Dashiell v. Montgomery County

• Decision Date: 14 March 1990
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. R-89-1915.
• Citation: 731 F. Supp. 1251
• Parties: Marie E. DASHIELL, et al., Plaintiffs, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

731 F. Supp. 1251

Marie E. DASHIELL, et al., Plaintiffs, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. R-89-1915.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

March 14, 1990.

Milton L. Chappell, Rossie D. Alston, Jr., Springfield, Va., for plaintiffs.

William W. Thompson, II, Michael T. Leibig, Zwerdling, Paul, Leibig, Kahn & Thompson, P.C., Washington, D.C., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

RAMSEY, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, six employees of Montgomery County who are not members of the defendant union recognized by the County as their exclusive bargaining representative, bring this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to vindicate their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. In short, plaintiffs allege that the procedure implemented by the union to collect "reduced agency fees" from nonunion members is constitutionally deficient under standards enunciated by the Supreme Court in Chicago Teachers Union, Local No. 1, AFT, AFL-CIO v. Hudson, 475 U.S. 292, 106 S.Ct. 1066, 89 L.Ed.2d 232 (1986). As a result, plaintiffs claim that their First Amendment right to refuse to financially "support ... ideological causes not germane to the union's duties as a collective bargaining agent" has been inadequately protected. Hudson, 475 U.S. at 294, 106 S.Ct. at 1069 (quoting Ellis v. Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, 466 U.S. 435, 447, 104 S.Ct. 1883, 1891, 80 L.Ed.2d 428 (1984)); see also Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Educ., 431 U.S. 209, 97 S.Ct. 1782, 52 L.Ed.2d 261 (1977).

Currently pending before the Court is defendants' motion for summary judgment. The motion has been fully briefed and the Court now rules without need for a hearing pursuant to Local Rule 105.6 (D.Md.1989). For the reasons set forth below, defendants' motion will be granted.¹

I. Background

In 1986, Montgomery County recognized the Montgomery County Government Employees Organization-United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 400 ("the union" or "Local 400") as the exclusive bargaining representative for employees in the County's Service, Labor and Trades bargaining unit and the County's Office, Professional and Technical bargaining unit. See Montgomery County Code, Collective Bargaining Law, art. VII, §§ 33-101-33-112 (1986), appended as Exhibit D to Defendants' Answer. The union and the County have entered into collective bargaining agreements covering both bargaining units for the period July 1, 1987 through June 30, 1990. Appended as Exhibit E to Defendants' Answer. Under the heading "Agency Shop," both these collective bargaining agreements contain the following provision: "It shall be a continuing condition of employment that all bargaining unit employees shall become members of the Union within sixty (60) days of obtaining merit system status or shall pay a service fee." Id. at art. 3.1.² The purpose of this reduced agency fee is to compensate the union for its efforts on behalf of all employees, regardless of the employees' membership in the union. See Montgomery County Code, Collective Bargaining Law, art. VII, § 33-104(c) ("A certified representative ... has the duty to represent fairly and without discrimination all employees in the unit without regard to whether the employees are members of the employee organization....").

For those nonunion members who elect to pay the reduced agency fee,³ the county automatically deducts the fee from nonmembers paycheck each pay period. For the fiscal year beginning July 1988, the county deducted 82.59% of full union dues from nonmembers' paychecks as the reduced agency fee. See Fee Notification Letter dated June 8, 1988, appended as Exhibit A to Defendants' Answer.⁴ The Fee Notification Letter sent to each nonmember explained that the reduced fee was calculated to compensate the union for activities undertaken on behalf of all employees, as distinct from political activities:

The amount of 82.59% of regular dues represents that portion of all UFCW/Local 400 expenditures which are spent by the union for collective bargaining process, contract administration, and the pursuit of matters affecting wages, hours and other conditions of employment.... Non-chargeable expenditures represent the remaining 17.41% of expenditures....

Id. at 2. The Fee Notification Letter also advised nonmembers that "attached to this letter is a financial statement which explains how the percentage has been calculated, based upon the union's actual expenditures for fiscal 1987." Id.

The financial information appended to the Fee Notification Letter contains a detailed presentation of the union's expenditures for the preceding fiscal year. This packet of information begins with a letter from the certified public accountant retained to calculate the reduced agency fee in which he identifies the information that he relied upon in reaching his conclusion that nonmembers' fair share was 82.59% of full union dues.⁵ After the certified public accountant's letter, the information that he relied upon is reproduced. It consists of the following:

1. the audited year-end financial statement and independent auditors' report for Local 400, prepared by a certified public accounting firm;

2. a "summary schedule of chargeable expenditures," listing 35 separate categories of payments, with each payment broken down into its chargeable and nonchargeable component;

3. a "schedule of audited expenditures by function," in which each of the 35 categories of payments is broken down by the amounts allocable to "administration," "servicing," and "organizing & other nonchargeables";

4. three schedules of salary expenditures — one for administrative personnel, one for service personnel, and one for organizing personnel — indicating the amount allocable to chargeable and nonchargeable activities; and

5. a memo from the union explaining its estimate that "24% of Local 400's per capita payments to the International Union should be included in the reduced agency fee calculation."

Thus, nonunion members were presented with all the information that the independent auditor relied upon in determining the reduced agency fee.

Plaintiffs allege that this information "is insufficient for them to gauge the propriety of the union's fee or to understand why the fee is set at 82.59 percent of union dues. It fails to provide an adequate justification and explanation for the amount the defendants unilaterally claimed plaintiffs were required to pay." Complaint, para. 21. They seek an injunction to prevent deduction of the reduced agency fee from nonmembers paychecks as well as declaratory relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2201.

II. Standards for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure serves the important purpose of "conserving judicial time and energy by avoiding unnecessary trial and by providing a speedy and efficient summary disposition" of litigation in which the plaintiff fails to make some minimal showing that the defendant may be liable on the claims alleged. Bland v. Norfolk & S.R., 406 F.2d 863, 866 (4th Cir. 1969).

The applicable standards for analyzing a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 are well-established. The defendant seeking summary judgment bears the burden of showing the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R. Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In determining if the defendant has met this burden, the Court must consider whether, when assessing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, a "fair-minded jury could return a verdict for the plaintiff...." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Pulliam Inv. Co., Inc. v. Cameo Properties, 810 F.2d 1282, 1286 (4th Cir.1987). Nevertheless, the "mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the plaintiff's position will be insufficient" to defeat a motion for summary judgment. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. at 2512. See also Barwick v. Celotex Corp., 736 F.2d 946, 958-59 (4th Cir.1984). The plaintiff must identify for the Court some dispute of fact that is material to the legal issues presented in the case in order to successfully oppose a motion for summary judgment.

In suits alleging the deprivation of constitutional rights, summary judgment is often inappropriate, especially prior to the completion of full discovery. Tarleton v. Meharry Medical College, 717 F.2d 1523, 1535 (6th Cir.1983); see generally 10A C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2732.2 (1983). However, if the factual background relevant to the constitutional issue is not contested and the legal issue is clearly presented, summary judgment under Rule 56 is appropriate. See Pinckney v. United States, 671 F.Supp. 405, 408 n. 3 (E.D.N.C. 1987) ("if the court is satisfied that a sufficient record has been developed so that there remains no genuine issue of fact, ... a defendant's motion for summary judgment may be granted"). See also Andrews v. Education Ass'n of Cheshire, 653 F.Supp. 1373 (D.Conn.) (granting defendant's motion for summary judgment in First Amendment/Hudson action), aff'd, 829 F.2d 335 (2d Cir.1987); Jibson v. Michigan Educ. Association-NEA, 719 F.Supp. 603 (W.D.Mich.1989) (same).

With these standards in mind, the Court will consider defendants' motion for summary judgment.

III. Analysis

A. Ripeness

Before addressing the substantive constitutional issue presented in this litigation, the Court must consider defendants' argument that plaintiffs have failed to exhaust their available administrative remedies prior to instituting this suit. Plaintiffs have not objected to the reduced agency fee through the arbitration procedures detailed in the Fee Notification Letter. Defendants argue that plaintiffs must first object to the reduced agency fee and follow the arbitration...