing agreements on matters such as salary, wages, health benefits, and hours. Id. § 1-618.17(b). Prior to the expiration of an existing collective bargaining agreement, management must begin a thorough study of the compensation being paid to comparable groups of government employees in the Washington, D.C. area. Id. § 1-618.17(c). Not later than ninety days before the expiration of any existing collective bargaining agreement, the results of the study are to be made public and available to the parties to the negotiations. Id. § 1-618.17(e)(1). Negotiations between the parties to an existing collective bargaining agreement must begin no later than ninety days prior to the expiration of that agreement. Id. § 1-618.17(f)(1). Section 1-618.17(f) provides for resolution of bargaining impasses through the use of mediation and binding interest arbitration. Arbitration may be invoked at any stage of the negotiations by either party in the event the impasse cannot be resolved through mediation, id. § 1-618.17(f)(1), (2), (3), and the decision of the arbitration panel "shall be final and binding on the parties to the dispute." Id. § 1-618.17(f)(3), supra note 3.

Furthermore, once the arbitration panel issues its decision and award, the D.C. Council can accept or reject the award. Id. § 1-618.17(j). If the Council disapproves the award, then further collective bargaining is to occur, otherwise the award goes into effect Id. See note 12, infra. The Mayor is required to support the arbitration panel award, and the District government is required to include the award in its budget requests to the Congress. Id. §§ 1-618.17(i) & (k).

B.

Appellees' motions to dismiss CSO's petition for review contended in relevant part that they were not the proper respondents. Vaughn pointed to his limited role, having nothing to do with implementation or enforcement of the award, and maintained further that he was immune from suit PERB pointed out that there was no final order by it from which CSO could appeal and that the CMPA expressly restricted PERB's role in interest arbitration to selection of the arbitration panel. PERB also raised a procedural objection, contending that CSO had failed to comply with PERB's Rule 1 because CSO had failed properly to serve the District government as required by Rules 4 & 5. CSO responded that it had served the Corporation Counsel with a copy of its original complaint.⁹ Neither appellee, however, cast its dismissal argument in terms of the absence of an indispensable party nor...